Health bosses have let slip that Bath Racecourse is set to become a Covid-19 mass vaccination centre.

Swindon's Steam Museum is another site that could follow Bristol City home ground Ashton Gate's lead in offering the long-awaited jab.

GP surgeries in Bath, Swindon, Chippenham and Devizes are also set to start offering the vaccine from December 14, with others following over a two-week period.

Speaking at a CCG meeting on December 10, lay member Ian James said: "My understanding is a number of the sites we're going to be using – Bath Racecourse, Steam Museum in Swindon – are very difficult to get to by public transport, certainly Steam is.

"If we're vaccinating over-80s first it's going to be virtually impossible to get to the centres unless you've got a car. I'm worried we're going to worsen inequalities."

The army arrived at Ashton Gate stadium on November 30 to set up a mass vaccination programme. Tens of thousands of people are expected to be vaccinated against the virus there each week, although the region's first jabs were offered at Southmead Hospital.

Responding to Mr James, Jo Cullen, the CCG's primary care director, said: "We haven't named the sites as yet, they haven't gone through the final stages of assurance.

"Access is a really key part of this, for traffic management, public transport and even walking distance. All of that has gone into consideration.

"They need a size where you can lay out with social distancing and you can provide the service. There's a blueprint we've been working to.

"The larger sites outside, like Bath Racecourse and some other mass sites, there's a lot of work going on.

"There's talk about having transport to the sites for staff members, or indeed the public. A lot of that is still being worked through.

"We're trying to make sure all the sites cover different areas. At one point it was when you went on a national booking you got an offer of a site within 100 miles. That's some of the scale we're looking at."

Bath Racecourse's website says a taxi from the city centre costs around £10. On race days it offers a shuttle bus.

Logistical issues mean there are difficulties in getting the jab to residents, as the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine needs to be stored at minus 70C before being thawed out and can only be moved four times within that cold chain before being used.

Ms Cullen said: "When we talk about the PCN (primary care network) sites, they are in accessible places in the centre of a town. We have issues with our rural patches.

"We're considering all of that as we go. I don't think we have it all nailed down at this moment."

She added: "We have four sites that will be covering nine PCNs across Bath, Swindon, Wiltshire and Devizes. They're lined up to start from next week.

"We've got waves over two weeks. Part of the criteria is that people have sufficient over-80s to be able to vaccinate. The deliveries of vaccines come in boxes of 975 and of course it has a very defined shelf life. There are some tight time constraints."