Major practical issues with the vaccine rollout going forward?

[Frazzled2207]

I was lucky enough to be able to help out at a vaccine centre today, doing the admin alongside a nurse who was doing the actual jabbing. I've only been along once and everyone else seems to have been half living there all winter - hats off to all.
Anyway the nurse told me of two significant issues she can see in the months ahead ...

1. For whatever reason vaccination centres have been mostly relying on paid HCPs on their days off rather than the many, many volunteers who are ready and waiting (many of them, not including myself, trained up to actually jab yet not being able to get any shifts). This means that all the HCPs are knackered, probably not able to help for much longer as they need to get back to their day jobs.

1. We were at a rugby club clubhouse today which has been in regular use since Christmas. But the rugby club needs it back soon because....rugby. And even if the actual rugby can be confined to outside both the rugby and the vaccination centre need the car parking spaces. So the contract may not be extended beyond April. Similar story in sports stadiums, churches, anywhere that has been closed and wants to reopen. She is very concerned about where they're going to be able to do them going towards the summer; she normally works as a practice nurse and definitely does not think there is sufficient space and availability to do them there.

Meanwhile when you consider booster shots etc it's looking likely that this whole programme will basically last all of this year, at least.

Any thoughts or anyone 'in the know' who knows what's going to happen?

I really don't see how 1 is a problem. As you say the new recruits are ready, willing and waiting!
As for 2 - there's not really a shortage of sites and just because somewhere "reopens", it doesn't necessarily mean it cannot continue to act as a vaccination centre. By the end of April, we'll be into summer - heck they can hire fields everywhere and rig up big marquees to do the jabs!

Yes I can see it could be a problem. Maybe they could set up marquees or something but I guess security could be a problem and also parking. I think they will just have to priorities some council buildings, maybe use schools in the school holidays. It will be a pain having to relocate frequently though if contracts are only for a short time. Maybe when it gets to younger people being vaccinated it may just be easier for teams to go into workplaces and vaccinate large groups all in one go ? Or set up clinics in Uni's and colleges for students.

I should also add I've been trying to become a vaccinator for a while although I haven't really pursued it as actively as I could, but I was sent an email a few days ago saying that as I hadn't completed some of the online modules, they were not pursuing my application as they were no longer actively recruiting. Whether this is to do with supply dropping I'm not sure, but they don't seem in any rush to hire people !

Absolutely yes I can see how these things can be worked around I just hope (assume) people are on the case. Both the nurse and i were scratching our heads about why they haven't made more use of volunteers so far though. I applied in December and only got my first shift today. Finding the patient records and ticking the boxes, only needed 10 mins of training yet I'm told in most centres they are relying on paid HCPs to do this. Madness.

On a more positive note it's quite clear that as they moved down the age groups it gets easier because of time. Today it was mostly 70 somethings getting their second jabs, many were frail and hard of hearing and it took quite a while to get them sorted. OTOH we had some younger folk who came up with their arms extended, answered all the right questions quickly and were gone in less than 2m.

They'll find new venues. Our local massive hub is at a racecourse and they're moving out in May to make way for a big race. They're going to another local racecourse that doesn't have anything scheduled.

@Babyroobs
ah what a shame but the training has been a bind. Is it through SJA? There are a lot of pretty disgruntled SJA volunteers who have done the vaccination training yet can't get any shifts. Yet the nurses are being called in on their days off to do it. Something isn't right somewhere.

The main problem I'm hearing about is the Pfizer housebound people. So those who were vaccinated with a first dose of Pfizer at a centre or even in hospital and now for whatever reason cant get to a centre, so have the second doses coming up which they will have to have at home. This means the rest of the doses being wasted as Pfizer is not transportable. At least 40 of these peeps in one large GP practice here. So 200 wasted doses!

Yes there are plans in development for a national vaccine programme. Probably rolling things like fly jabs into this new programme. It will require money and staff and premises. It also depends on things like whether the vaccines work, how often they are needed, etc.

Basically it will be planned and funded, but we need to know more first.

@MrsPsmalls
That's not good. We were doing Pfizer today and tbf nothing was wasted. At the end of the day some volunteers had it and after that they had a waiting list of people ready to come at 10 minutes notice.
All GP practices should have similar lists IMO.

Yep SJA have emailed everyone in the recruitment stages and said recruitment is finished now, no more needed.

I think that is what the NHS have told them to do.

Don't know if it's because the current decreased vaccination rate is going to stay decreased or because the NHS don't need anyone else, even if the current staff go back to their normal jobs, need a break, etc.

The SJA system was deeply flawed anyway because current NHS staff who just wanted to volunteer in their time off could not do so because they had to follow the same training programme (very long!) as a non-medical person wanting to be a vaccinator had to do. Which was a total waste of time for an already-highly-qualified NHS professional to undergo. But SJA's system had no way to allow for someone who has already highly-qualified.

I'm a doctor trained as an SJA volunteer vaccinator in early January. To be honest after so many delays to admin, cancelled shifts, then volunteering for a shift and not hearing anything that I've given up trying. It's so disheartening.

Yeah I’m through sja and although today was great overall it’s been an admin nightmare- I applied at Christmas and it has taken this long! I was happy to do the training as not working much atm but it was hugely time consuming and if I was a working hcp (or even just working!) no way would I have been bothered .
The vast majority of vaccine centres aren’t even using sja volunteers at all. I don’t necessarily blame sja though they have taken on far too many people and for whatever reason the nhs hasn’t made hardly any use of them. Yes there should have been an easier way for HCPs to get involved.