Volunteering has put us ahead in the war on Covid

receiving a vaccine jab takes a matter of moments – so it can be easy to forget the scientific marvel that created it. The world’s scientists rushed to create the several vaccines we now have following the coronavirus outbreak.

Lives have been saved because of that huge effort.

But it’s also all too easy to overlook the individuals who have volunteered to be in clinical trials to ensure the vaccine’s safety and efficacy.

As we report today, Portsmouth Research Hub – based at Queen Alexandra Hospital – has played a role in identifying which jabs can be used as a booster.

Step forward retired radiographer Kate Hedger, 62, who saw it as her duty to help researchers identify which ones work.

‘It sounds really cliché to say but I wanted to do my bit, I wanted the trial to be a success,’ she says. ‘I didn’t want to retire and have no knowledge of what’s going on and I felt that being a part of this trial helped.’

She also talks of her pride in supporting the Covid effort.

And so she should. The horror of the coronavirus pandemic can be counted in case rates, deaths, and hospitalisations.

But it can also be counted in the number of people who time and again step forward to help others in need.

Whether that be in clinical trials on one end of the spectrum, or delivering shopping to those who were shielding at the peak of the pandemic.

Many in the wider Portsmouth area took on extra burdens in helping each other when it mattered the most.

Kate’s efforts in volunteering for the booster research – and we know many others will have made the same decision to help – is a reminder of the good that has been brought out.

Long after Covid is a distant memory – and we hope that will be the case – selfless volunteers who did their best will be remembered.