1st cock up in vaccination rollout

[CKBJ]

Being reported in the media that many over 80s received their letters yesterday, supposedly those living up to 40mins away from one of the 7 vaccine centres, but when they book appointments they are instructed to travel very far. No where does it state in the letter patients won’t be penalised if they don’t book one at one of the 7 centres and if they wait their gp practice will contact them for a local appointment. This is causing a lot of anxiety in people who are already likely to be shielding and potentially put them at risk by them trying to travel to one of the centres. Surely the letter template should have been reviewed and this issue picked up!

@IrmaFayLear
I get that idea too.

And I think some people here will be almost disappointed if when life without any restrictions starts again.

Irma and Fizboss you're both right. Some people can't bear to think we're actually doing something well in the UK.
They must hate it when the Olympics come round and Brits keep on winning medals.

Some are so brainwashed and blinkered against their own country.

Ooh rubbing hands in glee are you OP? Let’s ignore the fact that we have already vaccinated 2.4 million people 🙄

@feelingverylazytoday. Right user name. What is wrong with calling out errors? Why should highly paid communication experts geta freeridejust because the logistics bods are doing a good job despite them?

I agree the logistics people are doing an awesome job.

I like the Brig.👍

My theory is the younger the people to be vaccinated are the quicker it should go
Drive through centres would be a good idea

yes, the Brig is no nonsense.

@Tiktokersmiracle

It was always going to be a cock up wasn't it?

I live in a large area of Berkshire, one side has several GP surgeries offering the vaccine with people told to queue up and wait.
Our side has none. Apparently, we are in "phase 3" of the roll out. We have just as many vulnerable people, just as many surgeries to offer it. But no. Our GP surgery has been asking for weeks where their vaccines are and finally got told as a "phase 3" postcode our area will wait until mid-February.
The only reason we can see for this is the side with all the vaccines is Tory and the side we are on is not.
In the side in phase 3 we are told it's one of the worst hit in the town whichever side you are on. So surely they would be a priority?
The GP has now got together with others in our side to raise a complaint to PHE

😄😄😄 a wee bit of light relief, you really think they'll withhold the vaccine because of political leaning?

Well I know that the Left would....

@Covidasaurus

THIS was entirely intentional. It allows the govt say say they have hit their target for every february because all the people with letters have been “offered” a jab but chose not to take it. It’s entirely for that purpose.

Are you having a laugh? The country will be on its knees soon, it’s metaphorically hitting a low ‘squat’ right now. You think this was planned? There is no minister or health advisor or doctor or nurse that has lived through this kind of mass vaccination program to have had past experience of planning it.

My personal view is, that a vaccine that hasn’t hit the normal testing, adverse reaction reporting, has been offered to the elderly first, as a ‘tester’. Not nice at all, but frankly it’s highly likely, or why would they not bother treating care home infections or the elderly with the same care and attention as those most likely to survive? Therefore in the same breath, why not vaccinate key worker first.

@leopardspotsdotdotdot
My personal view is, that a vaccine that hasn’t hit the normal testing, adverse reaction reporting, has been offered to the elderly first, as a ‘tester’. Not nice at all, but frankly it’s highly likely, or why would they not bother treating care home infections or the elderly with the same care and attention as those most likely to survive? Therefore in the same breath, why not vaccinate key worker first.

What a ridiculous load of nonsense!! The elderly are being vaccinated first because they are most at risk of serious disease and death. But alongside them many thousands of healthcare professionals are also being vaccinated. If it was truly the government plan to test the vaccine safety further then do you really think they’d be risking surgeons, doctors, nurses, itu staff.... a relative had it yesterday - she’s a neurosurgeon! I can’t believe people think like this, honestly.

[quote MarcelineMissouri]@leopardspotsdotdotdot
My personal view is, that a vaccine that hasn’t hit the normal testing, adverse reaction reporting, has been offered to the elderly first, as a ‘tester’. Not nice at all, but frankly it’s highly likely, or why would they not bother treating care home infections or the elderly with the same care and attention as those most likely to survive? Therefore in the same breath, why not vaccinate key worker first.

What a ridiculous load of nonsense!! The elderly are being vaccinated first because they are most at risk of serious disease and death. But alongside them many thousands of healthcare professionals are also being vaccinated. If it was truly the government plan to test the vaccine safety further then do you really think they’d be risking surgeons, doctors, nurses, itu staff.... a relative had it yesterday - she’s a neurosurgeon! I can’t believe people think like this, honestly.[/quote]
We may not agree, but a vaccine that has been invented and out to market within 2 months carries risk.

Why not vaccinate care home staff and prison officers instead of care home residents and prisoners? Of course they have said even if vaccinated you can potentially pass it on, get infected. It will also only provide perhaps seasonal immunity. However, I think I do honestly think the initial doses were given to members of our society that were not as impactful to our economy.

The first dose given to a pensioner, not a doctor for example.

Might be wrong, and I hope I am, as it’s callous to think that would be the plan, but in a capitalist society with limited testing, I would imagine that the initial batches were assigned, with partial thinking leaning this way.

