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.

I enjoy it skyler 🙂

The commitment was to invite everyone over 18 by end of 2021 not to actually do the appointments by then.

Yeah totally unworkable

But what do we expect by now!?

@GhoulWithADragonTattoo these were his actual words on Sunday night (I posted the speech upthread):

Everyone eligible aged 18 and over in England will have the chance to get their booster before the new year.’

But the government seems to have rowed back from this which is sensible and will hopefully stop the NHS and the wider population from being thrown under the bus on Jan 1st.

I'm 48 and the gap between pre booking my booster and having it, will be two weeks by the time I go next week. This was the earliest slot they had.

Wondering if it will be cancelled?

Odd as work colleagues 15 years younger than me are now being vaccinated ahead of me.

It's unlikely but it won't be for the want of trying. I'm in an nhs admin role and am being redeployed with immediate effect. Feels rather like a call to arms 😰

I'm 29 and have just managed to book myself and DH for Sunday for a site closer than the one we went to for 1st and 2nd doses. Sunday was the first available day but there were several appointments available every 5 mins on Sunday. Just had to wait in the queue for 10mins before booking each time.

[quote JadedJabber]@GhoulWithADragonTattoo these were his actual words on Sunday night (I posted the speech upthread):

Everyone eligible aged 18 and over in England will have the chance to get their booster before the new year.’

But the government seems to have rowed back from this which is sensible and will hopefully stop the NHS and the wider population from being thrown under the bus on Jan 1st.[/quote]
Well that’s obviously not true. I booked myself and DH last week for Jan 3rd as it was earliest day the system actually had an available appointment. Before, for weeks now, every time we tried to book clicking on every site listed for our post code and then every AM and PM link resulted in zero slots available....

*We are Group 6 priority btw.

Only option available to me is one pm slot in January so doubtful Boris has thought this through. If anything he's created chaos.

I'm a volunteer..... we are currently trying to staff an extra 43 sessions between tomorrow and 31 December. This was just announced yesterday evening.
Needs approx 15+ volunteers + vaccinators for each session.

I’m a civil servant in housing and other half is at DfEd and we’ve both received emails from our employers asking us to volunteer for 6 days up to end Dec, poss end January. We’ll be paid our normal salary. Suspect most civil servants will have received a similar email. I’m not taking away anything from the NHS, the staff of which must be on their knees with exhaustion, but some got depts are in a similar position. It really annoys me that Boris has made an announcement without thinking for one second about how he is going to implement it.

I posted earlier how I had a scheduled booster for next week..i'm 48 but the appointment wait was 2 weeks.
Today, I passed a walk in centre and was vaccinated within 20-30 minutes.
Now, I'm not even confident this has been recorded correctly. I asked for a card but was told it would appear on the app. It hasn't yet, but fair enough.

Now, ai have just received an email from the centre saying not to forget my appointment at 7.50pm tonight! This doesn't bode well.

What if there is no record I have had my booster and therfore my passport is now invalid?
I knew I should have stuck with my scheduled appointment as DH had his last week, recrived card, updated pass snd they even threw in the flu jab.

What do people do who have no bloody proof they had the jab?

If it doesn't appear on the app (usually appears over night but can take up to 36 hours) go back to the centre & if it hasn't been saved properly it will still be in limbo on the system & they will be able to find it. The booking system & the recording system don't have any link between them so I wouldn't worry about the email.
There are sometimes problems but it's usually possible to sort them out. As a last resort you can call 119.

@middleager

I posted earlier how I had a scheduled booster for next week..i'm 48 but the appointment wait was 2 weeks. Today, I passed a walk in centre and was vaccinated within 20-30 minutes. Now, I'm not even confident this has been recorded correctly. I asked for a card but was told it would appear on the app. It hasn't yet, but fair enough.

Now, ai have just received an email from the centre saying not to forget my appointment at 7.50pm tonight! This doesn't bode well.

What if there is no record I have had my booster and therfore my passport is now invalid?
I knew I should have stuck with my scheduled appointment as DH had his last week, recrived card, updated pass snd they even threw in the flu jab.

What do people do who have no bloody proof they had the jab?

You have to cancel the original appointment.

And your booster will appear in a few days.

@Cookerhood

If it doesn't appear on the app (usually appears over night but can take up to 36 hours) go back to the centre & if it hasn't been saved properly it will still be in limbo on the system & they will be able to find it. The booking system & the recording system don't have any link between them so I wouldn't worry about the email. There are sometimes problems but it's usually possible to sort them out. As a last resort you can call 119.

Thanks - that's helping to put my mind at ease!

One the appointment reminder isn't even my original appointment, which was at a different centre - it's a new one, at the same walk in centre where I had today's walk in vaccination.

Oh I see!

I know what you mean Op. I trained as a vaccinator starting on NYD last year, previous but historic HCP.

I responded as quickly as possible to each demand of the training and I only got signed of in June. It was very frustrating.

But yeah , Sunday's speech - I was left thinking 'where the fuck are you gonna get 1000s vaccinators from in two weeks?'

The shifts I've worked since June have never had full number of vaccinators, some don't show, some ring in to cancel, or the shifts just don't get filled.

I suspect due to long hours (often 8-8) with weekends and BH, with no extra pay, and unless seconded by your usual healthcare job, the pay is a fraction over minimum wage so just not worth it for a lot of us.

What I guess im saying is, it just isn't as easy as clicking your fingers BJ, and hoping everyone will heed the call to arms.

It really annoys me that Boris has made an announcement without thinking for one second about how he is going to implement it.

At risk of derailing the thread did Boris also announce that Brexit was oven ready and have no idea how to implement it?

Does anyone know if you have a booked appointment do you still have to queue with the walk ins or is there a separate queue? Thanks if anyone knows how it works.

It won't happen because ;

1.There aren't enough vaccine doses (yet).

2.There aren't enough appointments.

1. People can't be made to go.

I booked for Jan, so will have to try to lay low until then...

It depends where you live. I'm 32, so became eligible to book a booster on monday. Took half an hour in the crashing system to manage to book an appointment, which was for yesterday, but it was the only app available in my closest 3 centres until January. When i got there, they were also doing walk ins without an appointment, was only 4 of us there. (was in a chemist).

Flowertailbird

Only option available to me is one pm slot in January so doubtful Boris has thought this through. If anything he's created chaos.“

Seems to vary wildly region to region.
NW, just booked our 18 year old in this weekend, slots available through the day both Saturday and Sunday.

Couldn’t have hoped for more, fantastic.