Women in the COVID-19 Vaccine Centres
Meet three women in the Armed Forces giving COVID-19 vaccines across the United Kingdom.
In Scotland: Lance Corporal Cassie Thompson
Cassie, a Combat Medical Technician, has been working 12 hour shifts in a vaccine centre in Fife alongside the NHS. Cassie loves her role and is often assigned to the most nervous of patients, who require extra care. She set up a feedback wall at their vaccine clinic where patients could let them know how their experiences were.
Cassie always wanted to join the Army and left New Zealand (where her family had moved) to become a Combat Medical Technician in the UK. After eight years in the British Army, she is a Non-Commissioned Officer who gives medical trauma training.
One of her most memorable moments was meeting D-Day Veteran Harry Billinge at Normandy 75, where she helped the engineers plant 10,000 flowers along the beach as part of a memorial. She says it was hard work but it looked absolutely beautiful. The Army has been hugely supportive of her being a single mother to Arthur, 5, who was born on Remembrance Day.
Below is a picture of some of the notes she received from the public while working at the vaccine centre:
In England: Private Aimee Waters
Since January Aimee has been deployed in vaccine centres, giving priority groups their vaccination near Basingstoke. For her, it’s been heartwarming to see older people, many of whom have barely left home in the past year, dressed up in suits and excited for the event. Many of them were veterans themselves, or had children in the Forces, and were eager to chat to the personnel about their careers. Aimee’s only regret is that she does not have longer to chat with them.
A Combat Medical Technician for the past two and a half years, she has spent a few months working in COVID-19 testing centres. Aimee spent three weeks testing in schools, giving students weekly tests and testing a student’s bubble when there was a suspected infection. Before this, she was in the Armoured Troops maintaining Armoured vehicles.
In Wales: Corporal Sally
Cpl Sally, a keen musician since the age of 7, had no idea that 16 years into her military career she would be supporting one of the first COVID-19 vaccine centres in the country.
As a key worker, Sally also had the privilege of receiving one of the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccinations at the centre to keep her safe on the frontline. The vaccine was so seamless, she said, most people she’s seen didn’t even notice it had happened.
This deployment is a far cry from her career before COVID-19: inspired by a music teacher who was in the Territorial Army, Sally looked into a music career in the military and knew it was the right choice for her. In the vaccine centre she’s been supporting with admin, traffic direction, registration and many other non-clinical tasks.
Read more about her here:
