FC Barcelona and Juventus have reached agreements to make their stadia available for use as COVID-19 vaccination centres.
The Generalitat de Catalunya last month confirmed it was in talks with FC Barcelona with a view to the Spanish LaLiga football club’s Camp Nou hosting a vaccination centre.
Following talks yesterday (Tuesday) between Joan Laporta, who was elected the new FC Barcelona president on March 7, and the Health Minister Alba Vergés, the club said it will work with the Catalan Health Ministry over the coming weeks to plan the Camp Nou’s use as a possible centre for mass COVID-19 vaccination.
Camp Nou would be added to the other six mass vaccination points for Catalonia – Fira de Barcelona, Fira de Cornellà, Pista de Sabadell, Pabellón 11 de Setembre in Lleida, Palau Firal in Girona and another planned for the region of Tarragona – if there are sufficient doses to carry out large scale vaccination.
The Catalan Health Ministry is seeking to vaccinate 70% of the population as quickly as possible, reaching a rate of 500,000 a week. In a statement, the club said: “FC Barcelona wishes to show its commitment and willingness to play its role in the great challenge that is vaccinating the people of Catalonia as quickly as possible.”
Meanwhile, a new vaccination centre has opened in Turin, at the home of Italian Serie A football club Juventus. According to Italian newspaper La Stampa, the Allianz Stadium centre commenced operations today (Wednesday) under a partnership between the Municipality of Turin and Juventus.
A facility that was established in November for COVID-19 testing has been adapted in 48 hours to become a vaccination centre. It is located in one of the Allianz Stadium’s car parks and will operate Monday to Saturday, from 8am to 2pm.
It will initially provide 100 vaccinations for local school staff, before rising to reach full capacity of 200 jabs per day.
Image: Marco Verch/CC BY 2.0/Edited for size
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