Firefighters trained to administer Covid vaccines in Sheffield

Firefighters in South Yorkshire have been trained to deliver Covid vaccines in the fight against the deadly virus.
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Firefighters and fire service volunteers have been trained as vaccinators by St John Ambulance as part of a huge national effort from fire services across the country to help with the pandemic response.

The agreement will see firefighters and fire service support staff giving vaccinations at GP practices across Sheffield.

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Fire and rescue staff have delivered more than 250,000 vaccines nationally so far.

Chief Fire Officer Alex Johnson (right) and Marie Chapman from South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue's control room (left) are among those to have been trained to administer Covid-19 vaccinesChief Fire Officer Alex Johnson (right) and Marie Chapman from South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue's control room (left) are among those to have been trained to administer Covid-19 vaccines
Chief Fire Officer Alex Johnson (right) and Marie Chapman from South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue's control room (left) are among those to have been trained to administer Covid-19 vaccines

“Our purpose is to make South Yorkshire safer and stronger, which is why since the start of the pandemic we have stood ready, willing and able to help in any way we can,” said the South Yorkshire’s Chief Fire Officer, Alex Johnson.

“So far we have delivered food and medicine to isolated people, distributed 1.3 million pieces of PPE to frontline health workers and worked with military planners to identify vaccination sites, but we want to do more.

“That’s why we have supported our staff to get vaccinator training, thanks to St John Ambulance, and why we have offered our help to the Clinical Commissioning Group in Sheffield.

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“The vaccination programme is a huge national effort and, whilst I’m really proud that my staff have stood up and offered to contribute, I’m not at all surprised – as a service we exist to help people in need and that is exactly what we are doing here.”

Alun Windle, Chief Nurse and Covid Vaccination Lead at NHS Sheffield CCG, said: “Vaccines offer us the best chance of returning to normal and relaxing lockdown restrictions for good, it’s vital we keep on vaccinating people. The support from SYFR will help us reach the target to offer all adults their first vaccination by 31 July.”

The request for support from SYFR came from the CCG at a meeting of the South Yorkshire Local Resilience Forum on Thursday 27 May.

The forum is made up of public agencies from right across South Yorkshire – including fire, police and health services – and members have met every week since the start of the pandemic to co-ordinate the local response.

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The fire service’s core 999 response will not be affected by this work.

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