Vaccine Envy

[likeamillpond]

Anybody starting to feel ltwinges of the green eyed monster?
On the one hand I'm pleased that even more vulnerable people have suddenly been added the list, theres clearly a need for it, but secretly im a little bit disappointed that it now means it could be months before I get my get Get of jail free card.
I know it's not nice to feel this way but I can't help it.
I'd.never say anything irl.

nope not bothered about having it at all , its not a passport to freedom , you only have to read the news to gather that much , they have no intention of lifting these restrictions at a significant rate and , if they do the next thing along will come a new varient to lock us all back up again . they are telling people that have had the vaccine to carry on shielding so honestly .whats the fucking point in having it at all if its not making any difference to things . , well none at all , so i get that ppl are all anxious to have it ,but dont be , you will still be controlled by the state and told not to leave your bloody house and see your family anyway .

Playing devil's advocate for a moment though, what would happen if they said ok, if you've had the vaccine you can carry on with your life as normal? How many people who haven't yet been vaccinated would think sod that and start doing as they please too?

Maybe it's just a one rule for all until everyone has been vaccinated?

I think vaccine envy is a natural human feeling. People who I totally understand having vaccine envy:

• people in frontline professions that weren't prioritised even though they have the same/more contact with the public (eg teachers, police, prison wardens, bus drivers not but NHS admin and social workers are?)
• moderate asthmatics (which can mean taking 2 different daily medications and needing rescue steroids twice a year!) who have just been kicked off the priority list even though evidence shows they will be more ill for longer even if they arent more likely to die
• people with disabilities and conditions that aren't on the list but who are clearly vulnerable to long covid eg ME, some types of arrhythmias
• people who are 49 and a half. That must be annoying. They have to draw a line somewhere but they should be allowed to feel vaccine envy!

I'm in my late 40s and bordering obese/overweight One teen already bought Covid into the home from his secondary school, which was rife with cases. We managed to avoid catching it too.

My other teen's secondary was rife with cases too and he had several self isolations, so I feel it's only a matter of time before he brings it home once schools reopen.

I feel like a sitting target. The vaccine is a get out of jail card as far as I'm concerned. Just knowing that you won't be hospitalised or risk death from Covid must be a huge relief. I'm concerned about long Covid too.

brought

I really don't understand why teachers aren't getting the Vaccine?
Why aren't they prioritized?
It's madness.

I'm not a teacher, I just don't understand why they are left out when for instance, someone working for example at Vision Express is given the jab.
(If that's to be believed)

I’ve a lifelong condition that I have to deal with daily. Yes, that means I’ve had my first vaccine before you but FFS, being jealous of people having they’re vaccines because they’ve significant medical conditions like mine or are frontline workers? Unbelievable.

I really don't understand why teachers aren't getting the Vaccine?
Why aren't they prioritized?

As I understand it:

• because any teachers with an underlying health condition and those >50 WILL be vaccinated in priority groups;
• because many teachers are young and healthy and it wouldn't be appropriate to rush the vaccinations of large numbers of healthy 20- and 30-somethings before those at a statistically higher risk who are older i.e. those aged 40+ who aren't on any priority list, but who may be overweight, smokers, or just not in great health.

It's purely a 'who is at more risk of serious illness and death' question and the answer is 'those who are are older/sicker'. So it makes sense to continue to vaccinate in strict age order once you've separated out the sicker ones for faster vaccination.

@likeamillpond

I really don't understand why teachers aren't getting the Vaccine? Why aren't they prioritized? It's madness.

I'm not a teacher, I just don't understand why they are left out when for instance, someone working for example at Vision Express is given the jab.
(If that's to be believed)

a) because the government's aim is to end restrictions asap, and the fastest way to this is to vaccinate the most vulnerable first

The risk from schools is that they are community vectors, not the levels of illness within the school. The first and fastest protection is to the wider community.

b) if vulnerable, they are prioritised accordingly, ditto by their age category. All CEV teachers should have been done, and CV teachers will be getting done around now, ad will those aged over 60 (varies a bit by region)

c) anyone, working anywhere will be getting their vaccine ahead of younger people in normal health if they fall in to one of the priority categories. So it's not just Vision Express staff who might qualify ahead of those not in first 9 categories.

Also, eye health matters and Vision Express carries out NHS tests, so a proportion of their staff will qualify because of that role

Just on the Vision Express point- Opticians are vital services to my family and often have to get very close when assessing a customers eyes and fitting them. Both my children wear glasses and need regular checks, my Dad and my Uncle are being treated for glaucoma, my in-laws eyesight has suddenly gone very downhill.

