I’m just angry now

[BathFullOfEels]

They knew a vaccine would be the only way of getting us out of this mess. The country has already been locked down twice. Why, why, why didn’t they use this time to set up the logistics of distributing and administering these vaccines?

Why, why, why are the government allowed to decide who to prioritise to receive these vaccines when they were always going to distribute in a way that benefits them. Surely any government with an ounce of realism would be self aware enough to realise that they would make this vaccine distribution a political decision and instead allow the decision to be made by an independent third party who can distribute it in a way that would allow the country to get back to work. Instead it’s likely that months and months down the line we’ll all be forced to go back to work despite still be unprotected.

I have visions of pensioners being able to swan off on holiday over the summer while the workers of the country will still be unable to.

It’s an absolute fucking farce. Watching that press conference last night just finally made it snap for me - they genuinely don’t know what they’re doing at all

@SallyB392

I'm in group 4 in the vaccine priority grouping. What people don't seem to be considering is the possibility, and it is just a possibility, that the priority list is in relationship to the expendability of groups. By that I need to go back a step.........these vaccines have been given emergency licensing. Effectively, they are still in the trial period. There are still question marks in respect of the longer term safety, particularly in respect of people already taking medication, and those with long term medical conditions. Who are most expendable? Which groups are the most expensive in relationship to cost to the economy? Which are the groups least able to put back into the economy? Which are the groups easiest to explain away? The answer to all of those questions follows the same direction as the priority listing. If people in their 80's die, it's seen as their time, a good innings, natural causes. 75+, still not a bad innings, and So on. I'm cynical, I have no confidence in our government which doesn't help, and I may be way off the mark, but to be honest, if the choice were my husband and I or our children, and their children, there's no question, use us as guinea pigs!

What a ridiculous post. NHS and care workers are also top of the list. Do you genuinely believe that the government sees doctors as the most expendable members of society?!

*midge" is right. Even when I went to university only 15% of people went - I went in 1979). So most people did not to go university whereas today 50% go and don't pay a penny back of loans ever unless they earn over a certainly amount.

When I graduated in 1982 unemployment was the worst for 50 years at 3m. More than even today on today's larger population. I will have nothing but state pension and at a much older age then my parents could draw theirs and I have in effect moved most of what I ever had (a) to an ex husband who got my life savings etc and (b) to the 5 children for housing and I will work full until I die. Because I chose to work full time always even when babies were 2 weeks old something I am not sure most women do today nor did my mother do my children are better off not worse off than I was. I may be too young to be a "boomer" but I certainly think on a personal level I have in a sense paid it all forward which is fine as I have very modest needs other than my house where I hope to die, probably in my 70s as my parents did in their 70s.

Despite all the above my view is we sacrificed the young for the old with our CV19 measures, worldwide. there is nothing unique about the UK in how it has acted - most countries have done the same and put freedom last of along list of priorities. What is a life in chains -we will have had almost a year for not much good not being able to leave the house except for specific limited reasons and we have accepted it like sheep.

I totally agree there should be vaccinations for the working population first but accept that not everyone does. I’ll wait. However, BathFullOf Eels - I understand your frustration but two points re old folk swanning off on holiday after jabs...first, they might only get that chance and we’ll hopefully have a few more chances of holidays as time is hopefully in our side. Second, we don’t know if being vaccinated means you can pass on the virus still or not so they might not be going anywhere for a while as vaccines don’t guarantee you’re not a carrier if the disease. I love my holidays and feel equally frustrated by things but honestly, let’s put this in perspective.

Re everyone’s other points - My kids are also missing out on normal life but they’re hanging in there and enjoying slightly later nights with the family and a small lie in before school. They miss school and their friends but know that everyone has the same problem. As for blaming everyone- especially the government- this is an inconvenient reality for most people and their reaction is to apportion blame. Yes it’s boring, yes it’s repetitive, yes we miss socialising and going out and doing what we like. We also took a large pay hit this year which hurts and went without much of what we’ve often had. But we have each other, we’re still alive, there aren’t bombs dropping on us and we can find a path through by digging deep and finding some resilience. People should put as much energy into finding the positive rather than spending hours venting and moaning cos guess what? You don’t change it. So, change your attitude.
As for people who say they’re teachers on this forum and use the F* word repeatedly- please find a more suitable way to represent the profession that allegedly cares so much for this generation of kids! I want my kids educated by people who can articulate themselves appropriately. Please go for a run or something before you vent on social media!!! And finally, before anyone suggests I’m one of the privileged few- I know someone young and fit who died of this. I missed a funeral of a loved relative that I couldn’t travel to and I have a parent in a care home who I cannot visit and may never hug again. Please - get a grip people.

