The UK’s covid vaccination programme continues at pace and has touched the lives – and upper arms – of millions. What are the security challenges for such a large-scale operation?
The Association of Security Consultants (ASC) is offering members, security industry colleagues and end-users the opportunity to hear from security people behind the vaccine rollout and the physical and cyber security they deployed.
A webinar runs on Thursday, June 17 from 10am, hosted by ASC chair Joe Connell. Speaking first is Richard Alcock CBE, pictured, the UK SRO for Covid vaccine security who was responsible for the end-to-end security of the vaccine deployment operation. He will talk about the security challenges behind rolling out the vaccination whilst ensuring UK Government reached the initial intended target of 15 million vaccines administered by February 2021.
A commercial view will follow from Barrie Millett, Director of Assurance, Security and Business Services for the FM contract company Mitie. Barrie was responsible for the protective security that carried out security surveys of more than 130 vaccination facilities in the UK over a few weeks. He will talk about work at speed and scale.
Last but not least, the health sector; Jayne King, the Head of Security and Site Services at Guy’s & St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust in central London – one of the largest and oldest hospitals in the UK. She has been responsible for the day-to-day security arrangements at vaccine sites across the UK. She’s besides one of the industry’s stalwart representatives as chair of the UK umbrella group Security Commonwealth, among many other voluntary posts over the years.
Joe Connell says: “The global pandemic has affected every facet of life and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. With further easing of restrictions just days away the nation is increasingly reliant on the continued success of the vaccination rollout to keep people safe.
“The large-scale vaccination rollout has thrown-up security challenges on an unprecedented scale. From the delivery, storage and then safe supply of the vaccine itself to the security of the individual vaccination venues through to the challenges posed in the cyber space by online scammers. Our latest ASC debate is your opportunity to hear straight from the security professionals who have been working around-the-clock to preempt and overcome each hurdle and ensure HMG maintained public confidence by reaching key delivery milestones.”
Visit https://www.securityconsultants.org.uk/member-events.
