A NEW COVID-19 vaccination clinic will soon open in the Kingsgate Shopping Centre in Dunfermline.

It will be based within the former DW Sports store and replace the clinic at the Carnegie Conference Centre, which will be closing after administering more than 52,000 jabs in the last four months.

The new site was chosen due to its considerable size, its location in the centre of Dunfermline, good public transport links and availability of parking nearby.

NHS Fife Director of Public Health, Dr Joy Tomlinson, said: “More than 250,000 people in Fife have now been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and this has not only helped reduced spread of the virus, it has also helped reduce hospital admissions and prevented some of the most vulnerable from becoming seriously unwell.

“With the virus continuing to circulate, it remains as important as ever to get vaccinated.

"As we move into the next phase of the vaccination campaign, the new clinic at the Kingsgate Shopping Centre will play an important role in helping protect local people against COVID-19 and its effects.”

Jabs have been given at Carnegie Conference Centre since April 26 and it will close on September 19.

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

Some Fife College students, such as Jennifer Colling from Torryburn, even helped in the centre after those studying healthcare were encouraged to sign up as vaccinators.

Dr Tomlinson said: “We want to offer our more sincere thanks to Fife College for allowing us to use Carnegie Conference Centre as a mass vaccination clinic over recent months.

“NHS Fife has a strong relationship with Fife College stretching back many years.

"Working together has enabled us to deliver more than 52,000 vaccinations at the Carnegie site, helping protect people from across Fife against COVID-19 and its effects.”

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."

The COVID-19 vaccination programme in Fife began back in December 2020, with care home residents and frontline health and social care workers amongst the first to be vaccinated, followed by those aged 80 and over.

Public vaccination clinics opened in February followed in Spring with a number of mass vaccination clinics, which increased the volume of jabs that could be given and sped up the pace of the vaccination campaign.

For details of the various drop-in clinics available across Fife, visit: www.nhsfife.org/dropinclinics.