Brewdog's in talks about using its pubs as vaccination centres

We're living in very odd times thanks to the global impact of COVID-19. A lot of people and businesses are trying to do their bit to help us get through the whole ordeal. The latest business to put its name into the hat in this way is the ever-popular craft beer company Brewdog. In a tweet addressed to Health Secretary Matt Hancock and Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, the company's co-founder James Watt suggested that Brewdog's closed pubs could be temporarily re-purposed as vaccination centres!

Whilst Watt's suggestion might seem a bit off the wall at first, upon closer inspection actually makes a whole lot of sense! Brewdog's pubs have refrigerators which can be used to store vaccines. The pubs can also be divided up into seperate rooms and Brewdog's hospitality staff can be brought on hand to help out with the vaccination process.

In the time since Watt's initial tweet on 31 December 2020, Brewdog has been in talks with Minister for Vaccine Deployment Nadhim Zahawi and First Minister Nicola Sturgeon (who actually responded to the tweet). Watt has also been on BBC Radio 2 to talk to Jeremy Vine about what Brewdog is planning to do to help with deploying the vaccine.

Whilst Brewdog's efforts to help out during the pandemic have mostly been positively recieved, others aren't quite so sure about it. The company has faced backlash for wanting to offer a free beer to everyone who gets vaccinated in a Brewdog pub (“I don’t see how the NHS could possibly take you up on this offer. Provision of healthcare services and alcohol consumption don’t really go hand in hand,” wrote one commenter on LinkedIn when Brewdog put up a straw poll asking what the beer should be called) as well as from controversial men's campaigner Peter Lloyd over a case where a man successfully sued the company for £1000 after being told that he would only be sold beer if he was a woman.

Talks are still ongoing between Brewdog and the British government over the Brewdog pubs being used as part of the vaccine's deployment. If it works out that Brewdog pubs can be used as vaccination centres, it could geniunely help a little bit with getting everyone vaccinated!