AIPC, the International Association of Convention Centres; ICCA, the International Convention and Congress Association; and UFI, the Global Association of the Exhibition Industry, have come together once again to jointly produce the Good Practice Guide: Convention and Exhibition as Temporary Vaccination Centres.
This publication e aims to help convention and exhibition centres and event and congress organisers called upon by health authorities to convert part or all of their venue into a temporary vaccination centre.
This comes as a gowing number of convention and exhibition sites across the world have started operating as temporary COVID-19 vaccination centres, getting anywhere from 500 to over 6,000 people vaccinated every day at each location. At the same time, an increasing number of markets around the globe have begun to reopen business events with varying Covid-19 protocols in place.
The good practice conveyed in this document was collected over February-March 2021 from a range of AIPC, ICCA and UFI member facilities, and enhanced by insights and information made available through the associations’ joint Safety & Security Task Force.
The use of convention and exhibition facilities as vaccination sites is still evolving, and this document should therefore be viewed as a dynamic one, as new insights continue to emerge over time.
This guide complements earlier publications, which were produced and distributed within the last year, such as the Good Practice Guide: Addressing Covid-19 Requirements for Re-Opening Business Events – version 2 (and version 1 previously).
AIPC President, Aloysius Arlando, said in a statement: “As vaccination strategies roll out worldwide, event venues are once again playing a critical role in economic recovery as they transform themselves into vaccination centres. This collaborative endeavour, which features knowledge and insights from industry experts around the world, serves as an important reference for event venues to safely establish and operate a vaccination centre within their own spaces. It also firmly demonstrates the commitment of the business events industry to support the safe return of face-to-face events.”
James Rees, ICCA president, added: “The economic impact of global events generates the investment that makes possible the building of our industry’s venue infrastructure. It is good to see how venues worldwide have repurposed their facilities to help support government vaccination programmes.”
“Our industry’s support to the vaccination effort also benefits our whole industry ecosystem: rolling out vaccinations around the world in a fast and effective way will speed up the return of face-to-face events,” concluded Anbu Varathan, UFI’s President.
Following distribution, a dedicated UFI connects session is scheduled on March 31 to facilitate the implementation of the guidance provided in this publication and to assist members in interpreting its content into local actions.
To download the guide, click here.
