dg comments

please empty your brain below

I received a text from my doctors surgery on Monday inviting me to book a slot for my first jab, I was given a choice between three different locations and I chose the one most convenient for me. I also had a choice of numerous time slots and again I chose the one most convenient for me, I am also delighted that I am being offered a jab about a month earlier than I anticipated, full marks to the NHS from me.

fishislandskin | 20.01.21 - 7:54 a.m. | #

I'm 77 and still waiting .......

I know locals who are 70, 74, & 75 who've already had it.

It's NOT very well organised.

Brian | 20.01.21 - 8:13 a.m. | #

It should be added that other countries vaccination programmes may be less efficient/non existent, making it more likely that a vaccine resistant mutation may/will appear anyway.

Still Anon | 20.01.21 - 8:27 a.m. | #

I know it's a typical DG tongue in cheek blog but it does raise some interesting points. For example where you can get the jab; I am led to believe different health authorities / surgeries do things differently and have different numbers of the various groups on their books, hence the discrepancies described in the first two comments. When my turn comes I would far rather visit my local surgery than some distant one, where TV pictures of long queues put me off, so I hope I am given a choice as was fishislandskin.

Your "Be realistic" section is exactly that, well done!

Tim | 20.01.21 - 8:31 a.m. | #

It is therefore crucial that you get in touch with us immediately if this letter has not arrived.

You write in jest, I hope, but last year this was too close to home.

A neighbour put through our letterbox a letter addressed to me but with the wrong house number. It was to my doctor and copied to me informing him that they wouldn't make any more appointments for me as I had not turned up to the previous one. Well, obviously, I had not turned up because they had copied my address incorrectly.

They then promised an appointment three months later but that got cancelled due to coronavirus.

Subsequently, I got a very short notice appointment arranged by phone. This turned out to be of limited value as I didn't follow the instructions in the letter that I didn't get prior to the short notice appointment.

Pedantic of Purley | 20.01.21 - 8:32 a.m. | #

Further anecdata: two household members have received jabs, with shortish but acceptable notice, the procedure went very smoothly and they have no side-effects.

But everything DG says is still valid.

Sad that a satisfactory bit of organisation - if that is what it turns out to be - is still a big surprise after the complete shambleses surrounding "test and track" and "test and teach".

Malcolm of Kent | 20.01.21 - 8:42 a.m. | #

On 12 January I received a text from NHS North East London telling me not to contact my GP about the vaccine. As I'm still several tiers down the list of groups to be vaccinated, I wasn't even thinking of contacting my GP at present.

Alan S | 20.01.21 - 8:45 a.m. | #

...Please note that we will not be providing you with a card or token confirming that your course of vaccine is complete...

I had a jab last week and went off clutching a little card detailing the date and type of vaccine I had received. There is space on it to be filled in when the second jab is given.
I don't know if this is routine across the country or a local arrangment.

Martin | 20.01.21 - 8:51 a.m. | #

I did recently email my GP surgery, asking them to check the mobile phone numbers for me and my wife. They replied within the hour, Which reassured us both.

Malcolm of Kent | 20.01.21 - 8:54 a.m. | #

The line here that really chills is "we currently have no definitive idea what the way out of this health crisis will be".

Both because it is true and also because no-one wants to admit it.

Will | 20.01.21 - 9:01 a.m. | #

My 91 year old step-mother has yet to receive her jab in deepest, darkest Kent. Not good if you live in Folkestone and Hythe and surrounding areas: www.thesun.co.uk/'news'/kent-district

msjs | 20.01.21 - 9:02 a.m. | #

My daughter-in-law works in the path' lab of a hospital on the south coast; as a key worker in the NHS, she had her jab a few weeks ago.

My son (who's in his 40s) got a phone call from his GP surgery late one PM last week asking if he could come straight away to get a jab as they had some doses left over that would otherwise have to be binned. It probably helped that the call came from a friend who works there!

John | 20.01.21 - 9:03 a.m. | #

The card is routine - and it's meant to remind people which vaccine they had if there are any issues or side-effects, and to remind them it's important to get to the second appointment. It's not proof or vaccination, or a passport or anything like that - despite what some might tell you in the wilder spacers of the web!

Having been involved in some of the local organisation hereabouts, it's not simple and it will vary. Finding spaces which are large enough to allow a group of staff to work safely, while people await their injection, then sit awhile to check they're OK before leaving is challenging. Logistics and vaccine storage are also challenging. There aren't too many surgeries which are fit for that purpose - many around here are in rather poky Victorian houses, or compact 1970s health centres which cram as many tiny social-undistancable spaces into the building as possible.

