Monday December 13, 2021: The increased pace of COVID-19 booster jabs means hugely increased demand for St John Ambulance’s team of vaccination volunteers and the charity is calling on every trained vaccinator to do their bit.

In response to the health emergency outlined by the Prime Minister on national television, last night, the charity’s Head of Community Response, Adam Williams says: “St John Ambulance recruited and trained almost 30,000 vaccination volunteers - including 20,000 vaccinators - between November and March.

“If everyone who trained to vaccinate with St John steps forward now - even for just two six-hour shifts - we will have more than enough people to do everything that’s required of us over the next few weeks and help the nation get ahead of the Omicron variant.”

Since the start of January, the charity’s volunteers have delivered millions of COVID-19 and flu vaccinations through 850,000 hours of volunteering.

All vaccination volunteers have been emailed over the last few days, with more details of how to book shifts. St John Ambulance’s online support systems for vaccination volunteers are being updated regularly, as new locations open and opportunities to vaccinate become available.

And England’s Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Professor Jonathan Van-Tam has joined the rallying cry, writing to every St John vaccination volunteer with the following message: “The vaccination programme has succeeded in achieving levels of protection previously unimaginable. You were a huge part of this achievement but now we need your help again to deliver booster vaccinations at a real rate of knots.

“It’s going to require a Herculean effort and I am asking you personally to be a part of it by undertaking vaccinator shifts as soon as you possibly can.

“Through your efforts, St John Ambulance has so far helped countless people; please [help us] make sure we get the boosters delivered and save even more lives, protect our families, our communities, and our NHS.

“Thank you for stepping up. JVT.”

As St John Ambulance reaches out to its team of trained vaccination volunteers, asking for more help with the booster programme, the charity is also seeking expressions of interest from potential new recruits, in case there’s a need to further escalate its contribution; a form is at the bottom of this page: