SOUTHEND’S Cliffs Pavilion could be used a mass vaccination centre as bosses insisted “everywhere is being looked at” to help speed up the vaccine roll out.

Council bosses revealed they are looking at a host of large buildings in the borough, including sports centres, and refused to rule out the possibility of using both the Cliffs Pavilion and the Palace Theatre.

When quizzed by the Echo, Trevor Harp, councillor in charge of adult health and social care, said: “If a site is big enough, it is being looked at.”

It comes as council bosses across south Essex raised concerns the NHS does not have enough staff to roll out both the Pfizer and Oxford AstraZeneca vaccines in time to help ease the draconian lockdown measures.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson set the ambitious target of jabbing 14million people in the arm by February to help ease England’s third lockdown.

Both Ian Gilbert, leader of Southend Council, and campaigners from Save Southend NHS fear there are not enough staff to help with the vaccine.

Kerry Smith, deputy leader of Basildon Council, urged the Government to utilise chemists to roll out the jab.

Both senior councillors feared lockdown will be in place for multiple months.

Mr Gilbert said: “Everywhere is being looked at at the moment, theatres, sports halls and the like.

“But the NHS is understaffed and has been throughout the pandemic. Capacity is an issue.

“You can’t take lots of staff out to help roll out the vaccine.

“Whether we come out of lockdown soon depends partly on the vaccine and the rate of infection. We may be in lockdown for some time yet.”

The Prime Minister set out his aim for 14 million people to be vaccinated by February as part of his address to the British people on Monday.

Mr Smith added: “Lockdown won’t be eased until Easter, that’s what I’m preparing for.

“We need to trust the chemists.

“”They can roll out flu vaccine at the moment, they should have the capability to do this one too.

“It would need to be appointment based to stop huge queues but that is achievable.”

A spokesman for Save Southend NHS admitted they have not been made aware or seen a recruitment drive for staff.

They said: “I would have expected my inbox to be full of requests to get staff to administer the vaccine.

“It’s now too late to recruit a lot of staff just for the vaccine. They will end up pulling people out of the frontline to do it.

“They will run out of staff to choose from.”