NHS staff in the Western Isles were thanked by The Duke of Cambridge for their hard work during the coronavirus pandemic.
William spoke on the phone with Barra charge nurse Frances MacNeil on Thursday discussing her role as a vaccinator in the Covid-19 programme.
Ms MacNeil said she enjoyed speaking to The Duke of Cambridge: “Prince William was very knowledgeable about the vaccination programme and the geography of the islands. He asked about the logistics of getting the vaccine to the islands and how we were managing.
“We spoke a little about the challenges of unpredictable weather and reaching people in their own homes.
“He commented that of course so many of them had been unable to leave their homes during the past year because of the pandemic.
“I did mention to him that his grandmother knew Barra and Vatersay well as she visited on several occasions with her young family on the royal yacht Britannia.”
READ MORE: Covid Scotland: Barra outbreak 'cause for serious concern' as two hospitalised
Barra and Vatersay moved into the highest level of lockdown restrictions in mid-January following an outbreak of the virus, while the rest of the Western Isles moved into Level 4 at the end of last month after a spike in cases.
William has also paid tribute to the “hard work” of the military in supporting the vaccine rollout to the elderly and vulnerable.
During a video call with five military personnel taking part in the vaccine rollout, William thanked the group for their efforts, saying: “I really appreciate all the hard work you guys are doing at the moment. It’s making a huge difference.”
He added: “I hope we come out of this lockdown very soon and a bit more social contact and life can come back to normal as soon as possible.”
William hosted the video call on Wednesday last week, and asked Private Abigail Render, of 5 Medical Regiment, what challenges she faced.
She replied: “I think it’s trying to reassure people. You get two ends of the spectrum. Some people are putting their best dresses on and they are coming in and they are like ‘it’s my first day out in so and so’ and then other people are like ‘I’m really not sure about having this vaccine’.
“It’s just sitting down with them and reassuring them, like this is a step that needs to be taken for us to return to some sort of normality at all.”
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