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Original poster

Can this be true? Tons of people lying to get vaccine.

460 replies

NaturalBlondeYeahRight · 21/03/2021 14:59

My mum has just told me that my dodgy cousin (about 30) has just had his vaccine with all of his builder mates by lying and saying they are ‘unpaid carers’ on the nhs website. She said no one bothered to check any of them.
Firstly, how bloody outrageous of them pulling the wool over the vaccine centres eyes and secondly, why isn’t their any check, however minor?
I know we all need to get done eventually but this has really pissed me off.

OP posts:
gettingfedupagain · 21/03/2021 21:56

@Sleepyblueocean

"secondly, why isn’t their any check, however minor?"

What would that check be?

A DWP letter regarding carers allowance.

Or for people who don't meet the financial criteria for CA, a copy of the DLA/PIP letter of the disabled person that you care for and a letter from that person saying that you care for them for 35+ hours a week.

DavidsSchitt · 21/03/2021 22:02

"Or for people who don't meet the financial criteria for CA, a copy of the DLA/PIP letter of the disabled person that you care for and a letter from that person saying that you care for them for 35+ hours a week."

Eh?!

FIL doesn't get PIP or DLA but he was still on the shielded list and you don't have to care for them for 35+ hours a week to be eligible for a vaccine as an unpaid carer.

Sleepyblueocean · 21/03/2021 22:15

"Or for people who don't meet the financial criteria for CA, a copy of the DLA/PIP letter of the disabled person that you care for and a letter from that person saying that you care for them for 35+ hours a week."

What if the person with the disability cannot write that letter?

XenoBitch · 21/03/2021 22:20

@DavidsSchitt

"Or for people who don't meet the financial criteria for CA, a copy of the DLA/PIP letter of the disabled person that you care for and a letter from that person saying that you care for them for 35+ hours a week."

Eh?!

FIL doesn't get PIP or DLA but he was still on the shielded list and you don't have to care for them for 35+ hours a week to be eligible for a vaccine as an unpaid carer.

My mum was down as a carer for my grandad... he was not on PIP/DLA and she was not a paid carer, neither did she care for him for 35+ hours.

She got the vaccine because she was registered as a carer with her GP. Bit naughty though as my grandad died in 2019.

Thecazelets · 21/03/2021 22:25

Haven't heard of this in my area. But as I am currently struggling to persuade my elderly parents to actually take up their vaccine opportunity I am of the view that the more people get it the better. For every person 'jumping the gun' there will probably be someone else refusing to have it. And if as a PP suggested there is an overlap between queue jumpers and restriction flouters then, to be pragmatic, it's probably just as well that they are being vaccinated to reduce the risk they pose to others.

Nora1978 · 21/03/2021 22:30

It’s no excuse but I think there was an inevitable panic when the government paused first vaccines due to supplies. As someone who has worked in a nursery throughout the pandemic with zero protection and zero chance of a vaccine anytime soon I can understand that there is probably a degree of fear behind people’s actions.

Thecazelets · 21/03/2021 22:33

I should add that I had mine in one of the first wave of vaccinations in December. At the time my age group was obviously not being called in the general population, but I work in a clinical role for the NHS. I was the only one under about 80 there as this was before my Trust had established separate staff-only sessions. There were quite a lot of pointed remarks while I waited in the queue about 'younger people' getting their jabs ahead of older people. Just making the point that you don't always know the full story!

quarentini · 21/03/2021 22:41

I got the vaccine today.
I booked myself in.
They opened it up to over 45's for a couple of hours as they had excess vaccine in my area.

Bluntness100 · 21/03/2021 22:43

I think this is an urban myth, my husband was given the vaccine as he’s front line Health worker and his documentation was checked three times, and he had to provide photo Id. He said three women were refused as they couldn’t provide the documentation.

Cookerhood · 21/03/2021 22:47

I do find it hard to get worked up about. In all the vaccination centres I have been to they always ask if there is anyone who needs vaccinating & get in family, police, teachers etc. I don't believe this is taking vaccine away from anyone. I have heard of ECV people who need vaccinating at home who are still waiting, but that's a different issue. Those queue barging aren't affecting them. Honestly at the moment there are vaccinations & appointments to spare (I accept that this may change). Some of my family have taken up extra vaccinations which would have been thrown away - one member of the family is vulnerable & can't be vaccinated. For flu we are all eligible in order to protect them. It doesn't seem to work that way for Covid which is crazy.

Wellbythebloodyhell · 21/03/2021 22:55

@Bluntness100

I think this is an urban myth, my husband was given the vaccine as he’s front line Health worker and his documentation was checked three times, and he had to provide photo Id. He said three women were refused as they couldn’t provide the documentation.
I wasn't asked to provide anything at all, neither were the people before or after me. Simply was asked if you was a carer and the answer accepted. FWIW I'm not a carer so answered no, was not asked to provide any proof of employment. The people before me both answered yes to being carers again no proof asked for.
windywally · 21/03/2021 22:56

Been vaccinating all day in a mass vaccination centre , lots of young carers have presented themselves for a vaccine, by the time they get to me I have been told my role is to vaccinate not question the validity of the person in front of me , however as we have to document at time of vaccination what category they are in ie carer , clinically vulnerable etc I just had a instinct from how they replied that maybe they were stretching the truth

Bluntness100 · 21/03/2021 23:00

I wasn't asked to provide anything at all, neither were the people before or after me

I wonder if it’s geography dependent. At the centre my husband went to they were really thorough, as said, three checks before they vaccinated him and the third bloke said his ID card didn’t look like him and was actually hesitating about letting him have it. My husband was like “dude the cards twenty years old. I didn’t get a new one taken just for this”. He let him through, but he said he was really hesitant.

