On the 27th Jan, we shared a video on our social media pages – of a CNN Brazil news report filmed at the Marlow Vaccination Centre . At the time we wondered why Brazilian news were reporting from our town, especially as the clip shared did not really refer to Marlow!
It turns out that this was just one of a few reports from Marlow made by CNN journalists Denise Odorissi and Flávia Duarte, and in other reports they reported on the success of the Marlow Vaccination Centre, and interviewed various locals! Thanks to both journalists for commenting on our Instagram post to flag this up 🙂 We have embedded video of all the reports later in this article.
Marlow resident Dr Ricardo Petraco , a cardiologist originally from Brazil, told us that he helped facilitate the CNN visit. He added “CNN Brazil was very impressed by the set up organised by Olivier Picard and the rest of the community. It’s a mind blowing effort of volunteers and vaccinators. I have seen many different set ups in London and this is in another level. Well done all, Marlow should be proud.”
The MyMarlow team is sadly lacking in Portuguese language skills, but thanks to Marlow resident Renata Christian for confirming the gist of each news report! (As an aside, Renata’s fab local business can be found here https://www.facebook.com/rechristianscents/)
The image below are of Olivier Picard being interviewed – scroll to “Report 4” to see it in full.
Report 1 – 11:25 local time, Flávia Duarte mentions Marlow in her report
This report was about a unidentified bag that was left at one of the vaccines factories and it was treated as suspect device. Then Flávia says that the Marlow vaccination centre is located inside an empty office, since the employees are working from home – and all is very well organised. The centre has vaccinated 1,600 people so far.
Report 2 – 12:54 local time, Denise Odorissi reports from Marlow
This is the clip we shared originally, and although Denise is reporting from Marlow, the story is about Madrid and Europe in general and about the lack of the vaccines.
Report 3 – 17:18 local time, Denise Odorissi interviews Marlow resident Dr Ricardo Petraco
This news article was was at 17:18 Brazil time, and the clip should start at the point the interview with Marlow’s Dr Ricardo Petraco commenced.
Denise: we are going to talk with one of the 500 volunteers here at the centre, a Brazilian doctor , Ricardo Petraco. The centre works mainly with the help of the people from the community, how it does work?
Ricardo: Correct, as the vaccination service had to expand and get out of the hospitals in big cities like London, the communities needed to start to work. This centre where we are shows exactly this, the centre is managed by a local pharmacist and totally supported by local people. As a doctor, I live in the town and can help here with the vaccination, and my wife works here, my neighbours are coming to help, so it is volunteering work that helped the vaccination service to expand so quickly to help vaccinate the 65 million people in the UK.
Denise: we know that the vaccine orders are not being made in full, it’s a worldwide problem, is that also happening here?
Ricardo: it’s an worldwide problem but as UK bought vaccines much earlier and got logistically organised much earlier, we are a head of others but even so there is a big limitation in numbers. Our centre could receive up to 3,000 doses but only working with 1,200 at the moment, but we hope that will be sorted in the coming months as we get more vaccines approved.
Report 4- 7.02 the next day, Denise Odorissi interviews Oliver Picard, head of Marlow Vaccination Centre
Denise starts saying that UK wishes to vaccinate 15 million people by the end of February and that more than 1,000 centres were formed like the one in Marlow.
That Marlow vaccination centre works on the premise of a private business site, an enterprise between the NHS and the private sector – all administrated by a local pharmacist.
The local centre could vaccinate up to 3,000 people a week but delivery service is not regular yet, so it can change week by week, with 1,200 vaccines being administered at the moment, says Olivier Picard, pharmacist who runs the centre.
The centre is open 12 hours a day and is supported by 500 volunteers, a tiresome job but very gratifying.
Angela, a volunteer says: “I wanted to help, to be of use and myself and my friends who are helping here are very happy to be volunteering.”
Only over people over 80 are attending at present, like Phyllis, aged 89. On arrival they take her temperature, confirm her personal details and finally she receives the vaccine. She has to stay another 15 min before going home. The journalist asks how Phyllis feels: “I feel great, surprised” But she won’t go back to the life before the pandemic yet. “Not until I have my second one” says Phyllis. “I’ll stay put”
