Yes, I think lots of upper 40s are having vaccine envy now. Envy towards the 40s who scraped in with a booking because their area was ahead, and envy towards those just a year or two older who are in the 50+ group and will certainly receive it soon if not already.
I was very disappointed on Weds. It felt handled poorly, in terms of no acknowledgement that something that the 40s had been told was very close, now wasn’t. The government HAD primed the media to post about vaccines for over 40s by the end of March and by Easter. But no longer the case.
However, I am getting over it now. I’m focusing on the positives of 25m done, all of grouos 1-9 being offered it now and the fact 40s will be next. I’m accepting there will be supply issues. There probably will be further supply issues. I’m accepting that perhaps we all got a bit complacent about the supply chain. When there’s a delay, someone has to wait. And this just so happens to be the 40s. If the delay had been a couple of weeks earlier it would have been 50s and if a couple of weeks later, might have been 30s. The 40s are just the unlucky ones this time.
Boris spoke about it better yesterday than Hancock did on Weds. he acknowledged supply issues and delays moving onto new groups. They have also been careful to only have very broad targets officially (all under 50s by end July) so they are still able to say they are on track. The mentions of 40s starting by end March and being done by Easter, was all unofficial.....although the picture of dropping ages through March and GPs offering to lots of 40s in many areas certainly showed this want just pie in the sky, but very much what was happening and coming. But I guess someone somewhere in government who knows about these things, ensured the office targets were broad, as they knew supply was unpredictable and that promising too many very specific things was likely to lead to disappointment. They very much want to under promise and over deliver now don’t they. This is a bit of a blip in this as 40s feel disappointed, but also, the official timeline is still on track. And we all do understand that supply is unreliable.
So, I’m going to stop dwelling on disappointment today. I’ve had 2 days of feeling sad that it’s a 6 week wait. I’m moving on now and thinking well perhaps it won’t actually be 6 weeks and maybe things will improve a bit. And I know 40s will be next and we will be jabbed soon, even though not as soon as I’d thought 3 days ago.