We have to work till 68 then preferably die as early as possible soon after, so as not to be a drain on society.
Oh I cant wait till I retire and are looked upon as a bloody nuisance

"""It may sound callous but I’d prefer an 80yo to have to spend a year inside than a 5yo.*"""

WOW that is callous. A five year old will forget. An 80 yo doesn't have many years left to enjoy and many people of that age do need as much care as a toddler. God help you when you get older!!!
*

Do you people all think all older people dont have a life.We are not all unfit, or have to shield and we would very much like to get back to our lives.Some of us who live alone and normally have pleasant social lives and like me help out friends,i sit my friends dog when she goes back to office i will again, so would very like to start living again.We are not all half dead with under lying health conditions.i pass 20 year olds out walking.We dont all stay in all the time i hate these assumptions about older people.

Here is the answer

Oh dear all the bad language is coming out now! People are annoyed and very upset and blaming government! However we like Israel and America had the foresight to order the vaccines in advance (obviously prior to testing but with the hope they would come through which fingers crossed seems to be happening)! Germany France etc have vaccinated a small percentage of the population compared to the U.K. so give Boris a chance stop moaning and keep to the rules! Your children are at home safe not fighting a world war which my 23 year old grandad never came back from!

@BathFullOfEels

I think it should be front line NHS workers and care home workers, then teachers and schools staff so the kids can return, then all key workers and shielding, all working age people so the country can work again, then 60+.

More or less agree with you but I’d vary it slightly to frontline NHS workers, the police, teachers and school staff, then care home workers, key workers, shielding, working age people and finally the over 65’s

But our PM is an utter knob who sold his soul to the ERG and doesn’t give a fig about the hoi poloi

@whenwillthemadnessend Why is it callous? A five year old needs to have experiences in order to develop and hopefully thrive. Surely we care about the needs of the youngest and most innocent?

Sorry JMF27 I posted after you and totally agree with your comments! My mum and dad are in same position as you!

But my parents generation (baby boomers, now in their 70s) have undeniably as a group enjoyed amazing advantages relative both to their own parents and, increasingly, their children and grandchildren. This isn't to say that many individuals haven't suffered great hardship, but as a generation they've been very well served. My father for example: grammar school education, full grant to university, 105% mortgage from the GLC in mid 20s on a 3 bed house in nice London suburb (the 5% to buy furniture!) without a super well-paying job, fantastic pension etc.

Do you know how many of that generation were able to go to university? I’m somewhat younger but technically a ‘boomer’ and whilst I went to a good girls grammar school only a tiny % of my cohort went. Perhaps if everyone and his dog didn’t go now we’d be able to fund it for free? I also don’t have a defined benefit pension and I never had a cheap mortgage, in fact at one point we were paying 15% interest. I was legally dismissed from work for being pregnant, there certainly wasn’t any maternity pay and when my husband raped me not only wasn’t it a crime, it wasn’t even grounds for divorce. There was no IVF on the NHS or early scans and you actually had to manage to wait until your period was two weeks late to find out; imagine that, having to wait ! You have so much, but are so greedy and bitter. I’m honestly wondering if all this carrying on about who gets vaccinated is because now there’s a vaccine a certain cohort are pissed off that they’re going to have to wait for the inheritance after all!

"More or less agree with you but I’d vary it slightly to frontline NHS workers, the police, teachers and school staff, then care home workers, key workers, shielding, working age people and finally the over 65’s"

While you are vaccinating in that order, the hospitals will be full to the rafters with seriously ill and dying older people and nobody will be getting their elective surgery or other treatment. Or are you suggesting we deny any care for older people and just leave them to die in pain and distress at home?

