Vaccine queue jumping making me feel angry

[Snog]

SIL has been vaccinated already- she is a healthy 40 year old, works from home, no caring responsibilities.

It's made me feel surprisingly angry. I'm not clear how she managed it at this point. On a personal level I like SIL so am pleased for her but god I feel angry at the injustice.

I know some people have picked up "spare" doses but surely even the spare doses should be managed according to health priorities? Eg at least finding someone in groups 1-9 to vaccinate if not in groups 1-4.

AIBU to feel angry about this?

RiverSkater

But all NHS workers are eligible, regardless of their role or place of work. So it wasn't queue jumping, it was legitimate access to the vaccine.

There are lots of reasons for providing all staff with the vaccine:

1. Administratively it's much harder to work out who should be a priority within the organisation and would delay the vaccination program.
2. It's an easy and quick way to vaccinate a large number of people as the NHS is the biggest single employer (and whilst people are in separate trusts it's administratively collective in this instance).
3. Without those admin and office workers the NHS is much less effective overall. By reducing the amount of time off work they need we make the NHS run more smoothly overall.

I firmly belief leftover vaccines should go in an arm - any arm - rather than go in the bin at the end of the day.

I was confused in the briefing last night though when the medical experts said they hadn’t had the vaccine yet because they weren’t “frontline” workers as clearly that isn’t NHS policy as all staff are getting it regardless of their role (I don’t have an issue with this - admin and other frontline roles are crucial)

There seems to be some mismatch between the front line workers edict and the on the ground jab all NHS reality.

However friend getting it just because she works for the NHS in a senior role is queue jumping I think but what can you do

You do know that the fact the NHS runs at all is not entirely down to the efforts of doctors and nurses?

I wouldn’t have an issue with the medical experts and ministers getting it either, surely if you are having direct input into government policy it’s important that you don’t get sick - but it’s probably not worth all the shouting from the “what about me” types on here.

though when the medical experts said they hadn’t had the vaccine yet because they weren’t “frontline” workers

I don't know who they are, but it's possible they're employed by either the government or a university and not an NHS trust. If they employed by an NHS trust then they've chosen not to have it.

@Updatemate

though when the medical experts said they hadn’t had the vaccine yet because they weren’t “frontline” workers

I don't know who they are, but it's possible they're employed by either the government or a university and not an NHS trust. If they employed by an NHS trust then they've chosen not to have it.

If they work for Public Health England they’re not part of the NHS.

I think I agree that a “spare dose at the end of the day” should be given to anyone available to receive it.
I don’t know the full details but understand that the vial can only be used for a certain amount of time once opened so if it was going to go in the bin then 100% she should have had it.

VinylDetective

Yeah that's what I mean, just because they're medical experts, they aren't necessarily NHS and therefore not automatically eligible for vaccination.

One was Stephen Powis who is the Head of the NHS. I think he said he hasn’t had the vaccine as he wasn’t frontline but that he might get it if he started work vaccinating people.

DarceyDashwood

Sounds like a publicity move then.

Everyone I know in my trust (including very very senior managers who work 100% from home) have had it.

Yabu

Anyone getting the vaccine is doing their bit. Anyone. Her having the vaccine will help everyone.
She did not jump the queue. She got a spare one that would have went in the bin. I don't understand why you are angry and calling her a queue jumper.

@DarceyDashwood
"I firmly belief leftover vaccines should go in an arm - any arm - rather than go in the bin at the end of the day."

Totally agree. Only way out of bloody lockdowns

However friend getting it just because she works for the NHS in a senior role is queue jumping I think but what can you do

I've had the vaccine. I'm mid forties, no underlying health conditions. I work from home for the NHS and will do permanently now. If I and my colleagues don't do our jobs the Trust I work for doesn't get paid by the NHS for work done. And if they don't get paid, none of the HCPs get paid. So yeah, I'm entitled to that vaccine just as much as anyone else, you muppet.

