Vaccine link thread?

[Directionerforever]

I was reading a thread last night that had the link to book vaccines if you were in the right category. I can’t find it now this morning, was there a problem with it? I wanted to book in laws (70’s) this morning but I don’t want to if there is an issue. They’d probably rather catch Covid than go to an ill gotten appointment.

@gisbons thank you so much, I went to find the original thread and it's gone! My mum was able to book for tomorrow so she's delighted. Thanks for the info

🙌🏻

It would be a public service if @MNHQ put the NHS link as a strapline at the top of every page.

I also wanted to thank the poster who originally posted the thread. I saw it last night and booked CEV dh an appointment this morning, for next Friday. THANK YOU

@gisbons thank you. I tried the link yesterday and it said I wasn't eligible. Someone posted that they were opening up to ECV today so I tried again and I am booked for tomorrow!!!!

I'm here, I'm reading, I'm cheering @Verygrateful123!

And I'm dancing @Phymp!

@gisbons thank you for the link. I was able to get my DF booked this morning for his first dose on Sunday. I had been trying all week after you had posted the link in another thread but he was not eligible until today. His letter has obviously now been generated but we are only getting letters delivered once a week at the moment. It could be another week before he receives the letter.

DF is in an eligible group and entitled to his vaccine, he's not queue jumping 🙄

Surely we want as many eligible people as possible to have their first dose if they want it? 🤷🏼‍♀️

@gisbons another one thanking you, managed to get CEV DH in tomorrow, and 2nd booked for April.

Yes, huge un- Mumsnetty hug to you. @ gisbons !

Booked my husband in at 3.30am this morning, following your link on the AIBU thread, for a vaccination at a pharmacy less than half a mile from our home.
Phoned them to double - check as soon as they opened , and they’re expecting him at 9.30 in the morning, with the follow up appointment in April.

Soooooo relieved , we are counting the hours until then.

You are a star ! 💐

Agreed, the link is fine and anyone who is eligible can book.

Is the link just for England residents? If so does anyone know of a link for Wales?

@gisbons I did panic a bit when I saw the deletion message.

My gran burst into tears when I told her she was booked in, and then my mum burst into tears when my gran phoned her.

Do you have shares in Kleenex or something?

THANK YOU

Do you have to take your shielding letter with you as proof? Because i don't have one, my GP added me to the shielding list and just sent me a text to show my employer and a link to the online shielding letter to save paper.

No you just need your booking reference which you get after booking using the link

The link is the one that the letter gives you.

Just be aware that not every centre is available to book online. I tried for over a week to book for my mum, but was only offered centres too far away for her to get to. I was confused as I knew of two other centres in her town, but they just wouldn’t appear on the website. It turns out that those two centres could only be booked through the GP - so if you can’t get a local one on the website when you get your letter, call your GP x

@gisbons another thank you from me. Sorry they deleted the other thread. You’ve helped six over 70 year olds I know get jabs today!

@Thimbleberries

Do you get the choice of the GP surgeries/hospitals or the large vaccine hubs with this service? Or is this just the service for the hubs? I'm not eligible yet, but I'm curious to know. Some information says that people can wait to be contacted by a GP if they don't want to go to the hub (some do different vaccines), but this might be the same link for all possibilities?

The website booking link is only for the 49 large vaccination centres, and for pharmacy-led sites, which is around 100 sites. You will only get an invitation to book at one of those sites if you are within 45min off peak travel time of those places.

GP-led sites are not using that national booking service, they are inviting their own patients via email or letter or phone call or text - depends on the practice. As there are way way more GP-led sites (over 1,000), you are currently much more likely to be contacted by your GP to be invited.

If you get an invite letter through the national booking service, but you’d prefer to go to a nearby GP-led site, then you can ignore the letter and wait for your GP to contact you.

It’s not the case that certain sites only have AstraZeneca, or only have Pfizer. Most have a mix, or it changes each week. You can’t choose the site you go to and guarantee you’ll get a particular brand of vaccine. And in any case, you won’t be able to choose which you have on the day, even if they have both.

Some of the pharmacy-led sites aren’t actually in a pharmacy, and some of the GP-led sites aren’t in a GP surgery. So it’s quite hard to tell as a member public whether that site near your house is pharmacy-led (and therefore bootable via the national booking service, as per this thread) or GP-led, and only bookable via a different invite from your GP.

Handy list of all sites here (slightly out of date - from 22 Jan whereas more sites have now opened up).

Wonderful! 🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉

I can’t tell you how peeved I was this morning when they pulled the threads, all because some people lack any notion of critical reasoning and instead prefer to pile on.

However, the common sense on this thread and the other one have given me hope! I am so very pleased that more people are finding the threads and realising they can get booked in. It’s really marvellous. 🥰

It’s good to have some good news for a change, y’know?

@gisbons thank you so much for sharing this, my cev mum has this afternoon managed to book her first jab for the 8th of Feb and 2nd one in April. She sounded so happy when I spoke to her after she had booked them, she's had a tough year.

It’s not the case that certain sites only have AstraZeneca, or only have Pfizer. Most have a mix, or it changes each week. You can’t choose the site you go to and guarantee you’ll get a particular brand of vaccine. And in any case, you won’t be able to choose which you have on the day, even if they have both.*

That's good to know. Here they have said in the press that the local hub is using AZ, but I know that GPs are also using Pfizer at their own clinics. We are in a (small) city, though, so have access to GP clinics, hospital centres, and a large hub at a public area in the city centre. The press has reported on the hub as it's just opened, and said it's using AZ, but I know from people who have been to the GP or hospital clinics that they've had Pfizer. That is likely just what has been delivered so far, and the GPs might well start using AZ now that it's more available. I expect the bigger hub might keep using AZ though, for ease of transport and storage.

I only know people who've been invited by their own GPs, but the press articles said that people within 45 min drive of the city centre were being invited for that hub. Presumably also people within the city?

@Thimbleberries - re the invites to the hub in your city, assuming it’s one of the 49 vaccination centres, yes, it’s people within 45 min travel time, which includes people within a 5, 10, 15 min travel time! So definitely includes people in the city itself.

Re AZ vs Pfizer - actually, almost all (I think all) GPs are now getting AZ, as well as Pfizer, and actually the strategy going forward is for them to get more AZ than Pfizer, when supplies allow, because of the easier handling for AZ, the much longer shelf life (Pfizer is only 3.5 days), and the fact that you can move AZ from the site itself, eg to care homes and housebound patients, which GPs are responsible for. Pfizer is much easier to manage at a hospital or big Vaccination Centre.

@gisbons thank you so much. I’ve booked the Inlaws in. I was gutted this morning when the thread had disappeared and worried it hadnt been legit. It’s a shame it was taken down as it could help so many people. Hopefully they will find their way here!

I was offered 3 choices. One in nearest town half an hour drive, one in York which is 1.5 hours by car and another also 1.5 hours. As someone on another thread said I would happily have chartered a moon rocket. Would have done the 3 hour round trip if that's all that was on offer but pleased to be going closer to home.