York school used for St John vaccination volunteers

A school in York is being used as a Covid-19 vaccination training centre for St John Ambulance volunteers.

St Peter's School, which claims to be the fourth oldest in the world, is one of 25 sites to be used to train people to administer vaccines to the public.

It comes as St John Ambulance were asked by NHS England to train their existing first aiders to help out.

The school will be used to host one-day courses at weekends for up to nine weeks, or until schools re-open.

Up to 90 first aiders will be trained each day.

Peter Ashton, from St John Ambulance, said: "I'm really excited to see all of these people just volunteering and giving their time free of charge, to get as much vaccination done as possible.

"If you are trying to vaccinate that many people - there are 70m in the UK - you need a huge number of people who can administer the vaccine."

Headmaster Jeremy Walker said: "We're one of the few venues locally that had the sort of space needed, so it's very easy for us to help out.

"To play a part is just great for us."

The independent school was founded in 627 AD, and well-known alumni include Guy Fawkes, composer John Barry, cricketer Jonny Bairstow, sports presenter Katherine Downes, and actors Greg Wise and Fleur Keith

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