SALT LAKE CITY – Utah leaders said they were inundated with questions from doctors and non-medical professionals about how they could help the state in the weeks after the launch of the COVID-19 vaccine began.
Lieutenant Gov. Deidre Henderson provided an answer to these questions on Thursday. She revealed the state’s voluntary “call to action” effort that allows people with professional medical training to sign up to administer COVID-19 injections and people with no experience to help in other ways.
“We need a lot of people and we need medical professionals and others who can help and want to help,” she said.
Anyone interested in volunteering can do so by visiting UtahResponds.org. There, they can enroll in the statewide volunteer registry, used to organize volunteers. The site is open to all Utahns, regardless of whether they have professional skills with sick leave.
After someone signs up, he or she can obtain vitrified professional credentials and receive volunteer assignments from local health departments and the next vaccine clinics across the state. The site also allows people to see where volunteers are needed.
“We are asking people who want to help to sign up and be willing to work shifts of at least four hours,” said Henderson. “Please know that just because you signed up to be a volunteer, it doesn’t mean that you qualify for a vaccine.”
The deputy governor said there was an “immediate need” for qualified volunteers to administer vaccines or monitor individuals after being vaccinated. This group includes anyone who has received a medical license from the Utah Occupational and Professional Licensing Division, the Utah Nursing Assistant Registry, and the Utah Department of Health Emergency Services and Preparedness.
The list of people who may qualify for this need includes:
- Doctors
- Registered nurses, nursing assistants or registered nurses
- Registered temporary nurses or registered temporary nursing apprentices
- Paramedics or advanced EMTs
- Certified nursing assistants
- Podiatrists
- Pharmacists, pharmacy interns or pharmacy technicians
- Medical assistants or medical assistants
- Certified patient assistants or certified obstetric nurses
- Respiratory therapists
- Dentists or dental hygienists
- Optometrists
- Physiotherapists or physiotherapy assistants
- Occupational therapists or occupational therapy assistants
Henderson said that if anyone within the professions on the list does not have a monetary certificate to administer vaccines, the state will work with him to obtain certification as soon as possible.
If you have no medical experience, there are still ways to help. Henderson said the state will still need volunteers for traffic control, data entry and security. Details of all the functions Utah is requesting were posted on the state’s coronavirus website on Thursday.
“It may take a few weeks for us to use you, as we have these clinics across the state, but we can use vaccinators right away,” said Henderson. “We need you. We need you so much, and this is the bright light at the end of the dark tunnel.”
Governor Spencer Cox previously suggested that a volunteer program would be launched, especially when the state expects to receive more vaccines and vaccinate more people starting in March.
He added that “an enormous amount of planning” was needed to ensure that the growing supply of vaccines reached the arms of all Utah adults who wanted one, so they knew they would need all the help they could receive. The state has developed a special talent for volunteering, and the governor said he thanks everyone who has asked for help.
“We are grateful for the incredible volunteers we have in this state,” said Cox. “We will need you. We will need many of you. We will have to coordinate this in a way that makes sense and that we can use the voluntary workforce that we have here in the state. “