Guilt over getting vaccine

[PatsyKen]

DH and I are both teachers. We got a call an hour who from a doctor acquaintance who was doing covid jabs today and they had quite a few spare so they were all contacting teacher contacts to see if they get down to the vaccine centre ASAP. We live 10 minutes away so went immediately. I feel guilty! I feel bad I’ve jumped the queue when we’re in good health. We both are in daily contact with lots of children (I look after Y1/2 key worker kids rather than online teaching) but I feel almost embarrassed to have got it. Would you feel bad? Should I not have taken it?

The vaccine comes in 6 or 8 dose bottles. If all the doses are not used within a certain time the go to waste,

Wow... I didn't know this .. thank you 🌺

I really don’t see why teachers think they should be a priority it was the children spreading it to other members of their families, so how is vaccinating teachers going to help? Vaccinations should be offered on a strictly needs basis. Yes you should be feeling guilty and unless they can prove that there were no other patients more in need anyone giving to friends should be named and shamed.

@PuzzledObserver

She can probably- still catch it and pass it on though. The vaccine is to minimise serious illness arising from covid which she is incredibly unlikely to have that young

Uh, no, she probably can’t. 67% reduction in the number of positive swabs from 3 weeks after the AZ vaccine. And if you haven’t got the virus in your nose and throat, you can’t pass it on.

Did she say she had AZ ? I must have missed that The research is still unclear, either way I still think it’s wrong it goes to a doctors mate.

I don't blame you but my husband is an SEN teacher in a pupil referral unit in which the kids don't distance, wear masks, or generally conform in any way- where's his vaccine? He has to teach face to face and has done right the way through.

Why should some teachers benefit that have friends who are doctors and my husband doesn't? It's just wrong!

I volunteered at a large vaccination hub in a city centre today - 7 hours of queue management and wiping down chairs between every use and it was brilliant but hard work. There were a few spare vaccines at the end of the day (due to them being opened/unable to spend longer at room temperature etc) abs I got one along with a few other volunteers.
I don’t feel guilty at all! Not easy to get the ‘right’ people to the hub at the end of the day and they’re going to waste if they don’t go in someone’s arms. I also worked really hard to help 2,250 people get their vaccine today and have other shifts booked too.
I know it’s not perfect but jabs in arms are better than jabs in the bin and every person vaccinated gets us a step closer to being out of this.

Harrumf I don't think many would disagree with you having one at the end of the day... it would be ridiculous to waste them.

Doctors calling in their mates is what rankles

all Haruff@ your circumstances are completely different firstly you were helping with the vaccine program so acceptable you were not contacted by a friend specifically.

So if you get called home y your doctor friends and get a spare vaccine what do you do about your second jab? Are you given an appointment there and then?

*called in by

Why don't they work down the priority list with spare doses? I don't think you should feel guilty on a personal level, but people unreasonably bumping teachers up the priority list does annoy me. The lists were compiled based on the figures.

DH is a teacher and I'm NHS so I've had mine but he hasn't had his. If I'd known they were throwing them away we would have been down the surgery like a shot!

No guilt. The vaccine roll out is run by humans, some of the decisions will be imperfect but that's part of it, we're not going to have a perfect system. People are making decisions on how to use the left over doses, and on hindsight the decisions may not be correct but let's see the bigger picture- everyone needs to be jabbed before we can go back to normal. The more jabs that are done now the better. All CEV people over 70 should have had a letter inviting them in for their vaccine. So lets not get 'wound up' about people having the vaccine, we are going in the right direction and we should all be profoundly grateful to live where we do as opposed to a 3rd world country who will have no hope of getting a vaccine this year.

Op, I totally understand why you jumped at the chance of the vaccine, can imagine most people would. I do think spares should be allocated to the next in line rather than a friend of the vaccinators.

What happens in 10/12 weeks time when you're due the next dose? Others higher in the list will be waiting longer for their first dose to allow people to get their second dose and that doesn't sit right.

No, please don't feel guilty. Teachers are at more risk than most of us. I've seen that by the number of times there's notification of another positive case at school. It's not just about protecting you from serious disease and hospital or death, but too many teachers being ill with Covid leads to too many year group bubbles being closed down, which helps no one.

I'm saying this as a long Covid sufferer, aged 51, who won't be due to have a vaccine before the end of April most likely. My DH (55), who has asthma, also has a bit of a weight. But we can stay at home, with my DH WFH and me not working.

Apart from all this, who really is going to turn down the offer of a vaccine?

Admittedly, having read again some of these posts, if too many spare doses are given to people who don't qualify, it will hold up second doses. That is something I hadn't thought about.

But the OP didn't ask for it, it was offered. It's understandable she would take it.

I hope when the doctor friend has called all his teacher mates he knows a few bus drivers and ship assistants as well

It's really not his place to choose priority (ob other than his own patients on clinical judgement). No matter what our views on priority there have been decisions made and a list complied.

I still don't blame the OP though. Not many of us would refuse.

This was put together quickly and I can see and understand why this is happening but there must come a time when a better solution is already in place. We are at 20% of the over 70s and social media has many people thanking the hub for being able to get a spare as well as the hub calling for teaching staff who work 1:1 to get to the hub for the surplus jabs.

Do not feel guilty, it may of been wasted if you hadn't had it . Well done, we are one step closer to getting all our lives back to normal

@Pixxie7

I really don’t see why teachers think they should be a priority it was the children spreading it to other members of their families, so how is vaccinating teachers going to help? Vaccinations should be offered on a strictly needs basis. Yes you should be feeling guilty and unless they can prove that there were no other patients more in need anyone giving to friends should be named and shamed.

Because no teachers caught covid from kids in their classroom ever. The teacher infection rate when schools were open Sept-Dec was definitely not 333% higher than community infection rate. And being in an unventilated small room with 30 other people and no ppe is definitely safe.

I despair at posters who keep trotting out the “teachers are no more at risk that anyone else” line. It’s not a competition. They, along with some other jobs, are definitely more at risk than 2 adults who wfh and follow the guidance.

Lemons... teachers are at increased risk and I don't disagree they should be vaccinated in the next phase. I do think however that to do this before general community infection is much reduced to bring children back to school would be wrong.

These children who are believed to be infecting each other and others would still travel on buses, go in shops and go back home.

Vaccinating teachers is only half the story surely

There are plenty of professions within the critical worker list (not all) which should probably be considered towards the front of the line once groups 1-9 are done (of the individuals aren’t already in the priority risk groups). But that isn’t limited to teachers (there are a lot of other worthy professions equally putting themselves forward) and it’s not appropriate ethically for a doctor to just ring his spectrum of professional chums up

Don't feel guilty. In my opinion teachers are front line too. I'm pleased this is being done rather than waste vaccines.

I confess I haven't read up on any of this, but why don't the vaccinators have a standby list of people e.g. in the next group down? I'm sure most people would be happy to travel at short notice if they had some warning that they might get a call?

No! You are utterly deserving, and the more people that have had it, the better for all of us. And no-one wants to see a single dose go to waste.

@mumwalk

I confess I haven't read up on any of this, but why don't the vaccinators have a standby list of people e.g. in the next group down? I'm sure most people would be happy to travel at short notice if they had some warning that they might get a call?

That's what we've been doing in all of the clinics I've been involved in. We have a back up list and ring those people prior and say "to be free at 1700 - if there's a spare vaccine you'll be called down" we called 10 extra people at the end of Friday who were next in line.

I've only been to one mass clinic where that was not possible and we had to ring around to use up the final spares at the end of the day.