Why not make booster availability as easy as vaccine availability?

[BigButtons]

Where I am SE England the vaccine rollout was excellent. It was easily accessible and very efficient with loads of local centres.
I have been trying to book my booster and am being asked to now travel over an hour away. I’d they want people to take the booster jabs why are they not making it easier to do so?
Is it the same everywhere else? Even walk in centres are reducing in number. I don’t get it.
I want to get my booster but it’s nigh on impossible to find a space.

DH just walked into chemist on Saturday got flu and booster. ...herts

Keep checking online, they add extra dates every day.

Lack of volunteers maybe? I volunteered at the start of the roll out, there were volunteers who were furloughed from restaurants etc and they’ll now be back at work. Also the weather is much less appealing to be volunteering in now.

I don’t know it’s a lack of volunteers, as I no longer volunteer because I’m pregnant and suffering with morning sickness so don’t want to be standing around outside for hours.

Many venues near us have reverted to their normal use. My local theatre was being used as a vaccine centre but obviously it’s now back to being a theatre. Not for long though, I expect. We’ll all be locked up again before panto season.

@TinaYouFatLard

Many venues near us have reverted to their normal use. My local theatre was being used as a vaccine centre but obviously it’s now back to being a theatre. Not for long though, I expect. We’ll all be locked up again before panto season.

I suspect you are correct. I can’t do a walk in yet as I’m not yet 6 mo the after the last jab. I think things will change massively in the next couple of weeks anyway. Currently suffering from the cold from hell anyway😩🥴

I think staffing is a problem to be honest. I've had my flu jab at school but DP's school had to cancel thr flu vaccine to all staff due to illness in thr vaccination staff. We've both got a booster booked for the latter half of December but I would happily take it today!

I'm in SE and booked mine easily once it was due. Walkins also still easy here.

@AndMatt

I'm in SE and booked mine easily once it was due. Walkins also still easy here.

I guess it must just depend where you actually live. There are centres in the SE but they are very east if that makes sense whereas I am further west.

Booster provision where I live (really big city!) quite poor. No walk-in centres doing boosters. My first booked appointment was cancelled by National booking service with no explanation. So having to wait another two weeks on top of time I had already waited. GP says they will be offering boosters, but no specific info yet. Local papers have stories of walk-in centres in nearby towns turning people away as they are too busy.

There was a spell a couple of weeks ago where vaccines were in shorter supply, so those we had needed to be kept for bookings. There's now lots more, which means we can do walk-ins again.

However....as walk-ins aren't timed, sometimes the queues get long, and people are less likely to wait. This is bound to become more of an issue in bad weather.

But please, everyone visiting a clinic, remember everyone is doing their best. The vaccinators haven't had a break for 4/5 hours at times, to try and reduce the queues. It's pretty galling to be a volunteer, and still have people moaning endlessly at you. Have to say though that 99% of people are lovely and grateful.

Your description of getting a booster mirrors my experience of getting a covid vaccination in the first place. They offered me places 3hrs driving away. 8 hrs on public transport. Then they wonder why take up round here was slow.......

suspect you are correct. I can’t do a walk in yet as I’m not yet 6 mo the after the last jab. I think things will change massively in the next couple of weeks anyway.
Currently suffering from the cold from hell anyway😩🥴

I couldn't book mine until just before the 6 months was up anyway. Maybe that's why you can't book.

I logged on and booked for the next day in the building next door to my office, I'm in a very busy town in the South east

The thing is they sent me an email telling me I was eligible to book yet there is next to no availability.

If this is going to be a regular thing, government should be employing people properly to do this, not relying on volunteers and also make proper provision for people to be able to get it in the town they live, my nearest is 15 miles away which is not good enough

It seems so random. I am near Brighton- they had a big centre there which is now not taking new bookings.

How can they expect people to get a booster when they make it so hard? Who is going to stand in long queues in the freezing cold?

What is the point of plans to make the booster available to a wider age range when those initially eligible can’t get one? Just makes the problem worse.

The simple reason is the logistical set up we had at the beginning of the vaccine roll out is very much different to what we've got now. Vaccine supply is not an issue, but venue access is reduced due to the sites returning back to their original use and also staffing levels much lower, volunteers and those furloughed in the lockdown are now back at their original jobs, vaccinators who also work within the hospitals and surgery's are being pulled back to their main duties. The original vaccine rollout was also managed in stages, whereas now cohorts 1-9 were offered it straight away with the under 50s added soon after. It now looks like the gap between doses will be shortened and opened up to younger age groups which is a nice idea and good government action but the simple fact is the infrastructure behind it is not sustainable enough to deliver it. We should be making sure the most vulnerable have been jabbed first before offering it to anyone else, it's OK to say bookings have been open quite a while but as this thread shows not everyone has been able to access an appointment, the less tech savvy older generation or those with limited transport affected the most

Must be location I booked mine with loads of choice in nearest city 10 miles away all loads of chemists doing them
I did then get a text from GP to book but already done

Why are the government not employing people to do this, they managed to employ loads for the useless T&T

Depends on where you live unfortunately.

I am in London and when I went online to book I was offered the booster for the following week at a centre 15 minutes away from where I live. Very quick and easy, no queuing/waiting on the day either.

It does sound very location specific. I got mine at a pharmacy half a mile away a week after I went online to book. My DH wasn't eligible until a week after me and the wait time had gone up to three weeks but still plenty of location options (some with much longer waiting times though!). My DDad in a different area booked one and got a next day appointment at a big centralised site about a 20 min drive from their village in the nearest city. Agree with you that yours sounds pretty bad.

I’m involved in delivering the vaccine programme and it’s a number of reasons

We have more places doing vaccines and boosters than we did back in April but this means we’re really short of vaccinators. Just don’t have the people to cover 30 odd sites

Very short of volunteers because ppl have gone back to work, or back to previous volunteering roles or doing childcare or are frankly just tired of doing it after nearly 9 months

Plus anti vax protests mean we have to shut some sites at short notice which has a knock on effect elsewhere

The government just doesn’t have a clue about the resources needed to run multiple sites for 10-12 hours a day, in some cases 7 days a week

I am in London. Booked very easily and am off to get it today at a pharmacy 5 min walk from me. Clearly location specific.