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@Bunnyhop, the lady I did my booking with said later on at night after 10pm is a good time to ring because it sometimes brings up spaces due to people not turning up later that day .
DocR - my mass vacc site in Sussex has been standing down staff for the last 2 weeks due lack of customers. It is on Brighton seafront with no parking.
I can’t help feel there has been a big miscalculation with the psyche of the public. People want to stay local, or a small friendly site. Give them an option they will exercise it. To use all our capacity we need to actually tell people where they need to go.
I had my first jab earlier today. Got my text invite last Friday, was such a slick process from start to finish. I'm not easily impressed but I can't find a fault, it was so well oiled and they were processing us so quickly.
Our is GP run. The 2 local practices teamed up to run ours.
Dan - I understand why people prefer to wait, they are used to convenience, having too much choice and don't realise how much work has gone into sorting this vaccination process out, in such a short space of time. Having said this I'm sure some older people can only get to a local centre.
I'm now booked in after getting my invitation and yes its 28 minutes away.:o)
Can't say I'm all that surprised that a vaccination centre without parkng isn't all that much in demand as people are probably scared to use public transport to get there.
Quibbling over an extra few minutes in the car to get the life saving and normal life restoring vaccine developed and tested at breakneck speed and delivered completely free when they even send you a letter to tell you to come and get it? Err, ok.
Out of the 50 ish vaccination sites in Sussex, the only site we SJA vaccinators are allowed to work at is The Brighton Centre. With the lack of patients, all SJA shifts have been cancelled there since 18 Feb, and will be for at least another week. So all volunteer vaccinators in Sussex are unused TFN.
I'd happily travel 100 miles to get mine when it's my turn. Actually probably way more than that.
I chose to drive 15 miles for a jab. My only worry was that I was so elated to be getting it I'd prang the car. Is it just the fuzzy side-effects or is 'cautious but irreversible' a bit of a logical impossibility?
Food for thought, if you’ll pardon the pun....
I’d happily travel 100 miles to get mine when it’s my turn. Actually probably way more than that.
me too.
Obviosuly I'm in the priviledged position of owning a car and being in good health.
If going to not-my-nearest centre gets the population done faster, and maybe simplifies the logistics of those who cannot travel so easily, then I'm all for it.
Dan – I understand why people prefer to wait, they are used to convenience, having too much choice and don’t realise how much work has gone into sorting this vaccination process out, in such a short space of time.
Or they've been told for a year now to stay local, not travel unless absolutely necessary, keep away from crowds. And now they are told to travel past a local centre to a more crowded centre. I'd happily travel but it's hard to turn the juggernaut that is a population.
Or like my mum (before we finally persuaded her to stop driving) didn't feel safe driving to anywhere except her local Tesco (she wasn't really safe).
10 or 15 miles to a hospital appointment meant me or my brother taking a day of work, driving 100 miles to her and taking her there. I'd be happy to do that if necessary for the vaccination but as she's in a care home now it's not necessary, she's already been done.
It's a bit mad. I had to register inside a tent (5-6 other people in there), drive to the outskirts of Leicester. Twice a week I drive past Thurmaston. I've never seen that car park less than about half to two-thirds full, always a queue at the drive through bit of McDonald's even at 11am on a Sunday. If ever there was a humane case for a neutron bomb. I felt like Dangerman on steroids driving to Oadby.
@BillMC I'm Thurmaston born and bred unfortunately and my local office is about half a mile from said McDonalds.
Where did you have to go for your vaccination, hoping I might get my turn in the next few months.
fathom: I got my letter and went online and was given the option of go anywhere or wait for one via the GP (probably at Oakham but not available at that time). Travelling was the only option (to Severn pharmacy). Just received an email booking me in in May for No 2, again though that can be changed.
Make sure you confirm, a guy in front of me in the queue had been turned away a few days before for not having pressed the button (and his wife was a GP).
PS not entirely serious re Thurmaston
I had the letter offering me a chance to book somewhere or wait for my GP to get in touch. If the weather was good then I would have booked online and cycled the 30mile roundtrip to Oxford but it was mid Feb and freezing. Got the GP's text on Monday offering a jab and had it on Tuesday. Brilliant and profession service from the folks.
I understand why people prefer to wait, they are used to convenience, having too much choice and don’t realise how much work has gone into sorting this vaccination process out, in such a short space of time. Having said this I’m sure some older people can only get to a local centre.
Had this battle with my parents. Dad was adamant he would wait for the local surgery to do his despite getting an invite for the main centre 20 miles away 3 weeks before the surgery was even starting their programme that is reserved for non-mobile patients. Took a lot of persuading that it was better for me to drive him and get the vaccine early, plus it would free up space for the people who have no other option of waiting for the surgery appointments.
Personally I'll go wherever gets me the injection soonest.
BillMC my dad lives your way and guessing at 64 he'll have been contacted by now, though I've not spoke to him for a couple of weeks. And thanks for the tip, sounds like old person and technology maybe 🙂
Like others have said, I'll drive as far as needed to get mine, I just want it in mine and the Mrs arm asap. What's slightly annoying is I imagine she'll get hers a few weeks before me, she's 41, I'm 39. It'd make more sense that we go together.
Re Thurmaston, it's a bit of a hole these days and I don't live there anymore. Hopefully by the autumn we'll be out of Leicestershire completely.
had the AstraZeneca jab last night, all very smooth process at local vaccination centre.
Slightly sore left upper arm today and a pounding headache that woke me around 5am, eased off well now after some paracetamol first thing. If that is the extent of the side effects I'm well chuffed, though realise its only 20 hrs since I had it..
That sounds about normal - drink plenty of water too 👍
I felt lethargic and achy for about 12-36 hours after the vaccination.
