Covid Vaccine - Temporarily locked
Comments
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What prompted you to call?
Because they were asking qualifing people to do so and I live in their wider catchment area.
I have since ascertained that another centre is being established next week and they intend to contact people to come in for their vaccination rather than asking them to call in.
peedee
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Obviously there are some on here who are posting to criticise the government, I think we recognise their views and in recent years we haven't had the opportunity to see an oposition in power and find out what they would do in these circumstances. It's a worlwide outbreak and most countries are struggling. We are luckier than some, we have a vaccine roll out, it won't go perfectly, the logistics for miliions of people are enormous and the patience of many will be stretched to the limit.
The OP posted the good news about the vaccine in November and production got under way. I'm glad that manufacturers have the know how and skills to rise to this challenge, 24 hour production is very hard work for those doing it. I for one appreciate the efforts involved.
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Hi PD, The advice on the NHS UK website says;
Wait to be contacted
The NHS will let you know when it's your turn to have the vaccine. It's important not to contact the NHS for a vaccination before then.If people are being told/advised to call it looks sadly like another example of the, often understandable, confusion/mixed messages that has accompanied the pandemic.
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Look around you, we are not alone in our struggles, countries such as France , Spain, Italy , South Africa, South Korea starting to come into the mixand have many of our problems, France as of yesterday had vacinated just 540 people, what is your answer to all these problems, we all wait with baited breath
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But it depends which might be the more efficient system? As I mentioned here in Milton Keynes there is a number to ring to make an appointment, the responsibility is firmly on the patient to do the work. Trying to contact people individually could be very inefficient as people might not answer the phone. When people phone all the health authority operative has to do is to tell you when you can come and the appointment is made there and then. In my view far more appointments can be made this way.
David
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Good post. I always maintain that when one puts ‘humans’ in charge, at some point it’s bound to go pear-shaped. Logistically, I can’t think of anything on such a scale, in peacetime. I’m sure we don’t know half of what goes into trying to organise something like this. To my mind, there were always going to be problems, that’s just the nature of it. I guess we all want to get this done ASAP, but I do think we need to exercise patience and cut a little slack.
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You make a good point David but that only works if you can get a reply when phoning or are told how long you have to wait to speak to a booking agent. I can see a situation where the phone lines will be permanently busy and it will be pot luck if you ever got through. I also think MK hospital needed to be more specific as to what is the local area they are targeting. I suspect it could just be the city area?
peedee
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You couldn't make it up, could you?
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When the flue vacine is first rolled out in this area our surgery does them in alphabetical order with dates and times or each days capacity it may well be this efficient system will be used with the ages groups
our local lloyds pharmacy did vacins at 15 min intervals so it could well work with the covid vacine ,with the 15 min wait after the jab
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Our post has just arrived ,he had a parcel for us (normally about 1000 1030) he says that they are very short of staff as the latest covid is causing havoc with both letter and parcel post ,and says other parcel companies are having similar difficulties
Just watching our local bbc news and they have been at the ICU at Norwich hospital and they are now seeing much younger adults 40_50 yrs being admited with covid ,they are also struggling, with staff shortages because of sickness and having to isolate
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I have been told that one of the requirements for a vaccination area is a large car park. None of the surgeries in my town have this and they have decided to set up shop on a sports club's ground. I can hardly see a high street chemist being able to meet this requirement either.
peedee
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I could be wrong about this, but I wonder if the reluctance to allow the chemist to administer the injection is something to do with the 15 minute wait? Presumably, the 15 min is there to identify if the recipient has any after effects to the vaccine. If someone is unfortunate enough to get an 'adverse reaction', would the chemist have the necessary expertise to deal with an emergency, should it occur? If it is done at a Doctors surgery, then there would, presumably be someone able to deal with an emergency.
I do worry about the 'Surgery will contact you' advice. In September, I rang our local practice to book in for a flu jab. I was told that they hadn't had the vaccines arrive yet, but they would contact me in due course. The vaccine eventually arrived and they started rolling it out locally. When I attended an appointment for another regular injection, I happened to mention to the nurse that I was still awaiting a call -re flu jab. She expressed some surprise that I hadn't yet had the phone call, giving me the impression of an oversight..... You can now imagine what is going on in my mind..... If they did forget to ring me for the flu injection, are they going to forget to ring me for the Covid injection.....??
David
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Hi David, Clearly if you were told to contact the booking line you would, but how were you told?
It seems to me, on the info available, that the only way that the NHS can be sure you know is to tell you personally and at that time they could make your appointment.
I think the demographic of the people in line to get the vaccination at the moment suggests they would likely as not be quite easy to contact, even more so since Monday and the latest lockdown.
As I said I am surprised as the message down here is do not contact the NHS.
One issue we have is that our GP surgery has teamed with others and are delivering the vaccine, the Phizer one, at a location some distance away, over 20 miles, and there will be many who do not have the ability to get there with no transport of their own and no public transport to our village so can see that there may be some who will be missing out, at least in the first round.
