The facility was prepared as a reserve field hospital in November, but remained unused. Since Monday it has come into operation as a mass vaccination centre. Photo credit: JS / BD.
Brno, Jan 13 (BD) – On Wednesday, Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis (ANO) and Health Minister Jan Blatny (for ANO) visited the recently-opened mass vaccination facility on the grounds of the Brno Exhibition Centre, the first such facility in the Czech Republic. Occupying Pavilion G2, the centre opened on Monday, and so far 1,500 people have been vaccinated, starting with the police officers and firefighters who are working there as volunteers.
It is hoped that up to 3,000 people a day may be able to get vaccinated when it is operating at full capacity, with 15 teams working, able to vaccinate up to 300 people an hour between them. The government is planning to open a similar facility at the O2 Arena in Prague. According to Blatny, the government is aiming to build capacity for 100,000 vaccinations to be administered per day, of which 50,000 could be carried out by GPs.
The facility was originally created as a 300-bed reserve field hospital to care for coronavirus patients who could not be accommodated in Brno’s existing hospitals, and was fully funded by the City of Brno, who have been funding a third of its operating costs since then, according to Brno Mayor Markéta Vaňková (ODS).
Photo credit: Jack Stephens.
