A public protest has affected the opening of a new vaccination centre to help fight the Covid-19 pandemic.
Monday 30th August was set to be the day for the Brighton Centre to move its vaccination procedures from their premises to the former unit of Topshop inside Churchill Square shopping centre.
The plans were set to allow vaccinations to take place from 8:30am to allow the number of available patients to be treated, however this schedule was delayed after hundreds of protesting citizens gathered outside of the vaccination centre on Monday afternoon.
In the name of safety, the vaccine facility was forced to close while the protest took place, led by prominent covid sceptic Kate Shemirani from East Sussex.
She spoke to the waiting crowd, riling up and pushing those people to chant and display anti-vaccine messages on posters and placards.
The centre was then forced to evacuate following the release of a flare which triggered smoke detectors in the building.
Footage showed billowing orange smoke billowing from a rubbish bin and filling Churchill Square, with the shopping centre submerged.
Due to the situation that occurred, the local Sussex NHS service was forced to cancel all scheduled vaccinations, instead needing to rebook for a different day.
The current facility is taking over from the Brighton Centre to allow the building to go back to its intended purposes.
The unit formally operated by Topshop now becomes the biggest Covid-19 vaccination hub in the entire Sussex Community NHS Foundation Trust.
While there is a current low in the extent of the pandemic, with many vaccinations already received, the Brighton Centre delivered 3,000 daily doses at key times, with a total of 250,000 first and second dose treatments provided at the centre.
It is believed that the new location will be able to handle any potential re-emergence with the over 250 staff and volunteers all having been reallocated to the facility.
Photo Credit: Joshua Hoehne
