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Organ Music Accompanies COVID-19 Vaccinations at Salisbury Cathedral

Organ Music Accompanies COVID-19 Vaccinations at Salisbury Cathedral

As the we continue to move into the beginning of the year, people are slowly queuing up as various COVID-19 vaccinations become available. We’ve recently seen images and videos of seniors or healthcare workers standing in line for hours as they wait with anticipation to get that long-awaited dose of, “a step forward towards normalcy.” In one particular instance, an anxious air of silence does not persist as a group of people stand in wait. Instead, many of those at Salisbury Cathedral in the UK shuffle forward peacefully one after the other as the cathedral’s organist in residence plays Handel; the sounds of triumph and hope echoing out of the 800-year-old pipes and throughout the halls, giving a unique soundtrack to this important experience for so many of these individuals.

David Halls, who has been playing at the cathedral since 1985, told The Times he had been playing Bach’s ‘Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring’. He said: “We’ve tried to provide something serene and soothing, and it’s been a privilege to take part. People have been really listening. We’ve even had applause.”

“This is the place where day by day prayer is offered for the healing of the city, for the healing of the nation. To be able to come here today to receive these lifesaving vaccinations, I’m just overjoyed that we can play our part in this,” said Reverand Nicholas Papadopulos, Dean of Salisbury.

The UK has presently vaccinated more than 3.8 million people with either the Pfizer/BioNTech or the Oxford University/AstraZeneca vaccine, and they’re working hard to keep the pace or better yet, accelerate it.

The government’s target is to give the first dose to 15 million people – priority being given to the over-70s, the clinically vulnerable and frontline healthcare workers – by mid-February.

Like Salisbury, Lichfield Cathedral and Blackburn Cathedral are among other places of worship to be used as COVID-19 vaccination centers.

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