Spare vaccines going in the bin

[FlamingGreatGalaahs]

My friend works in a GP surgery & says that because so many older people are refusing their vaccines (1 in 4 apparently) that lots are going to waste.

Why the hell are they not giving them to teachers so we can get schools back open?!

Am I missing something here?!

I work in a hub and we never waste any.
An hour or so before we expect to finish we do a count up of how many vaccines we have left, if we’ve more vaccines than appointments we start ringing the next on the list.

@Sunflowergirl1

They were giving them away. Then the Daily Mail runs an article claiming that friends and family of staff were being favoured and vaccinated out of turn and NHS England were allegedly going to out a stop to it...which I assume they have and therefore clearly it is better vaccines are binned than give them to someone.

I just fucking despair....the vaccine programme is such a success but a daily paper starts jumping up,and down for a story.

What I do know is that locally there is an arrangement that if there are spare they contact the police and officers come down and get vaccinated which is exactly as it should be

Funnily enough this is not the case.

GP practices have reserve lists. These are people in a lower cohort who can be called and booked in. This happens if they are using Pfizer. AZ can be stored in the fridge.

@donewithitalltodayandxmas

Im also in sw and my 66 year old dad not been invited yet so can't see how you can say low uptake in 65-69 year groups

Group 5, which your dad is in, aren't being called yet.

Group 5, which your dad is in, aren't being called yet.

Just spoken to him and he has had letter and all booked in

@GoldenPenPot I have several friends who are teachers who would prefer to be vaccinsted before going back to work. It just would seem like a sensible thing to do!

Why should we expect teachers to put themselves at risk. Unprotected?

Exactly! @Lalalablahblahblah

If not teachers then anyone! I just feel teachers would be the next logical group who it should be offered to after healthcare / medical staff 🤷🏻‍♀️

Sorry if OP was confusing - 1 in 4 older people were refusing the jab so I am reliably informed.

@bluebluezoo I'm just telling you what someone who works in a GO surgery told me.

I didn't say "i think i can do better."

I know that Epidemiologists are certainly NOT organising the distribution of the vaccine! Don't be silly

Some areas are being far more resourceful. One practice up here in Scotland invited officers from the neighbouring police station to come in and use up leftovers at the end of the session - they were very grateful.

That sounds extremely sensible @Babdoc 👏

I'm an over 50 teacher who was called by a nurse friend to receive a vaccine at the end of the session, later had a telephone appointment with my GP (about a long-standing health condition) She could see I'd had my first vaccine and said she was delighted to hear that they were all being used and not discarded!

@MoirasRoses I didn't read this. My best friend manages a large inner london GP surgery. I just found it slightly galling.

It's disgusting.

I don't care whose arm they put it in as long as it's not in the bin.

Police, teachers, retail, drivers,vagrant on the park bench, just get it in people.

@BIWI. They are in some places. I'm group 6 (50, diabetic T2) I had mine Saturday. s did several other people I know.

I know that Epidemiologists are certainly NOT organising the distribution of the vaccine! Don't be silly

Lol. Yeah, silly, that’s me.

No, but they will be contributing to who gets the vaccine first, being as part of their job is to figure out how best to control CV-19

Whether it is refusal or double booking (and the latter I can understand out of fear of the centre being closed for snow, and people who cannot do 'admin' properly), as long as there is a way of using all vaccines (next four groups, police, or any one who can arrive at short notice), I am not fussed who gets one early.

@FlamingGreatGalaahs

My friend works in a GP surgery & says that because so many older people are refusing their vaccines (1 in 4 apparently) that lots are going to waste.

Why the hell are they not giving them to teachers so we can get schools back open?!

Am I missing something here?!

You mean your friend works in a GP surgery that is poorly managed. I am vaccinating at a site and we have not wasted a SINGLE dose. We only get out what we need and if there are surplus (some vials contain extra doses) or people don’t turn up we vaccinate:

1. Volunteers on site assisting with the service.
2. Partners/carers who have accompanied the patient.
3. Patients living locally who have been asked to keep their phones on them and we will call when we know there will be some left over (usually around half an hour before clinic ends)
4. Practice staff have been vaccinated but as last resort we are now in a position where enough time has passed that we could offer a second dose.

And if all else fails we could probably stick our heads out the door and shout “anyone for a covid vaccine” and someone would come running.

And once we get through the initial wave then we will just carry on down the list. I don’t disagree that teachers/police/supermarket employees need vaccinating as quickly as possible but this isn’t a case of terrible waste by the bad JCVI/government, it’s the practice being piss poor with their organisation.

@FlamingGreatGalaahs

Sorry if OP was confusing - 1 in 4 older people were refusing the jab so I am reliably informed.

But that’s just not true. The Prime Minister said tonight over 90% of the over 75s have had the vaccine. Given some of them won’t be able to (because they’ve currently got Covid, or a medical condition which means they can’t, or they were ill on the day their appointment was, or their appointment is tomorrow), that is an amazing achievement however you look at it.

@Wigeon i mean in this particular surgery.

@Haiyaa that is very reassuring to hear

@bluebluezoo well that seems to depend on where you happen to live& which surgery you go to. Going by this thread's responses!

@FlamingGreatGalaahs

Sorry if OP was confusing - 1 in 4 older people were refusing the jab so I am reliably informed.

I don't think you've been reliably informed, OP.

Mmmm, a suspish OP citing 'a friend' who works in a GP practice who says lots of doses are going in the bin, versus quite a few people who volunteer for vaccine centres and other people who have first-hand experience of how the roll-out is being managed, who say this is definitely not what's happening. Who to believe??

I smell fake news and I'm not sure if it's being deliberately disseminated or OP is being a bit of a useful idiot here, but I think it's bollocks.

I got a text from my GP's surgery this week, sent to everyone, asking that anyone in receipt of carer's allowance or who cared for a disabled or elderly person, should text back to let them know. I believe I'm now on some sort of waiting list for spare doses. As far as I've been able to establish, all the GP practices in this area are doing this, and I know lots of people who've had their first dose a lot sooner than expected because of it. Not 'going in the bin'.

[quote WitchesBritchesPumpkinPants]@BIWI. They are in some places. I'm group 6 (50, diabetic T2) I had mine Saturday. s did several other people I know.[/quote]
Well yes - I have to take it all back! I'm group 7 and got a text today inviting me to have mine. Will be having it on Saturday!

This has been going on from the start. I have 2 friends who work in vaccination centres. And also the woman in the vaccination centre I went to for my first dose, also told me. So 3 people. I've written this on mn threads. Only to be told I was a liar and scaremongering!