To undertake a review of the Authority’s utilisation of volunteers, to support the response to the pandemic.

Members were given a presentation updating the Authority on the utilisation of volunteers, to support the response to the pandemic.

Group Manager Mark Thomas introduced the following presentation – Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service’s Covid Community Actions. 

Members were updated with the following timeline:

•      Covid19 arrived on the planet in December 2019

•      In January 2020, coaches from London carrying passengers from Wuhan were quarantined in Wirral (the start of the journey regarding Covid19 and the start of a huge multi agency response locally)

•      March 2021 (6 weeks later) lockdown began and before Boris had even given this lockdown speech, clinical trials to find a vaccine against the Sars Covid 2 virus had begun across the globe

•      April 23^rd 2020 (4 weeks later) Dr Elisa Granato a Microbiologist was one of the first two people to trial the Oxford vaccine on her 32^nd birthday on 23^rd April 2020

•      April 26^th 2020 (3 days later) she is reported to have died on social media.  These claims are untrue and reflective of anti vax principles – scare tactics.

•      MFRS officers co-opted onto various working cells as part of the multi agency response under the Local Resilience Forum (LRF), this split mid year to include vaccination cell which initially was focussing on hope that the flu vaccine would be delivered against a backdrop of Covid

•      Then in October 2020 the cell was given information that the plan would not be used for Flu but for Covid vaccines which were in the advanced stages.  Information was released that Covid vaccines would be ready (at scale) for deployment from 2^nd December 2020 and plans were drawn up to deploy.  It is hard to believe the pace. 

•      Structures were agreed through the LRF on a place based delivery model for Cheshire and Merseyside ~ 9 places

•      8^th December 2020 at 06:31 hours UK time, Grandmother Margaret Keenan was the first person in the world to be given the Pfizer Covid19 vaccine as part of a mass vaccination programme

Now MFRS started working… the protocol was changed in mid-January to allow non-medical professionals to be trained to deliver the vaccine.  The first North West mass vaccination site would be in Manchester, followed closely by St Helens.  Using our well established existing relationships with our health colleagues, it was asked what we could do. 

MFRS asked the Nation Health Service (NHS) could they help.  Conversations were then initially had with St Helens and Knowsley’s Local Authorities who were the designated workforce leaders for the vaccination programme.  They wanted vaccinators and admin staff, so to begin with 60 volunteers from MFRS were provided. 

All MFRS staff were asked if they would like to help.  Previously there had been 280 volunteers so a project team was put together to set up IT systems, establish priorities and make contact with the staff who had shown an interest. 

120 staff offered to be vaccinators and 55 offered to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 1.