News articles

RAF Personnel to support vaccine programme

175 RAF personnel are administering Covid-19 vaccines and helping with planning to maximise the effectiveness of the booster rollout.

Image shows RAF personnel administering a vaccine.

As part of the government’s accelerated rollout, aviators have deployed across England and Scotland to support the NHS in various roles in the fight against the Omicron variant of Covid-19.

The RAF are part of a wider Defence effort in response to a request from the NHS to ensure the booster is available to as many people as possible. Military staff were drawn at short notice from units across the UK.

The vaccinators are part of a network of military personnel who are supporting the NHS at all levels. A team of logistics specialists were drafted in to work in the NHS Headquarters in London and military planners are supporting NHS regional staff.

Image shows Senior Aircraftman Bevan.

Senior Aircraftman Bevan (pictured) was one member of RAF team that deployed to Southampton to support an NHS vaccination centre. He is originally from Newport in South Wales and usually works at RAF Brize Norton, he said:

“This is completely different to what I would usually being doing, it’s nice to get out from behind a desk. I feel as though we are really making a contribution to the national effort. We’ve had a couple of comments from people coming in to get vaccinated saying they weren’t expecting to see this type of uniform!”

Senior Aircraftman Bevan,
RAF Brize Norton