Staff from the NHS and Chelsea teamed up at the Bridge to help the Covid-19 vaccination drive, planning to administer 6,000 doses of the Pfizer jab over the course of the day to residents of Hammersmith and Fulham who had booked their slot in advance.

The pop-up vaccination centre came about as a result of a dialogue between the NHS and the club, having originally been suggested by Imperial Healthcare medical director Professor Julian Redhead, with Mayor of London Sadiq Khan attending on the day to show his appreciation for the Blues’ assistance in the capital’s vaccination effort.

Khan was joined by Chelsea Chairman Bruce Buck, who explained why the club feels it is so important to do everything we can to benefit the community, especially during the pandemic.

‘Today was very important,’ said Buck. ‘I think we all recognise that the vaccine is the light at the end of the tunnel. We don’t want another wave and we have to do everything we can to vaccinate people as quickly as possible.

‘We have a good relationship with the community, with Hammersmith and Fulham Council. We’ve had very good relationships for many years with the hospitals in this area. We recognise that as a football club we have an obligation to help our community and we do everything we can.’

Buck also explained why Chelsea’s facilities and experience managing crowds helped make the pop-up vaccination centre at Stamford Bridge such a big success.

‘We have the kind of venue that is suitable for this, we have experience of moving people around efficiently in an organised way and we’re committed to doing a really good job working with the NHS, today, as we have done in the last year and as we will do in the future. So we’re perfectly suited to doing this.

‘This is just one of many things we’ve done over the last year and a bit, including providing hundreds of hotel rooms to NHS staff, thousands of lunches, working with mental health, working against domestic abuse. We’re part of this community, we’re in a difficult time now and we’re trying to do everything we can to help things.’

Pictures courtesy of James O Jenkins