THE county's largest Covid vaccination centre will pause operations for a month from next week, to allow a cheerleading event to take place.

Concerns were raised last month when health bosses confirmed the Bournemouth International Centre (BIC) was set to stop administering coronavirus jabs to allow the Future Cheer International Cheerleading Competition to take place.

But with Boris Johnson's announcement that most coronavirus rules will remain for another four weeks after the planned June 21 unlocking date, question marks had been raised about the BIC's planned temporary vaccination hiatus.

However, NHS Trust Dorset Healthcare, which runs the vaccination centre at the BIC has just confirmed Covid jabs will be pausing from June 21, before restarting on July 19.

Kate Harvey, Dorset HealthCare service director, said: "We’ll continue to work closely with NHS England and all our partners to ensure that people can continue to have their vaccinations locally.

"Alternative sites are available on the National Booking System, including community pharmacies, with more coming on-stream soon.

"We are also looking into running pop-up clinics, particularly in areas where the vaccine uptake is lower.

"Many GPs also continue to offer vaccinations through their primary care networks so there are plenty of options.”

Although the cheerleading event, the largest of its kind in Europe, runs for just three days, a longer closure of the vaccination centre was needed to give enough time for the packdown and set up by both the NHS and the event organisers.

Speaking to the Echo last month, after we broke the story of the impending BIC vaccine centre pause, Ian Crow, organiser of the cheerleading event, said: "We are so pleased to be returning to the BIC and Bournemouth and the highlight of the year for so many people.”

Read more: BIC's Covid jab break - to allow cheerleading contest

The event does provide a boost for the town's hospitality sector, which has been hit hard by the pandemic.

The NHS says the BIC vaccination service has been a huge success since it opened on January 18.

Around 90,000 jabs have been administered at the centre.

There is currently availability at the BIC through to Sunday June 20.

Anyone eligible (currently everyone aged 21 and over) can book via the National Booking System (https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/coronavirus-vaccination/) or by calling 119.