The opticians we visit wear PPE, staggered appointments etc but CV still circulated around the staff and lead to weeks of cancelled appointments- if it is correct that those working in opticians are getting the vaccine I'm glad.

I agree that opticians SHOULD be a priority along with anyone on the medical front-line who is having to get close up to people's faces to treat them. People working in NHS back offices though and particularly those working from home should not be getting priority jabs - yet they are.

because many teachers are young and healthy

So are family members I have who are working from home, rather than having to work for hours a day in packed classrooms and not allowed to wear a mask, but they have been vaccinated. I just feel that if school staff are being told they cannot have social distancing/masks that are available to many other workers, then a vaccine would be good protection. Schools are vital, yes-so keeping the people inside them protected should be vital as well. I don’t think anyone vulnerable should be bumped down the list, but, listening to members of DH’s family-who haven’t set foot outside their home office for work reasons since last March- cheerily telling me about the fact that they’ve been vaccinated, it does get to me.

Lots of healthy early retired sixties something neighbours here reporting they've had their jabs. Celebrating with an in-person trip to Waitrose...
I do think that teachers should be prioritized above the healthy early retired who don't really need to go anywhere. Even Waitrose.
I'm a "key worker" but not on a list. In normal times I would be in and out of a lot of schools. If my employer wants me back in person, I expect them to put me on their priority list for vaccination ( local authority). If I'm not on the list, I assume they're happy for me to continue to work online and remotely.

The thing about not vaccinating police and teachers that gets me is they say the reason care staff are vaccinated is to protect their patients. Fair enough, although we don't know all the vaccines stop transmission, it's worth a go.

So why are admin staff wfh home getting it? Social workers working with kids not vulnerable adults?

Oh well their work is important.

Right, so you're saying other people's work (ie teachers and police in this instance) isn't important?

Oh, no, but teachers and police are less at risk of dying.

Actually, they aren't. Latest data shows female secondary school teachers have the same death rates as female health and social care workers. Which is higher than vision express and admin staff!

It's a circular non-sensical argument.

You just have to look at the death stats to see why the age brackets have been done.

Looking healthy at 65 doesn't mean you don't have an "older" immune system.

Admin staff is hard to justify beyond well simplifying admin! Which is something in such a major undertaking.

Overall I think the categories seem sensibly done.

@FredUpNow

You just have to look at the death stats to see why the age brackets have been done.

Looking healthy at 65 doesn't mean you don't have an "older" immune system.

No but not working means you don't need to come into contact with as many people as a woman in her late fifties still working

And that will be the next stage.

There is no perfect.

The positive is that the infrastructure is now such they will get through tranches of people quickly now.

I think they didn't think through 'health and social care staff' carefully enough.
Makes sense to prioritise patient facing staff working in hospitals/surgeries ie where you see sick or frail people.
But prioritising 'frontline' staff who see a few healthy people for eye testing a day with PPE, and back office staff and social workers working mostly from home seeing a couple of families a week with the option of a mask whilst expecting teachers to teach 200 kids a day with no distancing or masks, and expecting prison officers to physically wrangle prisoners is a massive kick in the teeth.

They can't have it both ways. Either education is as important as health/eye/teeth care and the people who work in it are protected accordingly, or they keep schools closed. Including key worker bubbles, those TAs should be vaccinated if they want them open!

And the police, who can't close, needed those vaccines far more than an NHS admin worker behind a perspex screen in a covid secure office with PPE.

@FredUpNow

And that will be the next stage.

There is no perfect.

As a 40 something teacher, I’m not due to be done until the Autumn, according to the BBC chart. Nice for my same-age WFH relatives to get months of being vaccinated whilst continuing to work from home, whilst school staff are expected to work maskless packed into rooms with loads of people and just wait their turn.

@EasterIssland

800k people have been added ... at the current speed of 300k average a day ... that means they would be extra 3 days to vaccinate this people

They haven't been added - they were always in a higher group than "you" in the first place. All those added to the shielding lists (of which I am one, although I won't be - but that's a different story) are in Group 5 or 6 and therefore were now beginning to get vaccine appointments. So nothing has really changed in that respect.

I'm not a teacher but it's pretty obvious that the contempt Williamson and his tribe hold for state education has led to his failure to protect his workforce. No ifs and buts.

I’m not envious as I am pleased to hear when people I know get it, as it means it’s moving, but I’d really like us to get ours soon.

I think we are all sick to the back teeth of this, and getting our vaccines shows some progress to getting out of this mess.