Push for volunteers to help vaccination effort in York

The team at the Askham Bar site says they're working around the clock to hit new targets.

Author: Benjamin FearnPublished 28th May 2021

There's a call for more volunteers at the Askham Bar vaccination centre in York - to help speed up targets.

It's after the Government recommended cutting the gap between first and second doses from 12 weeks to 8 weeks, following concerns about the Indian variant in the UK.

Nimbuscare, which runs the Askham Bar site, worked overtime last weekend with 17-hr vaccination sessions operating into the night.

Professor Mike Holmes, Chair of Nimbuscare, said: "We have an amazing cohort of volunteers here - around 400 on our books - but as lockdown eases we're seeing some of them returning to their regular jobs.

"What we're looking to do is recruit volunteers to come and work on the site, support the vaccinators, help with the traffic teams and generally support the vaccine effort.

"This time last week the Government asked for the second doses in the at risk cohorts to be brought forward. We decided we would really go for it and try and catch up with the 8 week target as quickly as possible.

"Our teams worked right through the weekend, starting at 6am and finishing at 11pm; we vaccinated around 12,000 people, which was a phenomenal effort.

"It was so impressive to see all the staff agreeing to work longer hours for the benefit of the population. The volunteers that help us are absolutely critical - we couldn't do what we do without them and they make a huge difference.

"We're really keen to have more people volunteer to be part of it. It's clear that the vaccine programme has been a big success, it's likely to continue into a booster programme and we're going to need all the support we can from the local community".

People who are interesting in volunteering are being told to email at Nimbuscare.volunteer@nhs.net

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