To think there is no chance 18 million will be boosted by 31 Dec?

[JadedJabber]

Name changed for this as would be outing with previous posts.

Am I alone in feeling quite angry that Boris Johnson has announced what is likely to be an unreachable target and will be causing untold pressure and stress in the primary and secondary care workforces who are already exhausted?

I was very closely involved in the rollout of phases 1 and 2 of the vaccine programme last winter/ spring for a large NHS trust. Everyone was 100% committed to the vaccines and our workforce was incredible despite a lot of challenges particularly around the time taken to train as a vaccinator and disruption to business as usual in the trust. Despite that the best day was c800K jabs and most were significantly less.
Johnson has glibly talked about training 1000’s of new vaccinators. Well unless the mandatory training is axed to a fraction of what is was earlier this year that will be impossible.

It seems so easy for him to make these pronouncements without any thought as to how this will actually play out in practice.

I can’t see the (exhausted and less motivated) workforce suddenly expanding and then working 12 + hours a day from now until 31 Dec, including Christmas. It just sets everyone up for failure.

Local vaccine centre is closing on 17 December, reopening 7 Jan. Lots of volunteers working there. NHS will get blamed for falling short.

Don’t even go there @TheSpottedZebra !!!

As well as current staff, had lots of retired nurses and GPs rejoin the workforce to vaccinate, as well as many completely new to healthcare (quite a lot of cabin crew, retail staff, etc) but many are now no longer in the vaccine workforce and would need refreshers to return if they haven’t vaccinated for a couple of months or more
The training has a lot of theory (was c16 hours online training with quizzes when I was involved, even for the retirees) as well as face to face training days so it’s not that easy to just magically stand up and staff new vaccine centres at the drop of a hat.

Vaccination (IM injection for these vaccines) is easy once properly trained, but also easy to get wrong if not, particularly as Pfizer needs careful handling and dilution, as well as correctly identifying the deltoid. Getting it wrong could mean the vaccine doesn’t work as well, and a long-term painful shoulder can sometimes result from missing the correct site of injection.

Stewards can be started very quickly though, kudos to your daughter for starting today @ShakesFist

I feel better for venting, sorry!
You’re an idiot Boris. I really hope he made this target for the right reasons rather than to distract us from his mess (though that seems to have worked, no one is talking about parties at number 10 any more).

I'm currently 8729 in the queue...

There are so many bank holidays and it seems unlikely many people will want to have it on Xmas Eve, Xmas Day or New Year. So in reality there would need to be well over a million jabs done every day starting tomorrow - seems unlikely.

It defies belief that he has the brass neck to ask the NHS for this kind of effort after deciding they were only worth a tiny pay rise.

I’m 50. When booking opened for people to have boosters after six months (remember that? It feels like a lifetime ago) I booked for 31 December, the first date I was allowed to book for, because it was six months on from my second dose.

Ever since they allowed people to book from 3 months from their second dose, I’ve been trying to rebook for sooner. Absolutely no chance. So even though we are higher risk than lots of younger people, we are having to wait until then, while people at much less risk gobble up the appointments. We live in the country and have to travel a long way to get to vaccination centres, but even so, we’ve tried three times to get in at walk in centres after work, and each time been turned away because the queue is longer than the people they can vaccinate that day.

So now here I am, 50, chunky, having had 2 doses of AZ almost six months ago, and therefore only at about 10% protection against Omicron. Happy Christmas!

A million jabs a day with 12 hours notice with no planning and including Christmas week - all at a time when it sounds like a lot of people are going to be falling sick anyway?
No chance.

Yeah, he’s chatting shit as per. I haven’t even been invited for mine yet because I’m not old enough.

@RestingStitchFace

To meet that target they need to jab about 1 million people a day. At the height of the first phase of vaccine rollout they never managed more than 500,000 a day and typically it averaged between 100,000 - 300,000 a day.

Bojo is delusional

They are now claiming they mean that the target is everyone being able to book a booster by the end of December - not to receive the booster by the end of December. Very different! Slippery fucks.

YANBU.

We’ll be back in lockdown soon and it’s the vaccination service that will be thrown under the bus for it.

My Dd19 has just been invited to book her booster.
I'm really impressed.

He's living in cloud cuckoo land as per usual.

When are they going to get rid of him? 🙄

He came on to tell us to get booster! No thanks! Chances are you will still get covid with the booster just like you can with the double vacs. I swear a part of me thinks they invented omicron to make everyone get the booster, just look at the timing. Am not anti vax, I am double vaccinated. This countries government is ridiculous, why the fu did they remove the wearing of face mask so early!!! We all got used to wearing it, it would hurt no one to continue to wear it, but to say not needed anymore and then months later oh actually it's become mandatory again to wear face mask just as everyone got used to not wearing anymore.

I'm 33, I booked my booster this morning, it's in 3 days time. Round my way it seems there are huge numbers of appointments available, I was spoilt for choice.

