Staff at the BIC’s vaccination centre marked the passing of Captain Sir Tom by taking part in the nationwide applause in his honour Staff at the BIC’s vaccination centre marked the passing of Captain Sir Tom by taking part in the nationwide applause in his honour. The 100-year-old, who raised almost £33m for NHS charities by walking laps of his garden, died with coronavirus on Tuesday February 2 after being admitted to Bedford Hospital on January 31. The Army veteran captured the nation’s hearts by walking 100 laps of his garden last spring during the first coronavirus lockdown, raising money for NHS Charities Together.
Preparation at the BIC started in December and the vaccination centre will open on Monday. Officials stated, at capacity, it will vaccinate 1,300 people a day, and more than 9,000 a week. Anna Chainey, Covid-19 service manager at the Dorset Healthcare Trust, said: “People have been going above and beyond to make this happen. This is the positive end of Covid. “Everything else with Covid is in not a very nice place and these large vaccination sites are really positive, but it is a marathon not a sprint, we are not going to get everyone vaccinated in the next three weeks. “For this programme in its entirety, the workforce of all the different elements of vaccinations across Dorset, we’ve had over 1,000 expressions of interest from staff to help out with that.