More used to wielding a camera than a needle, taking part in a national vaccination campaign was the “last thing” documentary director Mike Day expected to be doing before the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

But the 41-year-old is now one of an army of volunteers — many with no medical qualifications — being recruited to help deliver Prime Minister Boris Johnson's goal of vaccinating 15 million of those most at risk from the virus by mid-February, according to AFP.

“When I had the opportunity to do something that made a difference I definitely wanted to jump at it so I immediately signed up when I heard about it,” Day told AFP at a training session for 120 volunteers at Canary Wharf in east London.

Volunteers from all walks of life are among the 30,000 individuals who will be recruited by St John Ambulance to administer the Pfizer-BioNTech and AstraZeneca vaccines currently authorised for general use in UK vaccination centres.