GP giving vaccine to his mate

[LoafEater]

So an acquaintance of mine has told a mutual friend that his friend, who is a GP in out local area, called him up at the end of a vaccine session and invited him down to the surgery to get a 'leftover' vaccine. He went and had it, and is telling people how delighted he is about it.

This acquaintance does not really work (independently wealthy/lazy), is in his mid-50s and has no health issues. I am livid. My brother lives in a care home has not had the vaccine yet, and I know lots of other people, myself included, who are working front line jobs or have health conditions that won't be getting it for a long time yet. I see from the press today that this seems to be happening all over. I suspect, knowing this man, that this was pre-planned rather than a last minute thing.

Don't know why I'm posting this really as there is nothing that can be done about it now, but I found out about this last week and I am still so cross!

[GetOffYourHighHorse]

@Belladonna12

I'm on the fence. I get the fact that at the end of a busy day they are going to want to just inject anybody nearby and it's better than wasting it. However, I think going forward there needs to be more of an attempt in some vaccination centres to either inject people in initial priority groups or police. I think they are managing it at some centres.

Exactly. Foreword planning, they've had months to predict the potential spare.

Again, couldn't care less about myself but if one of my parents gets it and become seriously ill because practices have been giving out leftovers willy nilly I'll of course be very unimpressed.

[Watermelon999]

@GetOffYourHighHorse

I do get where you’re coming from absolutely, but they are being very efficient at rolling it out in most places, so the priority groups should be completed in the near future.

[MrsBadcrumble123]

I understand what you’re getting at OP! Why didn’t the GP call local care home and see if anyone needed vaccine there

[TeenPlusTwenties]

I think moaning about this is a case of 'the best is the enemy of good enough'.
If out of 600 vaccines in one day 10 at the end go quickly to someone lower down the priority list, that is surely better than having complicated systems that end up costing tired professionals and volunteers significantly more time which might make them more likely to say just scrap it.

[saraclara]

@MrsBadcrumble123

I understand what you’re getting at OP! Why didn’t the GP call local care home and see if anyone needed vaccine there

Because it would be impossible to get care home patients to the hub in ten minutes.

[saraclara]

@TeenPlusTwenties

I think moaning about this is a case of 'the best is the enemy of good enough'.
If out of 600 vaccines in one day 10 at the end go quickly to someone lower down the priority list, that is surely better than having complicated systems that end up costing tired professionals and volunteers significantly more time which might make them more likely to say just scrap it.

Exactly. Most hubs are doing around 1,000 jabs a day. Yet people are moaning about the half a dozen being given to people who otherwise wouldn't get it yet.

It's quite ridiculous. We should be enormously proud of the vaccine effort, and appreciative of those people working massively hard to achieve this. The resentment and criticism is entirely uncalled for.

[randomsabreuse]

@MrsBadcrumble123

I understand what you’re getting at OP! Why didn’t the GP call local care home and see if anyone needed vaccine there

Can't get care home residents to a centre at very short notice and can't transport opened defrosted Pfizer vaccine anywhere. There will be far less "wastage" with the AZ/Oxford Vaccine.

I'm assuming the leftovers are either the "unpredictable" extra dose in a vial or no shows both with the Pfizer vaccine.

[EmmaGrundyForPM]

@MrsBadcrumble123. have you ever worked in a care home? I have. To try to get a resident to a hub in 5 minutes, ensuring that they have the ability to give informed consent, and that you have a spare member of staff to get them there is laughable.

There are a lot of arm-chair critics on here who have no idea about how things are working in reality.

Of course things aren't perfect. After the first 4 days of running, all the volunteers from our hub had a meeting to see what was working or not working and what we could improve to make sure that things are as smooth as possible for staff and patients.

As someone who works full time in a key role in ASC I am only able to volunteer at the w/es. I'm now looking at the prospect of giving up every weekend until the clinics stop running - probably in the autumn. If we had more volunteers then I might get a weekend off. Maybe all the critics on here could volunteer and show us how to do it better. Because you would be very welcome.

[Petlover9]

Better to use it than waste it. Old folk, whilst deserving, would never get out of a care home quickly enough. The doctor was probably tired at the end of a session and wanted to give to someone who could get there fast. 2nd jab might be a problem for his pal though

[Madamum18]

They have limited time to use the ones at the end of the day/vaccine "life"!. It makes entire sense to get hold of anyone who can get there quickly rather than waste it. It will sped things up further down the road too

[ekidmxcl]

It seems unfair, however it's better than the jab going in the bin.
However, there are millions of us who would happily rock up at the surgery with 5 minutes notice for a covid jab.

I think I'd just file it under "life isn't fair". It's a very big file.

[Belladonna12]

@Petlover9

Better to use it than waste it. Old folk, whilst deserving, would never get out of a care home quickly enough. The doctor was probably tired at the end of a session and wanted to give to someone who could get there fast. 2nd jab might be a problem for his pal though

Not everyone who is eligible for vaccination is in a care home though.

[randomsabreuse]

There's no way I could rock up at a vaccination centre with 5 minutes notice, none of them are close to 5 minutes of my house. If I happened to have running shoes on already I could probably manage 10 minutes (quicker than parking and there's a pedestrian short cut or 2). More realistically 15 minutes if just me to sort out. I live in a small town.

Big conference centres don't have a massive local population either.

Some flats you'd be 5 minutes getting to your outside door. It's probably 2 or 3 minutes just to get into a car and out the driveway, more at this time of year if it's been snowing/still frosty. Unless I've got the (shared) Karcher it's probably 5 minutes from car on until able to see out of front windscreen because of condensation on a bad day!

[EmmaGrundyForPM]

@Petlover9

Better to use it than waste it. Old folk, whilst deserving, would never get out of a care home quickly enough. The doctor was probably tired at the end of a session and wanted to give to someone who could get there fast. 2nd jab might be a problem for his pal though

The second jab won't be an issue. Once you've had your first one you're automatically recalled for your second one. You have to give your NHS number when you have a jab and complete the relevant paperwork.

[saraclara]

What people don't seem to understand, is that each person their age or older who has a leftover vaccination, frees up a space on the waiting list that will mean you'll get theirs sooner.

[Ddot]

Small village 200, 600 doses of vaccine delivered. 🤯 even I can do that maths.

[Thisisworsethananticpated]

It’s complex but we really need a system whereby people are on call for the spares , ie you get a text and get there in 15 mins
So in the
Meantime I’d rather it wasn’t wasted

[RainingBatsAndFrogs]

@saraclara

What people don't seem to understand, is that each person their age or older who has a leftover vaccination, frees up a space on the waiting list that will mean you'll get theirs sooner.

Exactly.

And given the speed with which millions are being vaccinated, getting up in a heap about the allocation of a couple of leftovers at the end of the day is a bit of a disproportionate use of angst, surely?

[Wingedharpy]

My pro-active GP surgery phoned me on Monday evening at 5pm.
I belong in the CEV group.
She said they were starting to vaccinate the over 70's and would be then moving on to CEV's but, in the meantime, they were contacting all their CEV folk to see who would be interested on going on a stand-by list, to be contacted at short notice if any spares were available.
I said yes please.
12md Tuesday, I get a call to ask, can you be at the surgery at 2.40 today for your vaccine?
You betcha!
I suspect the snow we had made it difficult, or dodgy, for some people to attend their pre-booked appointments.

[Ddot]

Good for you x