24/7 vaccine roll out

[VortexofBloggery]

Would you turn up at an unsociable hour to receive the jab? ( Say, 10pm to 8am) PM's office says there's no appetite for that, which strikes me as really out of touch with people wanting to get out of lockdown asap. I would go at any hour for the jab, would you?

CEV here so I'd definitely go anytime, anywhere. I booked FIL into one of the new vaccine centres for later in the week, was able to book his second appointment at the same time, so that's one less thing he needs to fret about.

I would take any time and am willing to travel.

I would do my utmost to go but realistically as I don't have a car, it wouldn't be easy to go somewhere say 3am... still if that made the rollout in general quicker, I would find a way to do it.

Surely you'd just call a taxi - as long as it was local?

I would but they just don’t have the supply.

Our town started last week with vaccinations and have had to stop this week as they’ve run out. So the supply needs to be there first.

I might but think it would be really hard to get enough people through to justify the staffing that would be needed...better to do 6/7 am start and finish at 10?? 2 shifts of staff ...

@Eyewhisker

I would. But there are other threads here where it is considered outrageous that 80 year olds are asked to travel 45 miles and then wait for 20mins in a queue to get a jab.

I’d go at anytime and would drive my elderly relatives hundreds of miles if needed.

I agree but... ...while I would happily drive my MiL a long way for a jab I'd have to ensure she was fully diapered (which she understandably objects to) as she's bound to need the loo at some point. not helped by 20 minutes in a queue in her wheelchair in the cold. It's a bit different from driving 10 minutes to the surgery and have her waiting in the car and convincing the staff to either give her the jab while she's still in the car or giving us a 5 minutes warning to try and get her into her wc and into the surgery wearing a mask.

Listening to reports of them having to chuck away vaccines due to no shows it may also be better to have a standby list each day for say 7pm. People who are flexible and can come in quickly. This will be less of an issue with the Oxford jab but it’s awful to hear of waste.

You’d think they could just go out in the street abs start jabbing people! I know they can’t but still..!

@zafferana

I would do my utmost to go but realistically as I don't have a car, it wouldn't be easy to go somewhere say 3am... still if that made the rollout in general quicker, I would find a way to do it.

Surely you'd just call a taxi - as long as it was local?

sensible of course but here that would be 2 charges of £25 plus the actual taxi fee so potentially £60 or £70 to get the jab. Lots of people would be happy to pay but lots of people couldn't afford it.

Absolutely, I think I'm going to wear an ecv t-shirt and just hang around the vaccine centres like a surly teen.

I would but I can't see them having the staff for that anyway.

@Delatron

Listening to reports of them having to chuck away vaccines due to no shows it may also be better to have a standby list each day for say 7pm. People who are flexible and can come in quickly. This will be less of an issue with the Oxford jab but it’s awful to hear of waste.

You’d think they could just go out in the street abs start jabbing people! I know they can’t but still..!

They could call people though and say 'Get down here now if you want a vaccine' - that's how my friend's dad (age 75 and ECV) got his vaccine early.

Why are there always so many excuses as to why we can’t do things? I’d absolutely go anywhere, anytime if it would get kids back into schools. Kids have given up so much to protect older people, now it’s the adults’ turn to do the same for them.

There should be no wastage so early in the programme, with so many eligible recipients around. Anyone's arm is better than the bin.

I'd do it but I'd be very confused about what problem it would solve to give people vaccines at 3am? Surely the only restrictions are staff, vaccine supply and physical space - I don't see how having staff working both day and night shifts produces any more of them than having them all work during the day, it makes no difference to vaccine supply so the only reason to do them at night is physical space at the vaccine centre - but surely that's the easiest of those three problems to solve? There's a lot of empty space, especially at the moment, so kitting out extra vaccine centres seems like a much more obvious solution to me than having the existing ones run through the night.

I would be in favour of extended hours, as I can see the problem that solves - people needing to fit getting vaccinated around work and other commitments - but I just don't see what is gained by vaccinating people at 3am?

Yes I don’t quite understand why they had to throw them away. Get on the phone and call people. Put a post on the local Facebook page.

If they told me I could get a vaccine at 3am I would get myself there.

@zafferana

I would do my utmost to go but realistically as I don't have a car, it wouldn't be easy to go somewhere say 3am... still if that made the rollout in general quicker, I would find a way to do it.

Surely you'd just call a taxi - as long as it was local?

Sure, that's probably what I would end up doing although I can't pretend I wouldn't be a bit scared getting a taxi in the middle of the night as a lone woman... My point is that it's not as easy for everyone.

Not everyone would be in a position to pay for taxis either - most of the worst affected areas (in terms of covid rates) are the most deprived.

Someone ran a poll on Twitter today to challenge the claim that there’s no appetite. More than 20 000 people responded and 95% said they would take an appointment at any time of the day or night.

If it was my local pharmacy I would be prepared to go in the evening. Not after midnight though.

Yes. I’m used to being up all night with my kids. I’ll happily trot along at 2am if it means I’m vaccinated & life can return to normal!

@JosephineDeBeauharnais

Someone ran a poll on Twitter today to challenge the claim that there’s no appetite. More than 20 000 people responded and 95% said they would take an appointment at any time of the day or night.

That doesn't mean there's a need for it, I think I might have posted this on one of the many other threads about this but once supply isn't a limiting factor it gots to be way more sensible to increase the number of slots during more normal hours to increase the vaccinations per hour rather than spreading that same number out over 24 hours.

Definitely, any time day or night.

I absolutely would. But I wouldn't expect HCPs to do this unless they were genuinely happy to. I have volunteered to help out with vaccination (not heard yet) and I won't be volunteering to do overnight shifts.
It takes a lot of people to deliver vaccination centres not just one person. I doubt they could get the logistics in place to run all night vaccinations. Better to run an extra centre all day.

Yes.

If I can get up at 3am to go on holiday, I can do it for a vaccine.

I personally would if it was a night I'm free (DH works o/n on calls and we have kids) but I'm comfortable driving at night and a bit tired. I also have a car of my own.

Would be impossible for most who don't have cars (many people in London).

Less than ideal for those who don't drive well at night due to avoiding it as eyesight gets worse (cataracts affect night vision when fine in daylight) or general lack of confidence.

Driving when tired is difficult to avoid at 3am or so.

Childcare/elderly care commitments - much tougher to get cover overnight.

The question is (1) would enough people be robustly willing and able and if so (2) would people driving at night when they don't normally do more harm than good?