Vaccine Volunteering

Managing & Supporting Volunteers at the Vaccination Centres
Andrew Hanna, Volunteer Now

The team at Volunteer Now, British Red Cross and Ulster GAA have worked tirelessly to recruit, train and deploy 394 volunteers across the COVID-19 vaccination centres in Northern Ireland.  it has been impactful hearing the motivations of volunteers to get involved, and there are some very powerful stories.  Our volunteer team have taken on ambassadorial meet and greeter roles in the past at mega events e.g. Belfast City Marathon, Giro d’Italia, the 148th Open, so the current project is a very different one for us all.

When onsite at the vaccination centre to support volunteers, it is incredible to see how efficient and well organised procedures are – “like a well-oiled machine”.  The volunteers play a pivotal role in this efficiency, and the partnership between Health & Social Care staff and volunteers has been particularly strong, with a really cohesive and friendly environment being developed over time.  Their impact should not be understated, contributing over 32,000 volunteering hours to the vaccination rollout.

There have been so many memorable examples of our volunteers receiving amazing feedback from visitors at the centre e.g. “Thanks for everything you do!”, “You have made my day!” and much more.  We have even welcomed new volunteers to the team who signed up as they were inspired on their visit to get their vaccination.

Click here to read the full Blog Post on the Mobilising UK Voluntary Action website, including Volunteer Stories from Matthew Allen and Laura Crawford and Experiencing the Vaccination Centre from Dr Jane Gould and Professor Irene Hardill.