On one level I agree about having a co-ordinated response to left over vaccines. However, on another I think the system has been co-ordinated on a macro level pretty heavily and at the final stages of the last couple of doses in a vial, local vaccinators need to respond to local circumstances to get them used up - contacting schools or working down GP lists makes sense.
A fair and age based system is essentially in place. However within that system, people fail to show up and sometimes less people book for a particular site than expected and there are some surplus vaccines. As this is often only known in the day, speedy and agile responses are needed and lots of bureaucracy of how this must be dealt with will lead to wastage.
It isn’t entirely fair that some people can get to a pharmacy who has 2 diesels left at the end of the day, within 10 mins of a call and others can’t. Some won’t live near enough and some not have the flexibility to get there so fast even if they join a list. And that’s why much of the using up of the last few doses is handled on a daily basis and not a planned ahead basis. If you run a comprehensive list, at a certain time you have to decide there will be some spares and start ringing people. Some will have said they would be available but on that day won’t answer the phone or be able to get there in time. If there are strict ordering criteria then you might go through several or many people before someone is found who can come......and this has happened in lots of places. It’s time consuming and not meant to be the focus of the vaccinating services. Some people say it’s not convenient. Or they prefer another location or whatever.
With spare vaccine we are usually talking about less than 5 doses....so less than in a full unopened vial. Being able to respond to the odd person who appears near closing time and who is actually there with an arm proffered, or someone who calls and will be there in 10 minutes and not after closing time or asking you to hold it for them tomorrow or if they can come tomorrow instead, means it gets used and time isn’t wasted. It’s that balance between time and resources devoted to using those last doses in the very fairest way and simply ensuring they go into someone’s arm.
As we go further down the ages, in some areas, fewer people will take the jab. In areas of hesitancy it is possible to whizz to younger groups because people in the older groups don’t take it up even after a couple of offers (and they will keep being offered) ....so there are regional and district disparities which feel unfair. On a personal level, some people feel really cross to know a 35 year old had theirs 3 miles away but they at 47 haven’t been offered it. The thing is the system can’t be as nuanced and perfect in its ordering as that. People don’t instantly book nearly as fast as you’d imagine and it is impossible to know the exact take up rates in different areas until they happen. And the jab must still me used up.
In 4 months time, none of us will be saying ‘I had to wait an extra 3 weeks than my 36 year old colleague even though I’m 10 years older’ even though it feels so important now. Essentially a very carefully co-ordinated and run system is happening which is very ordered and allows hundreds of thousands to be jabbed every day, roughly in priority order. Some are out of priority order and that is the sacrifice for speed. And it’s so worth it on a bigger picture level as it’s worth having some people jabbed sooner or later than their position in the so-called queue suggests if it means more people can be done overall faster.
It is frustrating when you’re waiting when you hear others have had it before you and are younger and you have no idea how to access it or when it’s coming. But all the upper 40s can be confident they will be the next group it opens to and it won’t be long in the wider scheme. No-one is directly conspiring against them but there is some element of luck in terms of exactly where you live and which GP you’re registered at, which can make a difference of a couple or few weeks, especially at the moment. The system isn’t perfect and to imagine it will be or that the tweaks people want for reserve lists etc to make it entirely fair and accessible for all, but their nature would add cumbersome procedures to the system, slowing its whole key feature of speed.
Some people would rather the queue were an exact one and that the person below them doesn’t get invited until they have had it. If t worked like that we’d still be on about person 100 as there are always things holding it up, people not taking the offer or failing to turn up. We cannot wait for all of them before the next person is offered and so the order gets a little mixed up. It’s unavoidable.
Perhaps they will look back at this official lime in not giving it to under 50s yet and say that was an error as so many areas do seem to be unofficially doing it now anyway. Or perhaps it’s not as many as we think. We know vaccine available for 1st dose is going to be small for a while. Perhaps they don’t want to open the floodgates and not be able to meet demand.
And lastly, when Hancock says no weeks without 1st doses in April, remember that doesn’t have to mean 40s. Lots of all age groups haven’t had their jabs still. People have been hesitant in all age groups or no-shows or just slow to book. The mop up of every single age group is an ongoing thing and all of them are first jabs. It would be nice to think upper 40s could be offered it alongside those people too, but perhaps there are other supply issues we don’t know about meaning they really don’t feel they can officially open Phase 2 yet. It’s hard to know why it can’t just be 49s or 49s and 48s and done very gradually to stop the floodgates if demand opening. Who knows really.