So last week I got a letter from my local
Nhs trust asking me to book an appointment for my covid vaccination. I’m a volunteer at this hospital however I haven’t worked on the ward since November when we went into the second lockdown. This was not my choice. One of the volunteer coordinators contacted me and told me the trust had done a risk assessment and decided volunteers were best kept off the wards. I was told that I could still volunteer to work as a greeter (to patients family coming into the hospital to bring clothes and other belongings) to which I said yes, but I got a call a few days later and was told they already had enough people for the role. I was told I can go back at some point but it’s all dependent on the situation.
So the letter that I got was simply because I am still technically a volunteer. They want to get volunteers back on to the wards and having the vaccine means it’s safer to do so.
My friend who I’ve known for I’d say 10/11 years phoned me the other night to chat and catch up. After a while I told her that I’d got a letter asking me to go for the vaccine. She immediately got uppity with me grilling me saying things like why would you be eligible for it your young (I’m 40) and have no medical need. I was polite and explained why I had got the letter and she wasn’t at all happy saying you don’t even work at the bloody hospital so you shouldn’t be getting the vaccine. I told her I will be going back and she sorter of tutted as in she didn’t believe me. She asked me if I was actually going to have it, I said yes of course, and she said that it was disgusting how some elderly people and frontline staff haven’t even had the vaccine yet there I am skipping the queue.
To be honest I agreed with her to some extent that there are far more worthy people than me but I assume if I don’t take it when it’s offered I will go to the very bottom of the list and god knows when I’ll get it in the future. She kept banging on and on about people who she knows who need I’m the vaccine more than me and they have to wait. To be honest by the end of the conversation I was really upset but also really angry. She has tried to guilt trip me over something that is out of my control and tried to make me feel like shit. If this was the first time she’d took out her frustrations on me then I wouldn’t be quite as bothered but this has happened quite a few times.
I know the current situation is miserable and everyone, including me, are fed up, but my friendships are extremely important to me, and the one thing I never do is take out my frustrations on them. I’ve been a supportive friend for years and since covid I’ve messaged or phoned her a few times a week to see how she is. But she’s very bitter and has been for a while. She doesn’t seem to have a nice word to say about anyone. AIBU to want to cut her off?