South Somerset District Council staff help with Covid-19 vaccinations

And more of the South Somerset District Council (SSDC) team are expected to get involved in the next few weeks to help make vaccination appointments at weekends or in the evenings.

One person who has been making calls to residents and booking them in is Martin Hacker, a specialist in communications, marketing and media at SSDC.

He said the first few calls he made were "quite emotional".

"Speaking to people who haven’t been outside their homes for almost a year in some cases, who now will be stepping out to go for their vaccine for the first time – it’s almost like you are helping to potentially prolong that person’s life and bring some normality back for them," he said.

"It’s an immense sense of pride for me and means a lot to help.”

The staff have been making calls for the NHS and booking in vulnerable residents for their vaccinations, doing data inputting an admin tasks, helping to run vaccination centres by directing cars and so on, working with SPARK Somerset to manage volunteers and to share social media content to assist with NHS messaging.

“We fully recognise the importance of supporting the vaccination programme as this will be critical to getting us through the crisis caused by this COVID-19 pandemic," said leader of SSDC, Cllr Bal Keitch.

"Whilst we are fully aware that we need to provide services to the public, we are also assisting our NHS colleagues as much as we possibly can to get as many people vaccinated as soon as possible to help bring an end to this crisis.”

Staff who have been furlough from The Octagon Theatre and Westlands Entertainment Venue have been working at the Wincanton vaccination site to help with car parking duties.

Angie Cox, SSDC's democratic services specialist, has been redeployed to help manage a vaccination centre.

“In the beginning it was a little scary, we wanted this to work well and efficiently as possible," she added.

"It was great to see people so excited to come and receive their vaccinations and I was very impressed with the work being done by the doctors and practitioners.

"I am overwhelmed by the amount of volunteers that are working with us, for example from the North Petherton Rugby Club and the local Rotary Club. They are the real unsung heroes.”