ASDA has announced it will be the first supermarket chain to host a Covid-19 vaccination centre in one of its stores, and wants to roll this out nationally.

Using it's in-house pharmacy team, the supermarket is turning its George section into a vaccine centre to administer 250 jabs a day.

Asda has also offered every one of its stores nationwide with an in-house pharmacy - 238 stores - to be used as vaccine centres - which would include four supermarkets in the Bradford district.

The first Asda vaccine centre is opening in Birmingham, operating from 8am to 8pm seven days a week to help with the mammoth vaccine effort from January 25.

It will provide Pfizer/BioNTech jabs, while Asda has offered the rest of its pharmacies to help administer the Oxford/AstraZeneca jab as it is easier to store.

People in priority groups will be contacted by the NHS for an appointment and will have the option to select an Asda store if it is a convenient location for them. They should not contact the store directly.

Asda is continuing to work with Public Health England and the NHS to assess which of its other sites can help with the vaccine delivery programme.

In Bradford, Asda's stores in Rooley Lane, Cemetery Road, Shipley and Keighley have in-store pharmacies and may be suitable as vaccine centres, as does the store at the Owlcotes Centre in Pudsey.

Roger Burnley, chief executive and president of Asda, said: “We are incredibly proud to provide this service and are keen to do all we can to help the NHS and Government accelerate the rollout of the vaccination programme.

“We have an extensive nationwide logistics network that could support the storage and distribution of the vaccine and our highly-trained pharmacy colleagues are experienced in delivering large vaccination programmes, having recently provided nearly 200,000 flu jabs to members of the public.

"We are on hand to provide the NHS with any practical support required so that more people can quickly receive the vaccine.

"It’s crucial that we all play our part, support one another, and help take the pressure off the NHS.”