Fife College vaccination centre to close after administering over 50,000 jabs

The mass vaccination site @FifeCollege’s Carnegie Conference Centre is due to close on the 19^th of September after hosting almost 53,000 vaccinations in the last four months.

Opened on the 26th of April this year, the vaccination site was set-up after the College offered use of the Conference Centre free-of-charge to assist with the roll-out of the COVID-19 vaccine.

But with the vaccination roll-out moving into its autumn/winter programme, NHS Fife will move to a new vaccination clinic in the Kingsgate Shopping Centre in Dunfermline.

Since opening, tens of thousands of people from across Fife have received their vaccinations at the Carnegie Conference Centre, along with many hundreds of cruise ship workers docked at the port of Rosyth. 

Some Fife College students even helped in the centre after those studying healthcare were encouraged to sign up as vaccinators. 

Ahead of its closure NHS Fife thanked Fife College for making their facilities available, and for helping make the vaccine roll-out as successful as it has been so far.

Fife College Principal Dr Hugh Hall said:

“Everyone at the College was eager to make sure that we played our part in the ongoing vaccination programme here in Fife.

“So we were delighted to be able to offer our facilities at the Carnegie Conference Centre, and to even have some of our students administering vaccines.

“Over the past few months tens of thousands of local people come to our campus, and it’s been great to welcome them as we all play our part in helping to fight this virus.

“I’ve always seen the College as having a key role to play in the Fife community, and we’re all pleased to have done what we can to help during this difficult time.”

NHS Fife Director of Nursing, Janette Owens, said:

“The clinic at Carnegie Conference Centre has played a really important role in the COVID-19 vaccination programme in Fife, and we would like to thank Fife College for the use of the facility since it opened back in April.

“In addition to helping protect many thousands of people in Fife against the effects of COVID-19, the clinic also enabled many nursing students at the college to gain vital frontline experience working as vaccinators, which I’m sure will prove to be particularly valuable in their future careers as healthcare professionals.”