ShipOfTheseus · 21/03/2021 23:02

@Bluntness100

I think this is an urban myth, my husband was given the vaccine as he’s front line Health worker and his documentation was checked three times, and he had to provide photo Id. He said three women were refused as they couldn’t provide the documentation.
It’s not an urban myth. Your DH had to provide proof because he’s a frontline health worker. Carers aren’t. That’s the problem. There is no (or little) proof.
DavidsSchitt · 21/03/2021 23:04

"I wonder if it’s geography dependent."

No, it's dependent on why you are being vaccinated. Carers don't need to prove it, healthcare workers do.

DavidsSchitt · 21/03/2021 23:05

"as we have to document at time of vaccination what category they are in ie carer , clinically vulnerable etc"

@windywally

Where is this being documented? In their medical notes?

GrumpyHoonMain · 21/03/2021 23:06

All of my siblings are unpaid carers to my parents while working full time - we all share it. Totally under the radar because in my culture it isn’t considered right to get paid for caring for our parents - but we are fortunate enough not to need to claim for carers allowance or other benefits.

I just assumed I’d need to claim carers allowance to qualify and so was trying to push for the medical route as I have a condition where most GPs would consider a vaccination. Mine, however, said no and when I asked the local hospital if I could ask to be put on a waiting list for spare doses THEY told me that as I was an unpaid carer I could get it.

So I don’t think people are lying. I actually think a lot of people are caring for relatives in their lives and the vaccine has just brought it out into the open. For example I bet all the young people living in a large extended family would be sharing caring roles - and many might not even realise that helping granny get dressed is caring. So they don’t get the vaccine and then later granny (like both of my aunts) die of covid.

So I for one am glad the NHS changed the rules.

Nelia5 · 21/03/2021 23:08

I had my vaccination at the science museum as live in the borough. When I booked this was the closest to me on the list of centres. It’s nowhere near NW London ?

Londonmummy66 · 21/03/2021 23:09

I'm volunteering at a vaccination centre. We have lists of everyone coming in that day and the lists flag up everyone claiming the vaccine as a carer/social worker etc. We have been told (and the computerised system also requires you) to ask for proof eg a work id/GP letter etc. We have been turning people away if they can't provide proof which is what the system is set up to do.

jerometheturnipking · 21/03/2021 23:10

My DM was an unpaid carer for my DGM. There would have been no proof of this - dgm was very old and struggled getting out to the shops and managing around the house. So my mum would do her shopping and housework for her, make sure she had taken medications, was up and dressed etc, and generally managing ok.

There will be young people who unofficially care for family with MH or addiction issues with no proof of what they do.

If they open vaccinations up to people in these situations then what else can they do but assume honesty?

Wellbythebloodyhell · 21/03/2021 23:10

Your DH had to provide proof because hes a front line health worker

So am I, Still didn't get asked to prove anything

minniemoocher · 21/03/2021 23:11

I attended with dd to get my carers vaccine, my gp isn't doing them unless you are flagged on the system before jan 1st as a carer,

EasterIssland · 21/03/2021 23:11

So from this thread if I understand if I’m taking care of my dm then I’m an unpaid carer. If I take care of my son then also I’m an unpaid carer ? Sure many 30-40 yos would be in this position?

GrumpyHoonMain · 21/03/2021 23:13

A DWP letter regarding carers allowance.

Or for people who don't meet the financial criteria for CA, a copy of the DLA/PIP letter of the disabled person that you care for and a letter from that person saying that you care for them for 35+ hours a week.

Both of my parents are classed as disabled but we don’t claim any benefits as a family. We don’t need to and we don’t want to. I imagine the majority of people from my culture would be like that and so as we are the people highest at risk (BAME, low vit d, living in extended families) - you propose we just let ourselves quietly die for a paperwork issue?

katmarie · 21/03/2021 23:15

Technically I am a carer for my husband, he has chronic treatment resistant depression. On his good days he's fine, on his bad days he struggles to even get out of bed, and I look after him (which I do because I love him dearly) but I don't qualify for any carers allowance or anything, and some weeks I do nothing at all in the way of caring for him, other weeks it's a different story. If he was in a bad spell and I was ill with covid, it would leave us in a really tough spot, especially with two kids. But I'm nearly 40, and he's over that, so I imagine we will get our jabs soon enough.

Saying that, out of curiosity on the back of this thread, I tried to book for me on the NHS vaccine website, and was offered a slot at my local centre for 8am tomorrow (I didn't take it). So it seems the vaccines are there and available. Part of me wonders if the government has made it easy to fib your way past the system, to just get that few more people through the door and jabbed. The goal is mass vaccination after all. If they opened it up to everyone it would be anarchy, but doing it like this with minimal checks, means that people are trickling in, getting jabs, and every one is one closer to the goal. So they probably don't really care if a few people are not really eligible, everyone needs to be done in the end.