Firefighters in Hampshire are the latest group to join the NHS staff in helping deliver coronavirus vaccinations as the number of sites providing the life-saving jabs tops 1,500.

90 firefighters and support staff from Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service are vaccinating at Basingstoke fire station, where crews are still answering 999 calls. It is one of 39 new large-scale NHS vaccination centres to go live this week along with 62 more pharmacy-led sites as the biggest immunisation programme in health service history continues to accelerate.

Steve Apter, Deputy Chief Fire Officer for Hampshire and Isle of Wight Fire and Rescue Services, said: “We’re used to putting out fires, protecting our local community and saving lives: aiding the NHS in the fight against Covid is one of the most important ways we can continue to do that right now. A lot of work has gone into allowing us to help the NHS, and while we vaccinate thousands of members of the public, the Fire Station will remain completely operational.”

Selhurst Park in south east London, the home ground of Premier League football club Crystal Palace, the Royal Cornwall Showground and Chelmsford Racecourse, join almost 40 new large-scale vaccination centres opening across England.

There are now almost 90 large vaccination centres and 192 sites run by High Street pharmacies where people aged 70 or over can arrange a jab through the national booking service.

Stephen Powis, NHS national medical director said: “The NHS Vaccination programme, the biggest in health service history, is off to a strong start with more than nine million jabs delivered across England. I’ve seen first-hand what getting vaccinated means to those who are jabbed, their families and loved ones, and as more supply becomes available, we are able to expand the scale of this huge programme.

“These new sites will mean even more people live nearby to a large-scale vaccination centre or community pharmacy, which along with the incredible work of our local GPs, pharmacists and their healthcare teams, will allow us to rapidly vaccinate the most vulnerable in our society.”