Covid vaccination.

[nukecad]

I guess those big centres will be more useful when they get round to younger, healthier people who can travel to them.

Of course by sending out the letters to people who have no chance of going then the government can still say they have 'offered' vaccinations to XYZ million people.
Whether people could safely accept that offer or not gets glossed over.
(Your 3 have probably been counted as 3 separate 'offers').

The letter itself could also make it much clearer that this is for the large national centres only, and that you should ignore it if you want to wait for a local jab.

It does clearly tell you to ignore it if you have already booked or already had a vaccination, but the bit about if you can't get to a centre offered then wait for your GP to contact you is burried halfway down the second page.

The booking website itself makes no mention of waiting to be contacted by your GP, only to keep trying on the national booking website.

As you know I am no stranger to making sense of badly written letters (the DWP are masters at it) but I would have expected such an important letter to be clearer on that point. Which is why I checked the booking website.

The whole tone of the first page gives the impression that 'This the way that you do it', it's not until halfway down the second page that they note there is another option.

I worry about people reading it that way, and travelling miles for a vaccination when they don't need to and can wait a bit longer.

[StarBright]

I think it's going to be the big vaccine centres that do the 24/7 clinics at some point. I can't see any GP's going through the day & night. I did hear today on sky from the vaccine minister that it's going to be ramped up & lots more people will be jabbed in March. So perhaps they will start doing the 24/7 clinics?

I'm guessing that Pfizer has sorted them self's out perhaps now?

Yes I agree Nuke, the letter is as badly written as a DWP letter perhaps they have been taking lessons from the DWP

[beau]

Just read that 100% of over 70's in our area have had the Covid vaccination. That can only be to the good.
I hope the rest of the population in our area follows suit.

According to statistics, folk with blood cancers are only getting 8% protection with the jabs, that is not good. Does it mean that those affected will have to live their life in virtual imprisonment just to be safe?

[StarBright]

That's brilliant news beau,

Hope the brainy people can come up with something that will protect people with blood cancers more

[gothitjulie]

The idea is that enough of the population get vaccinated so there is very little onward transmission & that those who don't gain a great deal of protection from the vaccination are protected by those who have much greater protection being unable to efficiently spread the virus anymore.

To achieve this it'll require a vaccine for children as well as adults.

Currently people with blood cancers could potentially be treated with blood products from other people who have recently been vaccinated for at least a better chance, or with synthetic antibodies.

[nukecad]

I've had a couple of missed calls yesterday and today from an unknown local number.

Checking it it's the local vaccination booking line, so it may be worth answering unknown local numbers at the moment.

I've tried ringing back a few times and going through the automated options to make a booking, but after that it's just giving a busy signal.
Not surprising I suppose, I'll try again tomorrow.

[StarBright]

I didn't get it quiet right then post number 179

[nukecad]

I didn't get it quiet right then post number 179

Probably you did, but being an area where public transport can be a problem we seem to have an extra step here.

It 's not my surgery, it's the local Red Clinic site, a health centre in a nearby town. If you can't get there then your surgery will contact you.

So it seems we actually have a 4-tier filter system here depending on what you can get to: National centre, Local centre, GP surgery, Home visit.

I'm now booked in for Thursday at 11.48 (which seems an oddly precise time for an appointment).

Just have to work out the bus times, there's about six different 'covid' timetables still on the website. Don't know why they can't take the old ones down when they change.
And find my bus pass which hasn't been used for over a year.
1 bus, about 30 mins each way on the bus itself. - Which is a vast improvement over all day or even overnight travelling to a National centre.

[StarBright]

Congratulations on booking your jab

In the days I used to get to the doctors surgery for the flu vaccine the flu clinic appointments were always given at an odd time number like 10.36 & it was a very quick sit lift sleeve, jab & go so maybe they are going on that principle. If you have the Oxford one you don't have to stay for 15 mins you can go straight away but the Pfizer one you need to wait 15 mins after the jab.

Pain in the neck those bus time tables sound, silly not taking the old ones off.

Yes you do seem to have a different system where you are for booking the jab. I wonder how other more remote area's have got on too.

[buble48]

I've received a text out of the blue from my surgery with an appt for my jab, this week. No letter received to book online at a vaccination centre, like my partner, we live in the south east.