Latitude festival offering on-site COVID-19 vaccinations this weekend

Ticketholders to this weekend’s Latitude festival will be able to get their second dose of the coronavirus vaccine at a medical bus parked on site.

Those who are yet to receive their second dose of the Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccine will be able to drop in for a jab provided they have waited eight weeks since their first.

The bus in the Village area is open until Sunday (July 25). Additionally, festival-goers will be able to take lateral flow tests on site to secure entry and to prove mid-way through the event that they still aren’t infectious.

As Eastern Daily Press reports, tests are supplied at a tent near the entrance so that ticketholders can take another one if there are issues with their first confirmation, which gains them entry into the festival unless they can prove they are fully vaccinated.

Also in the Village is another stall containing lateral flow tests. Attendees who aren’t fully vaccinated are required to do another test 48 hours after their first.

Latitude is part of the government’s Event Research Programme (ERP) and is running at full capacity. The 2021 edition opened today (July 23) – with many people arriving yesterday (July 22) to set up camp – after it was cancelled last year due to the pandemic and it runs until Sunday in Suffolk’s Henham Park.

The 35,000-capacity event, set to be headlined by Bastille, Bombay Bicycle Club, Wolf Alice and The Chemical Brothers, had already been given the green light before the lifting of COVID restrictions, with festival organiser Melvin Benn announcing in June that it was part of the government’s ERP.

Those who have already had a second dose of the vaccine must have received it at least 14 days prior to the first day of attending the festival.

As a test event, Latitude is going ahead with no social distancing requirements.

In other news, yesterday (July 22) Fontaines D.C .pulled out of the festival after a band member tested positive for COVID-19. Alfie Templeman also cancelled his performance after contracting the virus.