#MeetTheVaccinators - Mum and daughter join vaccination team in Dorchester
Tracey and Flora Rowland are administering the life saving vaccine side-by-side.
As Dorset is set to hit the milestone of one million COVID vaccine doses this week, we're meeting the vaccinators who got us there.
Tracey and Flora Rowland, mum and daughter, both responded to the call for help rolling out the vaccine campaign.
As a dental hygienist Flora hadn't delivered a vaccine before. But, the NHS called on all sorts of medical professionals to help, and trained them up.
She told Greatest Hits Radio Dorset:
"I've been working throughout the pandemic but we got an e-mail from the NHS saying 'any staff, we would like volunteers to help be vaccinators'
"I thought, as a hygienist, would they want me to be a vaccinator? I applied and they needed all the help they could get and we ended up working together.
"We had a lovely day together in the rooms next to each other vaccinating."
Returning to the frontline fulfilled something of a dream for Tracey. She longed to go back to nursing when the pandemic started but she caught COVID-19 early on.
That meant she wasn't able to help.
"When this call came up to be a vaccinator, I thought 'now's my chance", Tracey said.
"I haven't worked on the frontline for quite some time and I just thought it was really important to help with the pandemic.
#MeetTheVaccinators: The stats
We can reveal that since the start of the UK Vaccination programme 80,000 people have signed up to be part of the fastest inoculation programme in history.
Working across more than 3500 sites, vaccinators have been issuing Pfizer, Astra-Zeneca, or Moderna jabs into arms since the 8th December 2020.
200,000 people also signed up to work as stewards to make the process run more smoothly and their commitment is paying off - so far more than 73 million vaccinations have been handed out, with more than 58% of the UK receiving both doses.
Both Tracey and Flora say they're grateful to have been part of the team here in Dorset.
Tracey said:
"In the early days it was sort of organised chaos, people had been in isolation, and it was the elderly that were called up first and they were quite bewildered.
"We didn't know what to expect so it was very much every pair of hands on deck.
"It was just a really great atmosphere and a team effort. I still feel privileged to be part of it."
Both are stressing the importance of getting jabbed to help protect the nation. You are now able to book your second jab 8 weeks after your first.