CVST Vaccination Volunteers win Pride of Tendring Award

Tendring District Council has announced the winners of this year’s Pride of Tendring Awards and the Vaccination Volunteers from CVST have won!

The awards recognise unsung heroes from across the district.

This year’s awards celebrates the 10^th anniversary of the event, and follows an absence of the awards last year due to Covid-19.

All the recipients were officially recognised and presented with their award at a special ceremony at Clacton’s Princes Theatre, on 11 February 2022.

Aiming to celebrate advocates from all walks of life who make a real difference to those in their community, the awards are run by Tendring District Council (TDC) and are supported by the East of England Co-Op.

Vaccination Volunteers – Community Voluntary Services Tendring, has been announced as a winner.

The citation says: “When the call came through to CVST a few weeks before Christmas 2020 to support the first vaccination hub in the country with volunteers, it was all hands on deck to step up and help.

“Almost overnight, CVST’s volunteer co-ordinator, Nicola Vella, identified 21 existing volunteers who agreed to help in that first week.

“A massive volunteer recruitment programme followed, and the numbers soon rose to a total of 211 volunteers covering 3 shifts a day, 7 days a week in Clacton initially and within a month, in Harwich too.

“By the end of March 2021, volunteers had helped to process 99,999 vaccinations! Anyone who received their vaccination at the former St Helena site in Clacton or at the Fryatt Hospital in Harwich would have received a cheery welcome from one of the dedicated team who have racked up over 12,000 hours of volunteering in the past year and their volunteering efforts are set to continue for some time with booster clinics.

“Out in all weathers, they have been manning car parks, signing people in for their appointments, taking temperatures, filling in forms, keeping corridors flowing and providing invaluable support to our amazing NHS.”

At the end of 2021, CVST volunteers again rallied to the call for support.

Just before Christmas an urgent call for volunteers was made as the country raced to offer booster vaccinations to all eligible adults before the end of the year.

In a very short time, 100 volunteers were organised and manned the American-style ‘drive-thru’ vaccination centre at Harwich International Port, resulting in more than 3,000 vaccinations being given.

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