And because people can't just wander into their local GP and lots are quite elderly at present, DG is right - most arrive by car. Parking spaces are always at a premium at GP surgeries. Add the various staff vehicles for the vaccination team etc. and suddenly I'm getting panicked phonecalls from our local CCG asking if I can find anyone who will act as a parking warden in the next 8 minutes because the traffic is already backed up into town.

Strange times - but a herculean effort is being made, at the most local of levels quite often, to get this done.

Mike Newman | Homepage | 20.01.21 - 9:04 a.m. | #

Brian, wish you well, but you fall in the 70-79 age bracket like the others you cite - what do you expect - it to be done in rigorous birthdate order? Jeez.

David | 20.01.21 - 9:04 a.m. | #

My 91 year old mum lives in Edgware & can’t walk the 500 metres to her GP. A district nurse came on Monday to vaccinate her at home. I’m deeply impressed!

Toni | 20.01.21 - 9:10 a.m. | #

A member of my household did chase up her GP when she didn't get the letter she was told people like her, in the "clinically vulnerable" category, were getting (although a neighbour, who used to be in that category, did get such a letter!) It seems that although they had a record of her condition they hadn't flagged her record. This explained why the neighbour was able to get priority deliveries from the big supermarket chains and we weren't (the neighbour kindly let us add things to their orders).
The GP has now amended the record, bumping her up from category 6 to category 4.

anon | 20.01.21 - 9:32 a.m. | #

I suspect that you are more likely to be offered an early slot if your GP has your mobile phone number. Matching numbers of available doses and patients is tricky, particularly with the Pfizer vaccine which goes off. If the GP can send a last-minute text they can fill a last-minute space. I have no inside knowledge of this but I know people who have received appointments by SMS earlier than they expected.

And by the way, getting an appointment does not guarantee getting a jab. If your GP has made a mistake or tried to let you jump the age queue, you will be turned away.

Tony Woolf | 20.01.21 - 9:54 a.m. | #

Our household rarely follows the news anymore so even tongue-in-cheek posts like this contain useful information, especially as we're at the bottom of the list and probably won't be done before next Autumn - if at all! The list seems to stop at 50!

Cornish Cockney | 20.01.21 - 9:55 a.m. | #

I was offered an appointment with short notice presumably to avoid wasting doses of the vaccine. I am well out of the age range and categories being prioritised. It was the Pfizer vaccine which has a short shelf life so it gets used, or wasted if people cannot be organised in time to fill all the spaces.
I heard Tim Harford (the More or Less man)on the radio saying that the vials of the vaccine are quoted to provide five syringes full but in practice there is enough for six. If this has only come to light recently it would perhaps explain the scramble to add last minute people.

Martin | 20.01.21 - 10:29 a.m. | #

Harrumph. The world is fool of fools I see.

B | 20.01.21 - 10:30 a.m. | #

"This is a virological experiment on a national scale, the outcome of which remains entirely uncertain."

Actually it's on a global scale.

Southern Heights (Light Railway) | 20.01.21 - 10:39 a.m. | #

Is there any evidence to support the remark about "black market jabs"?

Joho | Homepage | 20.01.21 - 10:57 a.m. | #

Like all the most masterly parodies, this is only a slight exaggeration.

cau1khead | 20.01.21 - 11:18 a.m. | #

It's confusing that two parallel systems for doing jabs seem to be emerging - local GP surgeries and large temporary venues. We got a call out of the blue a couple of weeks ago to come to our local Health Centre later that day, where we joined a queue of freezing oldies stretching out of the building and down the road. Inside they'd converted every space into cubicles with seats, with a team of volunteers organising people and the paperwork, while medical staff delivered the (Pfizer) jabs.

It was a major operation that dealt with about 1000 people a day, but only, it turned out, for a few days. I gather they've had no further supplies since and have stood down their team until further notice. Maybe supplies are being diverted to distant football stadia or car parks, as DG's letter explains.

But at least the government now has some new and positive jab numbers it can quote each day in the hope that they will overshadow the increasing number of deaths. At the same time they're playing down the liberating potential of being vaccinated - 'it doesn't take effect straight away', 'you must wait for the second dose', 'you could still be a spreader so keep to the lockdown' - for fear of the social implications of a divided jab v no jab society.

ActonMan | 20.01.21 - 11:34 a.m. | #

Slip me £50, Joho, and I'll let you know.

Sarah Gove | 20.01.21 - 11:46 a.m. | #

I'm curious whether everyone who gets the jab is told exactly which vaccine they've been given. It seems like some people have been made aware, but possibly only informally.

