THE large-scale Covid-19 vaccination centre at Chester Racecourse has received a shot in the arm thanks to scores of firefighters helping to administer the jabs.

Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service has provided more than 100 staff, trained by NHS colleagues to deliver the vaccine, at the county's newly-launched sites at the city's racecourse and Alderley Park, Macclesfield.

The fire service personnel are also assisting with administrative and support duties.

They are working vaccination shifts around their existing workloads where possible and, in some cases, volunteering their own time outside of working hours.

Assistant chief fire officer Alex Waller said: “We’re all in this together, and as a service we are keen to make sure that everyone can get a vaccine as soon as is practically possible – that’s why we offered our help.

“Our staff have been fully trained and have done hundreds of vaccinations – so even though it might seem a little odd to receive your vaccine from someone in fire service uniform, there’s really nothing to be concerned about.

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“I’m very proud of everybody who is playing their part in protecting our communities against this deadly virus – not just our firefighters and staff, but all the health workers and other volunteers too. It’s been a fantastic show of team work and community spirit.”

Clare Watson, accountable officer of Cheshire Clinical Commissioning Group, added: “I would like to express my sincere thanks to the Fire & Rescue Service who have efficiently and effectively joined forces with the army of volunteers to help protect our most vulnerable residents from Covid-19.

“The new vaccination centres at Chester Racecourse and Alderley Park Conference Centre give excellent access to vaccines for Cheshire residents.”

This is the latest example of Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service finding new ways to support its communities during the coronavirus pandemic.

Recent figures showed that staff had made, among other things:

  • 8,180 deliveries of prescription medicines to residents
  • 5,064 food deliveries
  • 1,371 visits to support vulnerable residents who were ‘shielding’
  • 1,316 pre-op Covid-19 swabs or tests

And as recently reported, the service has also expanded its Safe and Well visits to incorporate a courtesy service that involves home visits to ‘hard to reach’ residents to see whether they’ve been invited to receive the vaccine, and whether they require any assistance in booking an appointment or getting to a vaccination site.

All of this work is focused on helping to keep people safe.