Penrith Auction Mart was a hive of excitement and activity yesterday morning as it prepared itself for its opening as the first Large Vaccination Centre (LVC) in North Cumbria.

The first people to receive their COVID-19 vaccines at the centre, which is also the sixth LVC in the North East and North Cumbria region, recieved their jabs from around 9.30am.

The centre will now be operating from 9am to 5pm five days a week.

Amanda Krawczyk who was one of the first members of the public to receive her vaccine was over the moon to find out there was centre on her doorstep.

“I wasn’t expecting to get it [the vaccine] done this week, or in Penrith,” said Amanda, a local of the Eden Valley town.

“Most of the people I know who have had it have had to travel to either Morecambe, Lancaster or Workington and and that’s quite a distance.

“To discover that I could just drive two minutes and get it before I go to work was amazing.

“I have young children, so I’ve also got to consider dropping them off and picking them up from school.”

Amanda, who works in the Art Department at the Ullswater Community College, said the process was easy and that she was looking forward to getting back to some sort of normality.

She added: “I’d heard that the injection was quite painless and quick from friends who have had it and it was exactly that. The lady was chatting away to me and I didn’t even realise it had happened.

“My only anxiety is whether or not I will have any side effects.

“There are family and friends I haven’t seen in such a long time and being able to go to art galleries and museums again is something I’ve really missed.”

In North Cumbria around 140,000 vaccinations have taken place, and the centre's opening day felt like another milestone for the area.

NHS Manager of the new Penrith Centre, Jalibani Ndebele, said: “We’re really excited for the community. We want to provide a really robust and efficient service to our clients, not only to keep them safe and healthy, but also so they can eventually go out and see their families and open up businesses again.

“It’s a huge milestone. Setting it up took a lot of effort alongside other organisations, but to be able to find a centralised location that people can easily access was important. It is also a big opportunity to show that we are here and we are on hand to provide services to the community.

The centre hopes to vaccinate around 1,500 people in its first week. This will increase as the centre expands. 

Volunteers and members of the army, St John Ambulance, and fire and rescue service were all on hand to do their bit and help out.

It was a particularly special moment for the fire service, as Chief Fire Officer for Cumbria Fire and Rescue, John Beard, explained: “It’s fantastic that the fire service are involved in this. We’ve been involved in centres in the South of the county as well, but we’ve probably got greater involvement here.

"And for the first time, the fire service are actually going to be administering vaccinations as well, so we’re really proud that we’re able to contribute in that way at Penrith.”

Nine out of 10 people aged 65 and over have already had their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine in the North East and North Cumbria region and in North Cumbria around 140,000 vaccinations have taken place.

Chief Operating Officer for the NHS Covid Vaccination Programme for the North East and North Cumbria, Professor Neil Watson, said: "If someone had said to me that we would get to this point by the end of March, I would have said they were in cloud cuckoo land. It's amazing that we've got this far."

The NHS recently warned of a reduction to the UK's vaccine supply in April due to delays.

However, Professor Watson said he does not expect its impact on the vaccine roll out to last too long. 

He added:"As many vaccines as we get go strait into peoples' arms. We are hoping that will continue and we know that during April the supply is not going to be as high as we would like it to.

"We are fully expecting that vaccine supplies will improve again and increase significantly when we get into May.

"It is a little dissapointing, but we musn't forget how well we're doing and the pace of the vaccination programme nationally and locally is amazing."

On whether he feared vaccine scepticism could have an impact on the local rollout, Professor Watson said:"All I can do is reassure people that we know these vaccines are incredibly safe and effective. 

"The evidence coming through on mortality and morbidity shows that less people are dying and getting seriously ill when they contract COVID-19. We know that the chance of people passing on the virus is less as well. 

"The evidence for the effectiveness of the vaccine is really good and we know that the safety profile is also excellent.

"It's treated like every other medicine that's fairly new on the market. It's monitored really closely and every adverse effect is monitored and scrutinised."

NHS England are now inviting everyone aged 50 and over to have their vaccination. This will be either by letter or through a text alert from the National Booking Service.