@Eyjafjallajokulldottir

However friend getting it just because she works for the NHS in a senior role is queue jumping I think but what can you do

I've had the vaccine. I'm mid forties, no underlying health conditions. I work from home for the NHS and will do permanently now. If I and my colleagues don't do our jobs the Trust I work for doesn't get paid by the NHS for work done. And if they don't get paid, none of the HCPs get paid. So yeah, I'm entitled to that vaccine just as much as anyone else, you muppet.

Surely you can see other people’s points of view though? You have a small chance of contracting the virus WFH, there are many people who meeting hundreds of people a day (for example DH and I are teachers, my covid ward nurse friend still hasn’t had hers yet).

I understand. One of my sisters is healthy 35 year old and works in the NHS in an admin role (from home) and has been vaccinated. Oh and she’s also had Covid.

I’m a type 1 diabetic teacher and haven’t had one

So my life is worth less because I don't work on a patient facing role and I'm fairly fit and healthy? I'm less deserving? Have to disagree I'm afraid.

@Eyjafjallajokulldottir

No ones life is worth less than another’s.

It’s about who is more likely to need hospital treatment, save the nhs and all

my covid ward nurse friend still hasn’t had hers yet

Why not? Has she tested covid positive in the last 28 days.

I don't know of a trust that hasn't vaccinated their full staff yet (that she who can't have it/ declined it notwithstanding).

@Eyjafjallajokulldottir

So my life is worth less because I don't work on a patient facing role and I'm fairly fit and healthy? I'm less deserving? Have to disagree I'm afraid.

Did I say that @Eyjafjallajokulldottir Maybe I should stamp my feet and cry is my life less deserving because it’s seems fit for me to be in front of 150 pupils a day without PPE and a 2m taped section to stand in and there are people at WFH who are vaccinated?

@Updatemate

my covid ward nurse friend still hasn’t had hers yet

Why not? Has she tested covid positive in the last 28 days.

I don't know of a trust that hasn't vaccinated their full staff yet (that she who can't have it/ declined it notwithstanding).

No she hasn’t had Covid and no she hasn’t had the vaccine (or refused it). Your information is obviously wrong.

OP in your SIL situation, I don't see the issue. She was lucky enough to be offered a dose that otherwise would've gone to waste.

What I do have an issue with is people such as one of my close friends booking their parents in that are in their 50s with no underlying health conditions using that swiftqueue loophole just because they can. On that link itself it tells you only book if you're eligible and have received your letter, which they clearly just ignored as they don't satisfy either criteria.

That link has been around WhatsApp and SM alot this last week so I imagine alot of people have just tried their luck and booked in. It makes we wonder whether I'm being a mug for not booking my 69 year old mother in.

If there are these spare doses, they should be auctioned off, with the money going to charity or additional NHS funding, not given to friends and family or people exploiting glitches in the IT system.

It would be easy to have a website which people could log on to at the end of the day and buy a vaccine for, say, £250, or whatever the market could take.

If there were 10,000 spare doses a day that could raise nearly £20 mio a week, which could go to food kitchens etc.

The idea that those in the system should have discretion as where spare doses go is reminiscent of the old USSR where everyone was equal but, if you knew the right people, everything was obtainable.

@TheReluctantPhoenix yeah dead easy for the health professionals at the end of a long day where they don't quite know how many doses will be left to start running a vaccine auction. Also so much more egalitarian that those with more cash get the vaccine before friends and family of NHS. Bizarre idea.

Rookie,

Capitalism is a lot more honest than nepotism and the proceeds would go to charity.

Amazon could set it up easily. Vaccine centre puts number of spare doses in at, say, 5pm, you log on to Amazon, pay, print out receipt, and rock up 10 minutes later for your vaccine.

Shall we now have supermarket staff allowing their friends to queue jump, NHS consultants treating friends and family before needier cases etc.

Why not just go full Soviet, with special shops where only those well connected are allowed in?

My brother contacted me to say his friend early 60s had been invited to get the vaccine because he's a supply teacher in a special school. My husband works in a special school but they have not been approached. Looking at this article I suspect someone has shared the link to the swift queue site

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/health/swiftqueue-how-did-booking-site-allow-covid-vaccination-queue-jumping-non-priority-groups-3108610%3famp