St John’s vaccination group gains new volunteer: The Countess of Wessex

It had been announced that The Countess of Wessex has begun working as a volunteer at a vaccination centre in London, to help roll out the UK’s jab programme.

The Countess, who is Grand President of St John’s Ambulance, took up her place as a volunteer in a vaccination centre situated in south-west London on Thursday, after completing her training.

The Countess of Wessex is volunteering at a London vaccination centre with St John’s Ambulance (Daniel Lewis/St John Ambulance)

In a set of pictures released tonight, the Countess, wearing a green t-shirt which singles her out part of St John’s Ambulance, was pictured speaking to a number of patients preparing to receive the vaccination. Her job is to provide patients with information regarding the vaccination, take them through the vaccination process, and to offer reassurance if it is needed.

It comes just as The Queen urged others to get the vaccine, to ‘think of others’.

St John Ambulance is helping the NHS in the roll out and delivery of the Covid-19 vaccination programme. The organisation already has a team of over 10,000 volunteers and it expects to train around 30,000 vaccination volunteers this spring. Volunteers are giving training before being deployed to various NHS vaccination centres across the UK.

Sophie gives information to patients before they receive their vaccine; The Countess of Wessex is volunteering with St John’s Ambulance (Daniel Lewis/St John Ambulance)

The Countess is said to be ‘proud’ to have joined the team and a spokesperson for St John’s Ambulance said: “We’re delighted to welcome the Countess, as the Grand President of St John Ambulance, to a growing team of over 10,000 volunteers who are now trained and being deployed to NHS vaccination centres all over England, in an extraordinary collective effort to beat the pandemic.”

This is not the first time that Sophie has joined St John’s Ambulance to volunteer during the pandemic. In June last year, the Countess helped in the organisation of personal protection equipment (PPE) shipments for ambulance crew and hospital staff throughout the United Kingdom during a visit to St John Ambulance’s Operational Support.

Embed from Getty Images
The Countess during her June 2020 work with St John Ambulance

Sophie has been at the forefront of the Royal Family’s response to COVID-19. She’s carried out numerous video and phone calls to charities, hospital staff, volunteers and more. She has also been a keen volunteer for many things – helping to organise meals for NHS workers, pack parcels for food or prescriptions for those who are vulnerable.

The Countess of Wessex talks to a patient at a London vaccination centre on Thursday, as she continues with her volunteering during the pandemic. Sophie is Grand President of St John’s Ambulance (Daniel Lewis/St John Ambulance)

All the while, Sophie has been helping in homeschooling her two children – Louise and James – with husband Edward. The Earl of Wessex spoke about the homeschooling experience in a recent interview with Sky News.

Sophie’s hands-on approach during this current unprecedented period in history shows how the Royal Family are trying to adapt their work and to give the best impact in these difficult times, but also how the Wessexes are stepping into the limelight with the formal, permanent departure of The Duke and Duchess of Sussex.

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