Health leaders have issued a fresh plea for more people to support the COVID-19 vaccination programme here on the Isle of Wight as dedicated teams work to ensure everyone receives their booster by 31st December.
The appeal follows the Government announcement that everyone aged 18 and over will be offered a booster by the end of the year.
The COVID-19 vaccination programme is the largest in the history of the NHS. A key part of its success continues to be the amazing contribution of an army of volunteers, as well as more than 1,000 members of staff across Hampshire and Isle of Wight who have been redeployed, come out of retirement, or given up their spare time to support. A further 500 people have been employed in the NHS locally for the first time, working as vaccinators and administrators.
People from all walks of life have come forward to support the programme in whatever way they could. Their generosity is one of the reasons that across the Hampshire and Isle of Wight footprint, over 3.3million vaccinations have been given to date.
To meet the latest challenge of the Omicron variant and the need to vaccinate more than 1 million people a day across the country, the Hampshire and Isle of Wight COVID-19 vaccination programme is recruiting to the following roles:
- Registered healthcare professionals to take consent, undertake clinical assessments, administer vaccines, or act as clinical supervisors. The programme can work with nurses, midwives, doctors, pharmacists, Allied Health Professionals, dental and healthcare scientists.
- Unregistered vaccinators. These could be people who already work in clinical settings or roles that require advanced first aid qualifications such as Healthcare Support Workers, lifeguards or nursery workers. They will be provided with full training and work under clinical supervision.
- Administrators to work alongside the vaccinators
- Volunteer stewards to help patients’ journeys through the vaccination process
Health leaders are especially keen for anyone who has already worked in the programme, particularly in the roles listed above, to come forward and offer their support again. Their prior experience will enable them to get up to speed and support the programme quickly and effectively.
Councillor Karl Love, Cabinet member for public health at Isle of Wight Council said:
“We join the call for people to come forward to support the vaccination programme on the Island. It is vital that our community have access to the vaccines and quickly, as winter takes hold and the we witness an increase in COVID-19 cases. From training to administer the vaccine and sharing your administration skills to helping individuals in the vaccination centres, you could make a difference and we urge you to come forward and play a part in boosting the immunity of our community.”
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Dr Matt Nisbet, GP Partner and Clinical Lead of the Hampshire and Isle of Wight COVID-19 Vaccination Programme, said:
“Across Hampshire and the Isle of Wight we have vaccinated over 3.3million people and we know that eligible people are keen to get vaccinated as soon as possible. We are doing all we can to scale up capacity to achieve this. The support of everyone working in the programme is vital in ensuring we can continue to vaccinate people and protect our families and loved ones.”
If you are looking for a way to make a difference and want to get involved in the vaccination programme please visit the Hampshire and Isle of Wight health and care website: www.hiowhealthandcare.org/get-involved/hampshire-and-isle-wight-working.
Hmm. One million a day? Really? How’s that going?
For Christ’s sake this drive to get more people to get jab after jab after jab on the backbone of the onicrom variant is getting insane . W.H.O. And Africa (where the variant reportedly came from) have stated that it’s spreadable but no worse than flu at its worst. Our government is hell bent on making the scenario worse than it is for their own agenda. Lie after lie is coming from this untrustworthy Tory government. Have a great Christmas whilst you can . 2022 doesn’t look good.
Why do you want to be ill and force others to be ill? There is an option so that if you do get it you’ll more than likely not notice. Get a vaccine. If you’ve not had a jab or any previous infection then you’re setting yourself up for illness that is preventable.You may never end up in hospital but why suffer two weeks for feeling rough when you don’t need it. As for what is going on in south Africa. They have a much younger demographic with a lot of people have natural immunity. No need to risk it. Get a Jab.
I didn’t say I haven’t had the jabs I quoted what anybody can look up on the internet. A much younger demographic wasn’t mentioned in their reports. And where did you get the statement that a lot of people have natural immunity. Surely the scientists would be clamouring for their antibodies if that was the case.
Where do you get vaccination training, to administer the Vaccine
Maybe if you knew how to read you would see they are looking for registered healthcare professionals to take consent, undertake clinical assessments and administer vaccines.
China.