Air ambulance crews receive COVID vaccine at Peterborough Hospital

The charity, who continue to provide 24/7 critical care support, did not have access to the vaccine to help protect staff. The Air Ambulance team have been providing vital support to hospitals across the region by transferring Covid-19 positive and critical care patients between hospitals, by land ambulance, to help manage capacity in intensive care units. They have successfully transferred 25 patients between sites since the start of the pandemic.

The teams received the Pfizer jab.

EAAA Medical Director, Doctor Victor Inyang, said:“At EAAA, we’re still responding to emergencies and providing critical care 24/7 in the region, as well as supporting hospitals with critical care transfers to help manage capacity in intensive care units.

"As an independent charity, not all of our clinicians are employed by the NHS and therefore did not have direct access to the vaccine. Our pilots are also not on the keyworker list to be vaccinated first, and remained vulnerable working on the frontline.

"We are hugely grateful to North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust who have offered vaccines to our frontline teams. Their support in securing our crews’ vaccinations will ensure we can remain operational throughout the pandemic and continue to save lives.

"We’re proud to be working alongside local hospitals and other keyworkers in this fight, and strongly encourage everyone to get the vaccine when it becomes available.”

Dr Kanchan Rege, Chief Medical Officer/Deputy Chief Executive Officer at North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust, added, “We are delighted to be able to support our colleagues at East Anglian Air Ambulance. The work they do is vital across our region, ensuring that patients receive vital care in a timely fashion. It therefore made perfect sense to support the team and help protect them by vaccinating crews who come into contact with known positive covid patients.”