EskimoPie | 20.01.21 - 12:07 p.m. | #

In our case a large piece paper tracked us round the jabbing process, accumulating ticks as we went. Most were to confirm our underlying health and any allergies, but the main option was 'Pfizer' or 'Oxford', which was suitably ticked. We were then given a copy, presumably to show if, when and where we get our second dose.

Whether we can wave it about to demand unfettered access to our local pub or to justify any otherwise illicit 'social gathering', I doubt.

ActonMan | 20.01.21 - 12:24 p.m. | #

Just after 3pm last Saturday I received a phone call offering me a jab the next day at Doctors surgery (not my GP) a couple of miles away,

Arrived half hour early at 11am next morning, had my jab at 11:17 and provided with a card with details of the vaccination. All very smooth, efficient and friendly I was #138 so they appear to be doing a vaccination roughly every minute.

On Monday morning received our first post for more than 10 days, it was a letter dated 7 days earlier inviting me to phone for an appointment for a vaccination.

Clearly some things are working!

Ray | 20.01.21 - 12:29 p.m. | #

My mother thinks anyone who has an mRNA vaccine is being a human guinea pig and the one developed at the university that wants to be known for vaccines as well as PPE is patriotic. I would actually prefer mRNA as long as it’s kept cold enough.

Sprout Eater | 20.01.21 - 12:37 p.m. | #

Being CEV I am waiting to see if I get 1st dose by Mid February as per 7th Jan letter from Government but not confident given no sign yet of the promised Vitamin D that I registered for in early Nov for January delivery.

(CEV - Clinically Extremely Vulnerable)

Richard | 20.01.21 - 12:39 p.m. | #

I received a "don't call us, we'll call you" text from the NHS back on 17 Dec about the Covid vaccination programme. As I'm 76, by January I was wondering what was happening when out of the blue I got a text from my GP surgery on 8 Jan inviting me to ring them which I obviously did straight away. Was given an appointment for the following morning. There were 2 hubs in our area I could choose from, neither was my own GP health centre.

It was very efficient and I got a little card confirming I'd had Pfizer vaccine. But it also says next appointment will be 10-12 weeks which I'm very disappointed about as I understand one jab is of limited benefit and immunity only really improves a few weeks after the second jab.

One big takeaway from your post DG is that everyone should check their GP has correct contact details.

Caroline | 20.01.21 - 1:35 p.m. | #

Considering the enormity of the task I'm minded to stay optimistic. There are going to be hiccups (hopefully not prompted by the vaccine itself) so for anyone feeling a need to criticise the speed and efficacy of the process I think the most apposite action is to be patient - before becoming a patient of course.

Stuart R | 20.01.21 - 2:55 p.m. | #

That does it. If I’m not getting a badge, I’m not having the injection.

And besides, my nearest vaccination centre is likely to be a very long-windedly-named place in Newham...

Rob Healy | Homepage | 20.01.21 - 3:48 p.m. | #

Anecdata/Survey of one

Home visit (due to lack of mobility and transport), less than 24 hours notice by phone call for first jab, North Norfolk, AstraZeneca (due to practicalities of home visit rounds vs. need to keep Pfizer vaccine cold), Retired GP (18 months prior) from practice volunteered to do rural/town rounds with wife as driver. Second dose promised in 12 weeks, standard leaflet left with a sticky label with date stamp/batch number stuck on the cover.

MilesT | 20.01.21 - 4:22 p.m. | #

" I understand one jab is of limited benefit and immunity only really improves a few weeks after the second jab."

No point in having the second booster jab too soon, as your immune system is still responding to the first one, and will see the two jabs as one (bigger) dose of the virus. The long lasting immunity arises, as I understand it, from the immune system responding in different ways to recurrent infections and to one-off occurrences.

timbo | 20.01.21 - 4:39 p.m. | #

Caroline, I'm 77 and I haven't heard a thing yet - even though the local paper lists my GP practice as one providing vaccinations.

If we don't get "proof of jab", how will we get on our booked plane journey at the end of April without taking a private test?

Ian | 20.01.21 - 11:26 p.m. | #

Vaccines are intended to protect the recipient from developing serious disease. It is not yet known whether the vaccines prevent spread.

People entering other countries may well require private tests for many years to come, even when 90% of developed countries' populations have been vaccinated and worldwide new case numbers are in the tens to hundreds per day.

John | 21.01.21 - 7:50 a.m. | #

My 83-year old mother received her letter but put it aside as soon as she read the instructions about booking an appointment online.... I suspect she is not alone.

H SE18 | 21.01.21 - 9:49 a.m. | #

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