COVID: Veterans Help Staff New Vaccination Centres In Devon

A group of veterans are helping to staff two new large-scale COVID-19 vaccination centres in Devon.

Former service personnel from charity Re-act are volunteering in a variety of roles at the vaccination sites at Home Park Stadium, the home of Plymouth Argyle FC, and exhibition and event venue, Westpoint Exeter.

Paul Taylor, Operations Response Manager for the charity, said the veterans are hoping to be a "calm, reassuring presence" when welcoming elderly people into the centres as some "might not have been out of their houses for some period of time".

"They really just meet a calm, reassuring face from Re-Act, [the team] explain to them what happens and metaphorically, socially-distanced obviously, they hold their hand through the process back in their car safely and direct them home."

The addition of the two new sites means thousands of more vaccinations will be given every week in Devon and provide local people with a wider choice of options when they receive their invitation for an appointment.

They are among six sites launching across the south west, bringing the total number of vaccination centres nationwide to 50.

The two centres opened on Tuesday and began hosting their first booked appointments to people aged 80 and above.

Rosemary Court, 86, was among those to receive her jab. She told Forces News it means "everything".

The facility at Westpoint Exeter is being run by specially trained vaccinators and support staff, with help from dozens of volunteers, including those from Re-Act.

The charity has around 40 volunteers on call at each new vaccination site.

Re-Act volunteer, Dave Edwards, who left the Navy in 2000, said his military skills have been useful whilst volunteering.

"When you leave as a veteran, you have had a lot of training in this sort of crisis management - really good organisational skills.

"But I’ll also say in this sort of environment, you need a good mix of hard military skills - in terms of organisation, marching people - but there’s also the softer skills.

"We’ve got a lot of people turning up, elderly [people] who’ve been isolated for the last three months and it’s some gentle conversation showing them there’s some light at the end of the tunnel with this vaccine."

More than 5,000 military personnel are currently deployed on coronavirus duties.

Personnel have also begun carrying out the vaccinations.