We will start to see a lot of news on adverse reactions in the next week given scale of program from today. Fingers crossed all is well!

I’m frontline NHS and our trust are being a pain about vaccinating frontline. Fortunately there are staff sites open that accept anyone from the region who is front line. We are filling up the spaces they can’t book up with over 80s. Had to travel for my first vacc, but most of the frontline being vaccinated there were from all over the region.
If you can travel do so, you’ll get it done far sooner.
Hopefully by next week I will have a high level of immunity and I will feel much safer treating patients.
The site I attended was well run, and the staff were great.

My DS is convinced I am going to become a zombie as the result of the vaccine. I have assured him that without the vaccine I would definitely become a zombie as a result of lockdown.
As a 56 yr old frontline HCP I am willing to take the risk of having the vaccine as are many HCPs who have seen the terrible suffering caused by Covid-19. Since there is no test yet to see if you are likely to have severe Covid I am not prepared to carry on taking the risk.
I understand the science behind the vaccine, it’s potential for future use in individually targeting many more diseases, including cancer is very exciting. I’m happy to be a guinea pig with this simple application if it potentially leads to a cure for a disease that may kill me in the future.

@leopardspotsdotdotdot I’m not aware of prisoners or prison staff being vaccinated in this country but care home staff certainly are being vaccinated alongside the residents.

Also, to clarify the vaccines weren’t invented and brought to market in 2 months! Work started on these almost as soon as cv appeared in Dec/Jan last year. Here is a very good article on why it doesn’t matter anyway www.independent.co.uk/news/health/speed-fast-coronavirus-vaccine-development-b1762321.html

@leopardspotsdotdotdot - what planet are you on? Have you not read or seen the news bulletins from the medical, scientist and virologist experts?

We may not agree, but a vaccine that has been invented and out to market within 2 months carries risk.

That is really, really not true.

OP are you just sitting there looking for things to criticise? This is a non story as PP has said. What they are doing is a huge challenge, the biggest undertaking of its kind in living memory. Stop sniping.

leopardspot one of the first people I know to have the vaccine was the head consultant in our local ICU, the first week it was rolled out in Dec. That says a lot about how seriously they take this virus. Historically, healthcare staff have been unwillingly to be vaccinated against seasonal flu. Healthcare staff are climbing over each other to be vaccinated against Covid at the moment.
In the Centre I attended there were a handful of 80+ patients attending. Over 90% of the people I saw were under 60. All healthcare staff since you had to be an NHS member of staff to get an appointment and had to have the correct ID to register.
My sister had hers yesterday and she said there were a significant number of ‘chancers’ trying to gain access to the centre she attended. I suspect security are going to be very busy outside the big hubs.

@leopardspotsdotdotdot,

two points.

c1200+ vaccinated in our PCN centre plus many using the AstraZeneca vaccine in care home settings. Number of adverse reactions on site and from follow up = ...... 0 so far.
we're vaccinating HCPs and over-80s simultaneously (HCPs being brought in flexibly to take vaccine that would otherwise be wasted from expiry) so although the press reported the over-80s as first recipients, the time lag between over-80 recipients and HCP recipients is negligible. Even the acute where the first recipients received their vaccination on the TV will have been vaccinating their front line HCPs the same day.

A couple of invitees here were not vaccinated as they had met the threshold for anaphylaxis/anaphyaxoid/having ended up in ITU previosuly from a reaction to previous medications/vaccinations/other things.

Not to say there won't be adverse reactions reported in the press as the press like a fresh story but whether those adverse reactions are a material proportion, beyond the individuals affected remains to be seen.

@Angrymum22, we've had some chancers at our PCN but haven't needed security yet. It may change as more become aware of the local roll-out. We risk assessed some anti-vaxxers/Bill Gate's microchip protesters causing trouble but haven't had any of those yet.

Things will go wrong. If you do nothing, nothing can go wrong. However, this is a massive vaccine programme and along the way, mistakes will be made. As far as I see it, is there alternative is to take things very slowly and ensure that there is literally nothing the press can pick up on, or go at speed and small mistakes will be made. I'd rather small administrative errors and less people dying personally.

Currently the vaccines are being administered by clinical professionals who are all familiar with protocol. I would agree that using non clinical volunteers may well produce more problems.
Also, if people are panicked into having the vaccine or fear it being withheld for health reasons, such as a preexisting condition or a known allergy, then problems will occur.
The only advice I can offer is that you fully disclose any allergies or health conditions. You will be asked to fill in a form and then this is thoroughly checked verbally. I have a lot of experience with checking patient medical histories, the general public can be very vague at times.
You have to sign a document, I didn’t read it but you are given plenty of time to go through it. At any time you can change your mind.

@Doingthingsdifferently

Very easy to criticise isn't it. This is the largest logistical challenge of our generation - and every step there is the media and people like the OP waiting to crow about minor errors - could we not try and pull together and get this done?

Agree with this ^.