London | In omicron Britain, more and more Premier League soccer matches are being cancelled, as COVID-19 ransacks the teams’ benches. But that doesn’t mean the stadiums will be empty at the weekend.

Both Wembley Stadium and Chelsea’s Stamford Bridge will be repurposed as giant walk-in clinics for booster doses of the COVID-19 vaccine. An army of volunteers – possibly literally, as troops will be deployed in some locations – will shepherd what Prime Minister Boris Johnson hopes will be hundreds of thousands of willing Britons into a nationwide collection of pop-up jab factories.