A snowy north London on Sunday afternoon and there was no happier place to be. I joined a small army of around 50 people to help get nearly 2000 people vaccinated over the weekend.

When I arrived this afternoon for the second Sunday shift (clinic was open 8am - 8pm) people were queuing to get in. But even outside work was being done: volunteers were filling out questionnaires involving name/ date of birth/ NHS number & ethnicity for each person.

Inside, a team of 8 volunteer doctors were assisted by volunteers acting as marshalls and data inputters. That was my job today, assisting a doctor as he handed out the Oxford/ AZ vaccine to a steady stream of people.

This was all done unbelievably fast: the aim was to vaccinate each person in two minutes from the moment they plonked their bottom on the doctor’s chair. We are now on the third tier of people needing the vaccine: the over 65s.

For the inputters, we had a complex form to learn to fill in. The question about consent needed to be ticked in 3 different ways. Other things we needed to input was the batch and make of the vaccine: this ensures that if someone has a bad reaction that batch can be explored.

Some people were upset they were getting the Oxford &not the Pfizer vaccine - especially with today’s news questioning its effectiveness against the SA mutation. One woman who is a carer for her terminally ill partner refused to have it. But most were happy to just finally it.

In many you could physically see the relief when the doctor said: ‘That’s it!’
‘Just like that?’
or
‘Already?’
They reply, surprised that this much-vaunted thing the whole world is talking & even fighting about can be done so quickly and painlessly.

Some were teary, some were scared, some seemed almost nonchalant. They were all incredibly grateful. The patients represented a rainbow of nations who have all made the UK their home and I was pleased to see some of the ethnic groups who are known to be vaccine-sceptic.

In fact a few people brought up how stunned they were that anyone would turn it down. As a volunteer you can’t help but feel excited to be part of this mammoth communal effort. This is how we kick Covid in the butt!