What happens to free vaccination appointments?

[Rainbowsandstorms]

I’ve just been looking at our local swift queue booking system for covid vaccinations and a number of local vaccination centres have had numerous appointments free and not booked for this afternoon, this was the case yesterday too. One of local centres has 26 book able appointments for this afternoon. What happens to these appointments if no one books them? Are the vaccinations still used or are they just rolled over to the next day? It seems like such a waste when there are lots of people not in the priority groups who would take them at short notice.

I think there are lots of people IN the priority groups that would take them at short notice too.

How do you look at the local booking system please?

Absolutely, though the people in the priority groups have access to these appointments and could book them. They are only free because they haven’t been booked by people who meet the requirements. Our local area uses the swift queue website which you can google but different areas seem to have different systems. Just gutted to see appointments that aren’t been used.

Ahhh how frustrating! I am group 6 and I would travel a long long way to get my vaccination done if there’s slots going spare, can’t find anything for my local area though.

@MyBossIsATwat I really hope you get yours soon. It seems such a shame that there are appointments not being used. I know the uptake doesn’t seem to have been great in our area maybe that’s why there are appointments going spare.

Cannot believe there are so many appointments going spare when so many are waiting
Can group 6 book on line yet ?

Where we are if that happens the teams will be asked to do outreach work, housebound, homeless or people with disabilities. But the vaccination centres are using AZ so it doesn’t go to waste if bookings slow.

My parents' GP surgery sends out messages saying 'there is spare stock, call them immediately, first come, first served' to a list of numbers that are next in line. My dad got his vaccine like that (he is group 6 and had his 10 days ago).

It is annoying as group six can’t access appointments through the booking system.

@rosie1959 group 6 is open here though through a different part of the website so I’m unsure if there are appointments going spare in that category. It’s the over 65s where there are lots of appointments. @LemonTT and @pommedeterre that’s good to know. Hopefully it’s similar here. Just hate the idea of appointments being wasted as every appointment could save lives and makes us a step closer to everyone being vaccinated.

I agree @rainbowsandstorms - I was cheered up massively by the proactive-ness. Especially as a doctor friend at the local hospital turned up to do a shift at the vaccination clinic and sat in her pod for 3 hours and no-one turned up...

I took my husband for his jab last night and he asked if they had any spare so I could be vaccinated and they said no. I was surprised having heard about them vaccinating partners and anyone they can to avoid wastage.

I went with my husband Tuesday evening. They closed the doors after entering and we asked, particularly as he was having the Pfizer vaccine, if there were any spares that I could have, but they said no, unless I was over 65.

@Mindymomo
I’m glad it’s not just me. Everyone else I’ve spoken to managed to get it at the same time. My husband had Pfizer too.

My surgery called this afternoon to say they're booking vaccine appointments for DH and me for this Saturday - we were pretty shocked (but very happy!). This was totally unexpected since we weren't expecting to be vaccinated until April (we're mid-50s, no underlying health conditions).

The local vaccination centre has only just started the over-65s so I'm assuming they had some slots to fill and we just got very lucky!

I'm group 6 and having to wait until next week to go to a specific hub for mine (first appointment they had when I got the text yesterday), when a mile from my house there's a vaccination centre with plenty of capacity and I could get an appointment same day if I was in group 1-5 - no idea why group 6 can't be diverted to any sites if there's space sooner!

I was volunteering at a major hub last weekend and they only had 200 out of 1500 appointments booked because they could only do over 70s until the next day. It was AZ so nothing got wasted but I literally came home and cried my eyes out as it felt like such a pointless endeavour and i was so so frustrated with it.

I have also spent time at smaller clinics where they have run through 400 people in a couple of hours and it was phenomenal (and since one of these were pfezir I got a left over jab myself) but it felt so worthwhile seeing so many people giving up their time - inc coming back from retirement or volunteering etc and the complete buzz of happy people once they got their vaccine. was just so worth it