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Assuming you have a mobile phone, it might be worth phoning up the surgery, to make sure they have your number on the system. Funnily enough, I phoned the surgery this morning to inform them that I’d changed my phone, so therefore a new number. All very straight forward.
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so you're saying that those extra 200 were somehow unexpected? A total surprise when they happened? If so no one looked at the numbers before and made even the most very basic projection?
We're just talking 24 hours here from complete 'everything is OK for schools to open' said with complete confidence to to shut them down asap.
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I didn't see that but exactly my point Freddy.
While Chris Witty was giving that advice on the 3rd , Boris and the ministers (a new boy band?) were saying with complete confidence all that day that school should stay open, the decision to close them didn't come until the evening of the 4th.
Don't get wrong I'm not saying things should not move quickly just that from one side to another in terms of the complete confidence on the Sunday, that was surprising to me Surly they knew what the numbers would be even on a basic level?
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There have been many changes recently.
I seem to recall that the OAZ vaccine was trialled with one 0.5ml dose followed by another two to three weeks later. The first dose produced a 40%-45% immunity. A second dose given two to three weeks later produced about 70% protection. By a happy mistake some volunteers were given a half dose first (0.25ml) followed two to three weeks later by a full dose and about 90% immunity was achieved. This information was the bases upon which the drug was approved for emergency use.
Since then we have been told the first dose produces about 70% immunity and we can wait four to twelve weeks for the second dose but there have been no trials to support this. Neither OAZ or the MHRA have stated they approved of this protocol or have I missed it?
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I too agree with brue’s Post. And yours. There simply hasn’t been anything, certainly in my lifetime on the scale of this emergency. So why not look to history, consider it a form of warfare, albeit one we cannot see, or hear and simply do not know how, when or where it will strike next.
Everything now is catch up, because some basics didn’t happen.
There are fundamentals to put into place. Ideally you want good decision making, and unity. So, cut out the Party Politics, consider a coalition, putting people who are good at things at the top regardless of political affiliation. Get the media on board ASAP, people believe what they see, hear and read, and our papers are notoriously politically affiliated.
Then think about what you need. Doesn’t matter what you are planning for, it will need things like staffing, equipment, locations, logistics, finance, public order and security. Have someone who understands these fully to oversee a working group in each area, utilising as many inputs as you can. Local NHS, local Government, local transport, local business, local emergency services, local schools, local MPs. Get them on the ground to find out where you can source equipment, materials, staff, the kind of transferable skills that might be required. Can things be utilised away from normal day to day operations?
We have logistics experts in this country, from supermarkets down to someone who runs the corner shop. They know about getting enough things to the right place at the right time. But best of all, we have the military. Don’t be frightened to use it, unarmed, in a variety of roles, wherever, whatever, supporting other areas of work.
Support for police to ensure compliance with guidelines, for a given, dated period, constantly reviewed. A zero tolerance policy for anyone flagrantly undermining guidance, regardless of who or what they are. Make the population believe that everyone is being treated equally.
People. Transferable skills, utilised while on furlough. Locally organised and co ordinated, feeding into a central effort.
Co ordinate all areas of Education better. (Even in wartime schools were open) Local providers will be best placed to know what is required, a dictat from on high, particularly if it’s a threat doesn’t win support. A one size fits all approach just won’t work at ground level, it needs more localised input.
I am sure that there will have been many aspects of the above that are in place, and are working reasonably well, but others have been disregarded, and simply not considered. It’s a National Emergency, requiring something beyond one political party, of whatever name taking all the decisions. Utilise every bit of expertise you can find, at whatever level to maximise your resources. It’s stops you being a target for criticism, it gives the impression of working together, it helps prevent some of the knee jerk decisions.
I forgot one other basic as well. Shut overseas travel down, except for absolute emergencies and bringing resources in/out. We are an island, and it can’t swim. You wanna go, fine. Just don’t come back for a while, and not without a certified negative test. (That’s a rabies history lesson, it did actually work quite well)
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I imagine that once the advice was given, there would have been meetings going on (behind the scenes) to discuss the implications and practicalities of closing schools and the reality of the situation, before the decision was made. We’ve seen plenty of U-turns throughout this, but considering the ever changing nature of this epidemic, I think that’s a good thing. I’m certainly not trying to defend Boris, but to me, he’s followed the advice given, in this instance at least.
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About a third of the cards we received did not arrive until after Christmas, and even since Monday we have had quite a few. Today we got a pile of junk mail. Good job there were no letters about imminent medical appointments.
One that came yesterday was postmarked December 21st, In Glasgow. It had a first class stamp on it and was unsigned, but we recognised the handwriting, it was from a neighbour 4 doors up the street!
Now wondering if she is OK, or possibly unable to go out. No use going up to find out as she has no door bell, does not answer a knock on the door unless she is expecting you, and keeps her phone unplugged unless she wants to make a call!
We also had a card saying to come and pay £2 to collect a letter with insufficient postage......they can return that to the sender.
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A coalition, really! Then Keir Starmer would have nobody to blame (except himself).
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