UNC Greensboro employees Chris Roys and SaQuang Lam have been called up by the North Carolina National Guard to help vaccinate North Carolinians against COVID-19.
Roys works in Information Technology Services as director of administrative technologies and support. Lam’s day job is as assistant director for Student Health Services. But as National Guardsmen, they are always on call, and this particular mission may be the most important of their lifetimes.
The North Carolina National Guard has mobilized around 350 soldiers and airmen for the COVID-19 vaccine rollout. Guard members have organized into vaccination teams, which consist of six personnel: two medics to administer vaccines, two administrative staff to enter data into the state’s vaccine management system, and two logistics personnel. Teams are available to provide additional support at medical facilities, and they are designed to move to new locations and plug right into a county’s health department vaccination operation.
Maj. Lam is currently working as the Officer in Charge (OIC) at the Command and Control cell at Joint Force Headquarters (JFHQ) in Raleigh, and is helping set up, onboard, train, and support the teams being activated. He will coordinate where teams are deployed and which departments they support throughout the state.
Maj. Roys is helping to ramp up some of the teams that will support the various sites across the state. He will lead one of these sites for a couple of weeks and then transition to the OIC of a 35-person team responsible for the operations at a hub vaccination site.
“All National Guardsmen answer the call to serve either our state or country when needed,” said Roys. “As citizen-soldiers and airmen, we are always ready to deploy overseas in combat zones. However, it is especially gratifying when we know the people we are helping are our friends, families, and fellow North Carolinians with missions like this one.”
“We are experienced, trained, and ready for this mission,” said Lam.
