A SOUTHAMPTON charity that was praised by the Department of Health and Social Care for its work at the city’s Covid-19 vaccination centres is calling for more volunteers to help.

Communicare is seeking individuals to donate their time during the next stage of immunisations to provide support to people in waiting areas and get them to and from their cars.

Annie Clewlow, Communicare Manager, explained: “As lockdown begins to cautiously ease, there is even more urgency to work through the second stage of vaccinations and we are hoping to boost our volunteer numbers to keep up the momentum and continue providing support to those in the city that need it.

“We had a fantastic turn out during the first round of vaccinations, we were thrilled that 16 of our volunteers were part of the teams delivering immunisation sessions at the very start in December last year and we had a total of 42 volunteers continuing to help throughout January and we currently have almost 60. But we urgently need more.

“They joined other volunteers from other organisations to support sessions across: The Adelaide Centre, Ladies Walk Practice, Chessil Road Surgery, St Peter’s Surgery, NHS Oakley Road, the University Health Centre and have since added Bitterne Park and Weston Lane Surgeries. They undertook various duties to help with the smooth running of the day, this included meeting and greeting people, supporting people following their vaccination, marshalling in the car park and centres themselves and, of course, being a friendly and welcoming face.

“We have had some fantastic feedback."

To sign up to help for a few hours each week or more at local vaccination centres, visit the Communicare Southampton website.