It’s heartwarming to read how many of you value the vulnerable in our communities. I’m clinically extremely vulnerable and looking forward to my first jab by 15th Feb and then being able to live in my home and risk being within 2m of my family, including my disabled ds. Of course, you are probably right, it would be easier for everyone else to crack on and for me to live in my bedroom alone with my family bringing me meals? Don’t know who would take on looking after my ds, but better he dies too no doubt. Selfish of me really.

ever since the pandemic began we have all had our opinions, usually different to the governments, we all know best dont we and our way is always the right, the thing is , everyone has opinions but the thing is we all have different opinions, same with issuing the vaccine, different opinions as to who should get the vaccine, has anyone actually felt a bit sorry for Boris, what a responsibility , especially when at every turn he is being blasted left right and centre in papers and on social media, he is damned if he does and damned if he doesnt

@SallyB392

I'm in group 4 in the vaccine priority grouping. What people don't seem to be considering is the possibility, and it is just a possibility, that the priority list is in relationship to the expendability of groups. By that I need to go back a step.........these vaccines have been given emergency licensing. Effectively, they are still in the trial period. There are still question marks in respect of the longer term safety, particularly in respect of people already taking medication, and those with long term medical conditions. Who are most expendable? Which groups are the most expensive in relationship to cost to the economy? Which are the groups least able to put back into the economy? Which are the groups easiest to explain away? The answer to all of those questions follows the same direction as the priority listing. If people in their 80's die, it's seen as their time, a good innings, natural causes. 75+, still not a bad innings, and So on. I'm cynical, I have no confidence in our government which doesn't help, and I may be way off the mark, but to be honest, if the choice were my husband and I or our children, and their children, there's no question, use us as guinea pigs!

Do people genuinely think this?! Why are the government happy for NHS staff and carers to get their jabs now if there's a risk it might kill them? Ridiculous!

@PinkTonic I do not think that the non-availability of IVF and pregnancy tests in past decades is relevant. The post you quoted outlined the opportunity for security which was possible for past generations, and compared it to the more straitened lives faced by hard-working young people today.

For me I would want my elderly parents especially my dad to get vaccinated first as he classed as high risk as well as rest of NHS staff key workers and that includes teachers to vaccinated first.
This will take time to do we have had to have a third lockdown due to surge in cases to protect the NHS etc. Also we should have continued the 2nd lockdown and not eased up at all. Quite frankly certain people are becoming laxed with the rules and certain majority of folk are blatantly doing what they want to do so to me he has had to do this lock down again.

Jesus, I hope if this kind of event happens again when I'm elderly, that the younger generation have more value for my life than many of you so do for your elders! The vaccinations are being done in order of VULNERABILITY, therefore those most at risk i.e the over 80's and so on. What a horrible generation I'm in, shameful!

@BathFullOfEels

I think it should be front line NHS workers and care home workers, then teachers and schools staff so the kids can return, then all key workers and shielding, all working age people so the country can work again, then 60+.

Yes. Exactly. Older people who are retired and safe in their houses should not be made a priority over the critical workers/key workers and workers who actually keep the country afloat.

Elderly people in care homes/seriously ill or disabled should be vaccinated sooner but there are so many pretty healthy baby boomers sat in their nice houses (due to the housing market/economy working in their favour years ago) who will stay safe if they stay home.

I originally agreed with the order of the vaccination list but the more I've considered it in line with the new variant, the more I disagree with it.

I actually now feel that younger people need protecting more as more people with no underlying healthy conditions are now getting this and dying from it.

I hate that I think this, but if I was older and had lived a good life, I would much rather a younger person had the vaccine so they got the chance to do the same. Both my parents and in-laws have stated this and I agree with them.

Some of these responses make me worry about the future of my kids

@callistography have you not read all the very clear posts on here laying out why vaccinations have been set out in the order they have?

If younger and fitter people were generally prioritised for vaccines it would be utter carnage.

This might help you understand a bit more.

twitter.com/doctimcook/status/1346414105331163137?s=19

actually now feel that younger people need protecting more as more people with no underlying healthy conditions are now getting this and dying from it.

I don't even know where to start with this. So sod the most vulnerable, hey, as soon as it looks like some young and healthy people might get seriously ill or die (which has happened all along, in thousands, but not counted because they have 'underlying conditions' - broken femur, anyone? Psoriasis? Yeah, just let 'em die already, pesky vulnerable people.)

It's a moot point anyway as all the scientists and, y'know, actual experts on the vaccination boards agree that the best way to contain this virus is to administer to the elderly and vulnerable alongside HCPs first. It's ridiculous to make any argument otherwise and smacks of ableism. But I'm not surprised because it is all I am seeing day after day.

Day after day I am being told I don't matter. One of these days I'll start believing it because I'm too bloody weary to fight it anymore.

I'm younger and vulnerable so yes, I've read all the data/info. I just disagree that older people will be prioritised due to purely age.