COVID-19 vaccine sites call in volunteers, retirees to staff rollout

As local jurisdictions tap into sports stadiums and other spaces to conduct mass COVID-19 vaccinations, they need both paid and volunteer manpower to run the sites efficiently. Public health officials, hospitals, and pharmacies across the country are looking to collectively hire thousands to administer and manage the injections; but people are also needed to help the health care staff. Volunteers can assist by drawing vaccines into syringes, running doses to the nurses who administer them, and observing recipients for adverse reactions to the vaccine. Others may be assigned to check in patients, enter data into electronic medical records, provide security, and even direct traffic. The influx of workers, both paid and unpaid, will offer relief to health care staff who are already overextended as they tend to patients already infected with COVID-19. Jurisdictions are tapping instead into the pool of student pharmacists, nursing students, and instructors; other medical professionals, including dentists and chiropractors; and retired pharmacists and nurses.