Portsmouth boxing academy Heart of Portsmouth helps fight Covid-19 with vaccine jabs

Solent NHS Trust set up the centre at the Heart of Portsmouth Boxing Academy as part of a campaign to reach vaccine-hesitant people.

The NHS staff have teamed up with England Boxing’s Win With The Jab campaign, targeted at those with doubts about the vaccine within the boxing community.

The head coach at the Heart of Portsmouth, Q Shillingford, said: ‘We are hoping through this campaign to address some of those issues and convince people that having the COVID-19 jab when they are offered it is the right thing to do.

‘Those involved in amateur boxing are really missing gyms and our way of life in general, but this vaccine offers us a way out.’

With almost 1,000 clubs and 20,000 members around the country, England Boxing is uniquely placed to help the NHS reach into local communities.

Angela Anderson, clinical director for the Covid-19 Vaccination programme at Solent NHS Trust, said: ‘Holding the clinic at the boxing academy will help us to vaccinate even more eligible people in Portsmouth.

‘It is fantastic to offer vaccinations to people in the boxing community, as well as eligible people in their families.

‘Our teams were on hand to offer support, guiding people through their vaccination experience in a safe and reassuring way.

‘It has been a real team effort and I would like to thank everyone at the academy who have come together to support the pop-up vaccination clinic.

‘It's one of the latest examples of how we're working creatively to reach even more people and offer them the opportunity to protect themselves against Covid-19.’

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Appointments are available at four Solent NHS Trust large-scale vaccination centres in Portsmouth, Southampton, Basingstoke, and the Isle of Wight to those who are eligible, with everyone over the age of 45 being offered a jab.

Those who are eligible can book their jabs online via the National Booking System online or call 119.

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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