@JadedJabber

Name changed for this as would be outing with previous posts.

Am I alone in feeling quite angry that Boris Johnson has announced what is likely to be an unreachable target and will be causing untold pressure and stress in the primary and secondary care workforces who are already exhausted?

I was very closely involved in the rollout of phases 1 and 2 of the vaccine programme last winter/ spring for a large NHS trust. Everyone was 100% committed to the vaccines and our workforce was incredible despite a lot of challenges particularly around the time taken to train as a vaccinator and disruption to business as usual in the trust. Despite that the best day was c800K jabs and most were significantly less.
Johnson has glibly talked about training 1000’s of new vaccinators. Well unless the mandatory training is axed to a fraction of what is was earlier this year that will be impossible.

It seems so easy for him to make these pronouncements without any thought as to how this will actually play out in practice.

I can’t see the (exhausted and less motivated) workforce suddenly expanding and then working 12 + hours a day from now until 31 Dec, including Christmas. It just sets everyone up for failure.

How are Boris' 40 new hospitals coming on?

How has taking back control of our borders worked?

Levelling up so far has involved cancelling fast trains to Leeds.

Where has the £350million a week for the NHS gone.

There was no party.

Dominic Cummings did nothing wrong.

Priti Patel isn't a bully.

Johnson fired Hancock.

Do you want me to continue?

Everyone is going to be offered a booster, in fact everyone has been offered a booster and they can go online and if the site doesn't crash they can book it, of course they won't all be able to actually get the jab before the 31st December.

They did the same with jabs for care homes, ministers on TV proudly saying all care home staff and residents had been offered the jab, it didn't mean someone stood in front of them with a needle and was prepared to do the jab. The care home I work in didn't have the jab for weeks after it was announced everyone had been offered it.

Smoke and mirrors. I think with this govt we always need to think does what they are saying actually mean what we think. It probably doesn't.

Yanbu. I am in group 6 and have managed to get my booster for 7th January.

My GP surgery is closed one day next week to do a booster clinic

@Pedalpushers

I'm 33, I booked my booster this morning, it's in 3 days time. Round my way it seems there are huge numbers of appointments available, I was spoilt for choice.

Same for me. SE London and I can see the place from my front door. I went online on Saturday and I could have booked for Sunday. I was waiting for a PCR result so booked for Wednesday.

Ministry of Defence civilians have been asked to volunteer - those with medical experience for jabbing & those without to help man the centres!

Typical Johnson. No discussion with those involved, just bleat it out and that is enough for him. After all it diverts from the chaotic mess made last week and before. I should imagine that the vaccine programme is going along as fast as it is possible to do so.

Bo Jo is a stupid, lying cunt.
I hope people remember this when we have the next election.

It's not just the vaccinators.

I know one of the admin team leaders. He told me earlier they don't have enough computers, vaccinators or locations. Some of the biggest locations have been shut - ironically the one near us that was seeing 900+ a day was shut so the venue could be used for pre-booked Christmas events and will reopen in January. Volunteer vaccinators quite understandably like to pick and choose their shifts.

Who wjould like to work Christmas day or pop out to get a vaccine between their main course and pudding? How many bank holidays are there this month (a couple of extra because Christmas falls on a Saturday)

Short of running the centres 24 hours a day every day and people being will to deliver and receive 3am vaccines I don't see how this can be done.

If it CAN be done I'll be right there cheering them on but its going to require a huge influx of resource and investment and I'd almost be inclined to suggest that suitable spaces will simply have to be requisitioned by the government for short term use - schools are all going to have to be available for vaccine centres over the holiday. They are the only spaces I can think of that will be big enough and vacant during the requisite period.

I do not envy those trying to implement this

It's not just the vaccinators.

I know one of the admin team leaders. He told me earlier they don't have enough computers, vaccinators or locations. Some of the biggest locations have been shut - ironically the one near us that was seeing 900+ a day was shut so the venue could be used for pre-booked Christmas events and will reopen in January. Volunteer vaccinators quite understandably like to pick and choose their shifts.

Who wjould like to work Christmas day or pop out to get a vaccine between their main course and pudding? How many bank holidays are there this month (a couple of extra because Christmas falls on a Saturday)

Short of running the centres 24 hours a day every day and people being will to deliver and receive 3am vaccines I don't see how this can be done.

If it CAN be done I'll be right there cheering them on but its going to require a huge influx of resource and investment and I'd almost be inclined to suggest that suitable spaces will simply have to be requisitioned by the government for short term use - schools are all going to have to be available for vaccine centres over the holiday. They are the only spaces I can think of that will be big enough and vacant during the requisite period.

I do not envy those trying to implement this

It’s just a meaningless headline to try and have something positive to say and make people think the government and prime minister aren’t only interested in themselves.

When they fail to deliver on their promise, they’ll blame everyone else except themselves, as usual.