Are we vaccinating fast enough?

[SonicTheSorryRabbit]

Do you think the government is doing a good job of ensuring the maximum number of people possible receive the vaccine as quickly as possible?

Any suggestions on how the process could be speeded up? Should medics in PPE start going street by street in the worst-affected areas and vaccinating people at their front doors to minimise time and vaccine wastage from missed appointments? Also, infection risk from large numbers of people travelling to the same location to receive the vaccine.

No, not fast enough at all.
Production and supply chains are just part of it

I think it’s a logistical nightmare, but going door to door will surely be even more complex than trying to arrange them at a central location?

I think generally they need more vaccine centres set up, the more the better - but of course that’s easier said than done. And they need staff to do them.

I know there was talk of during 24 hour vaccinations (so might be an appointment at 3am etc) - which I think could be effective - but again, you need the resources to do that.

GPs have been told to limit vaccine waste to 5%. But why is this wastage happening? Shouldn't we be sticking a needle in the arm of anyone of whatever age who wants the vaccine, rather than letting it go to waste? Even if they have to pull people off the street.

What is the reason for not allowing pharmacists to vaccinate people do we know?

Aren't boots and Tesco's getting involved now? We certainly need some organisations with experience in logistics to sort things out, since the gov't don't seem capable.

No I would like to see local pharmacies being allowed to give the jab in the same way as they do the flu jabs.

@hannahbull

Aren't boots and Tesco's getting involved now? We certainly need some organisations with experience in logistics to sort things out, since the gov't don't seem capable.

I agree. Every team that has just finished the flu campaign is best placed to do it.

Israel have got it right. They are using the army and reservists, calling up large numbers to large venues and lining people up to give them the shot. Then at the end of the day any vaccine left over is being given to anyone who they can pull in off the street.

It is very difficult indeed logistically and my mum's vaccination was done incredibly quickly and efficiently. However, because they are starting with the very old - quite rightly if people want lives saved, as that is the age group vulnerable to Covid - it is a tough call to expect all the elderly people answering their phones to be able to write down the correct date, time and place and organise transport.
The only reason my mum got to her vaccination was because she told me about the call and I double-checked the dates (which she had got wrong), and took her to it. Many people with dementia won't necessarily have been lucky enough to have someone to do that for them, especially considering the number of people who seem to think it's kinder to isolate the old due to the Covid risk, rather than taking account of any other risks to their lives and wellbeing.

@SonicTheSorryRabbit

GPs have been told to limit vaccine waste to 5%. But why is this wastage happening? Shouldn't we be sticking a needle in the arm of anyone of whatever age who wants the vaccine, rather than letting it go to waste? Even if they have to pull people off the street.

In our NHS trust, they have a list of NHS staff (non frontline) who can be called in last minute to have any vaccines which are "left over" I.e. from no shows.

Going door to door has issues with keeping track of who has had it or not, and who has had 1 jab or 2. They would have to make sure to visit the same homes again a few weeks later. What if the people aren't in the second time? Or they visited houses number 1 to 10, number 11 was out, then they come back to give number 1 to 10 their second jab, and number 11 is in so they get the first one. Then they come back 6 weeks later to give number 11 their second jab, and now number 12 wants the first jab. It's a logistic nightmare. Certainly easier to have it done in a central location.

@Proudboomer. There's something to be said for taking any spare vaccine at the end of the day and medics in PPE going street-by-street and vaccinating anyone who wants it. Or set up mobile vaccine centres.

Why are people assuming that the speed of vaccinations has something to do with how many people are available to give injections?

As I understand it from what I read earlier today, the chief constraints at the moment are the time it takes to certify batches of vaccine coming off the production line, and the availability of tiny glass bottles to decant individual doses into.

There isn't a shortage of people willing and able to stick needles into other people.

@KitKatastrophe. You're absolutely right, that's an issue. But there must be a big issue with missed appointments at the moment as well. Missed second appointments will also be a problem.

Aren't they already behind schedule? Some people have said their dates have been pushed back.

Its the British government though. If there is a way to cock it up and slow it down, they'll manage it.

There also isn't a shortage of people willing to turn up anywhere at any time to have a needle stuck in their arm.

My mum retired two years ago from working as a nurse in a GP practice. She enquired about going back to help with the vaccination programme and the amount of training they wanted her to do was unreal. They wanted her to do equality, health and safety, fire risk etc. She decided the ask was too big so didn’t follow it up.
Surely in times of need they could skip all the faff - she spent 15 years sticking people with needles. What’s the difference now!! Ridiculous.

I had mine this morning at nearby large hospital. A huge big conveyor belt: information leaflet handed out in queue. Then to desk where name, d.o.b and photo ID is checked. Then another station where vaccine was given, then move to a seating area for the 15 minute wait in case of allergic reaction. There were 6 people vaccinating, and I’d guess a group of about 50 or 100 with the same 10-minute appointment slot (don’t really know as there were probably people from the slot before and the slot after mixed in with the queue).
There was quite a long wait time, maybe 90 minutes after appointment time, which is fair enough in the circumstances!

It’s a mass program, so nothing like the “normal” appointment slot with your practice nurse or GP.
The person doing the vaccination. checked medical conditions, if pregnant or TTC, explain side-effects, make sure you knew which vaccine e it was, etc., immediately before the needle.

@Proudboomer yes but they have a conscripted and therefore much larger army and smaller population.

We’re doing well I feel!

Boots will be trialling using 3 pharmacies to give the vaccines, as PP has said any retailer who does the flu jab could do this.

I.assume the issue is more with stock availability and supplying it

@Justanother123. I know, it's absolutely ridiculous! Hopefully now this particular problem has received so much publicity, the government will sort it out.

I have no doubt if this government can cock up vaccinations, it will....But it's so important this time round that they get it right given the hospital figures and transmission rates .

I’ve said this a few times already so sorry if anyone has seen this before but my Mum is one of the practitioners currently vaccinating people in the north east. Her surgery is now open 8am to 8pm seven days a week and they have a brilliant system in place to vaccinate people, at the peak in December they were doing one person every 90 seconds!

I know this definitely isn’t the case everywhere in the country but just wanted to add something positive to the thread! People are working really, really hard to try to get as many people vaccinated as possible.

@Justanother123

My mum retired two years ago from working as a nurse in a GP practice. She enquired about going back to help with the vaccination programme and the amount of training they wanted her to do was unreal. They wanted her to do equality, health and safety, fire risk etc. She decided the ask was too big so didn’t follow it up. Surely in times of need they could skip all the faff - she spent 15 years sticking people with needles. What’s the difference now!! Ridiculous.

I heard an interview with a dentist who wanted to do it, spent a day filling in the a police form but got rejected because he didn't have enough safe guarding training. Crazy because the amount of time s pent with each person anyway is unlikely to be long enough to spot things like that anyway

I agree that there is a lot the government could do to improve but can I've seen a lot of criticism on here about the vaccination roll-out and as a relative outsider, can I add that the UK is miles ahead most other countries in the world in getting the vaccine out. Where I am, they won't even start vaccinating until maybe March/April and even then they will only have less than 500,000 doses of a Chinese vaccine...

The UK has screwed up a lot with Covid so take the win with the vaccine at least...

Its the British government though. If there is a way to cock it up and slow it down, they'll manage it.

UK is fifth in the world for proportion of population vaccinated, but is ahead of all other European countries. (We were third a couple days ago, USA is one country that has overtaken us.)

ourworldindata.org/covid-vaccinations

What about the blood service? They have all those mobile vans that go and get blood donations on car parks year round (I've no idea how much blood is required and if recommissioning them for a few weeks would lead to a shortage!)