'I am the lucky one' - King's Mill 'jab hero' on Lorraine after Boris Johnson namedrop

In a press conference on December 15, the PM praised the efforts of vaccination teams around the country as he announced the government’s plans to drive booster jabs in a bid to address rising cases of the Omicron variant.

He singled out Kim Kirk, operational lead at the Sutton hospital’s vaccination hub, which prompted Kim’s phone to begin pinging with messages and calls from her shocked family, friends and colleagues.

Kim appeared live on television with Lorraine Kelly on December 16 to speak about her efforts and the shock of Boris Johnson reading her name out as he addressed the nation.

She told Lorraine: “I was in the vaccination hub on a call when my phone started going off – my husband rang and said ‘you’ve had a mention from Boris!’ which was a huge surprise.

"This is a massive team effort, and to lead this team each day is an absolute privilege.

"It’s amazing to see everyone come together to vaccinate our community and help keep everyone safe.

"They’re hard working and determined, they always dig deep, so I feel like the lucky one really to be part of it all.”

Kim was asked to lead the vaccination efforts for just four weeks initially, but is still overseeing the vaccination programme more than one year later, as the government announced their aims to ‘supercharge’ the vaccination programme.

The Prime Minister, together with the NHS, launched an urgent national appeal on December 12 calling for people to get jabbed, as he outlined plans to significantly increase NHS vaccination capacity.

Every adult in the country is now being urged to book their jab as soon as possible, with additional sites being opened and vaccination appointments being increased.

Kim continued: “Our message to those who want to get a booster vaccine is to book an appointment using the national booking system, we have thousands of appointments available across the Nottingham and Nottinghamshire system and we are working hard to bring more appointments online every day.”

Vaccinations can be booked here.

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