From BBC live updates
Posted at 15:11
UK 'country most likely to experience new coronavirus variant'
Health minister Lord Bethell says the UK is the country most likely to suffer a new variant of the coronavirus.
“If there’s one place in the world where a mutant variation is likely to happen, it’ll be an area where you have a high infection rate and a large amount of suppression of the virus by either a lockdown or a vaccine programme - and if you look around the world, that country is most likely to be Britain," he told the House of Lords.
"And we must be on the balls of our feet to be prepared for unhelpful news on that front.”
He was responding to a question from Labour’s Prof Lord Winston, who said there was likely to be an inevitable risk of dangerous new variants to which we have no defence.
Could someone kindly explain why, despite, the speed of the vaccine rollout and the pretty strict lockdown (well for those who follow it), we are at the highest risk from "dangerous new variants".
I hadn't appreciated our current state of infection is considered high, though I recognise there are sigificant regional variations.
Thank you
I hadn’t appreciated our current state of infection is considered high
But it is. It is much lower than it was. But it is still high.
And we’re open to people returning to the UK and then going about their business with just a nod and wink that they’ll self isolate, after travelling by any means they want from the airport to home.
But why is
and a large amount of suppression of the virus by either a lockdown or a vaccine programme
contributing to this particular risk?
I had thought we were doing pretty well but this could be construed as saying why bother because Covid19 will always find a way unless you have the absolute rigidity of the NZ approach.
I suppose they are arguing (and I’m not sure I agree) that vaccinations and social measures favour variants that are vaccine resistant and/or more contagious… in the situation where many people are still infected and infecting others.
I’m still of the opinion that the vaccine rollout should be paired with using lockdown to get prevalence very low, and then use a working test/trace/isolate system (and income support plus accommodation help for those isolating) to keep the virus controlled, rather than letting the public breed and spread new variants. I’m aware that most of the country have bought into the idea that this can’t be done. Which means it won’t.
On the BBC news earlier that 41% of over 80 year olds have broken the lockdown rules, since having their jab.
Also I keep seeing little film clips of older people having their jabs, with their mask only over the mouth. Arrgghhh.
@Kelvin, thanks for that. Think I understand the points you made.
letting the public breed
best put a stop to that nonsense then 😀
broken the lockdown rules, since having their jab
https://twitter.com/weinbergrrrrr/status/1366910957566353411?s=21
Kelvin - that's really made me laugh, :0)
kelvin
Full MemberWorld beating…
There was a really telling moment fairly early in the whole mess... Scotland announced that we were changing some of our rules because we'd identified a specific country as a risk, and the national response was that we were "jumping the gun" and should "wait for evidence".
The more it went on the more obvious it was that the westminster commentators weren't really stirring- they just didn't understand that we had working, effective track-and-trace and could make quick decisions based on it, because there was no prospect of their system enabling them to do the same. They'd just forgotten that that's half of the job
'jon henley
@jonhenley
·
52m
France is going to start vaccinating at *weekends*
What is the country coming to'
Is epidemiology a thing in France?
41% of over 80 year olds have broken the lockdown rules
On the face of it that sounds bad but I'd be interested to know what % of under 80 year olds had broken the lockdown rules in the last 4 weeks.
They said: "You can't lock everyone down and shut international borders, it'll ruin the economy"
Australia said:
... still can't get a frigging builder though 🙁
In the meantime, the cheeky Italians have stolen a shipment of our vaccines link
The sentiment from everyone I've spoken to this morning (granted, in a fairly leftie suburb of Sydney) was....... "aw yeah, fair dincum".
We have licensed 58m doses of the AZ vaccine (population of Australia is about 26m), 50m of which are going to be manufactured over here, with the first batch expected at the end of March. The vaccination process has started with imported Pfizer and AZ doses over the last few weeks, so the feeling is that this is a minor glitch rather than a significant issue.
Ultimately, the last covid death in Australia was 19th October 2020, and there aren't any kind of significant restrictions in place - so I'm happy for these vaccines to go where they are most needed....... I'm sure they will be relieved to have my approval.
Ultimately, the last covid death in Australia was 19th October 2020, and there aren’t any kind of significant restrictions in place
That, and the Guardian link above about your economy, makes me so angry at the failures of leadership in Whitehall with this pandemic.
It would have been much, much harder to do what you did in the UK, but it feels like we never even ****ing tried, and are just giving a collective shrug as the death toll heads to 125,000.
Ultimately, the last covid death in Australia was 19th October 2020, and there aren’t any kind of significant restrictions in place
Thats just mental. Like i can't even comprehend being in that situation.
A leaked Test and Trace document admits that data from check-ins at pubs, restaurants and hairdressers was barely used for contact tracing
I'm sure they used T&T data at some point or other to suggest that the risk of transmission in these venues was very low. Unsurprisingly, turns out they didn't bother trying to find out. Bit like the 'no evidence of transmission in schools' thing.
Honestly, they deserve a massive kicking over this, if only because they need to get their act together in the next couple of months. Without working t&t, even with vaccination, we will continue to have issues with local flare-ups and there will be deaths among vulnerable people, because no vaccine is entirely effective, and some people can't have it.
Plus it will be vital to get on top of vaccine-evading strains, even if finding potential cases is inconvenient and hard because they went to the pub.
Thats just mental. Like i can’t even comprehend being in that situation.
Thats just mental. Like i can’t even comprehend being in that situation.
You probably expressed it better than I did. Just does not compute.
That, and the Guardian link above about your economy, makes me so angry at the failures of leadership in Whitehall with this pandemic.
Don't get your hopes up that a public inquiry will hold them properly accountable
Huff Post now reporting that the taxpayers' money given to Serco instead of the NHS will come to £37bn, lucky Dido's not being insulted with 1% and a clap.
I’m pleased to see there are some areas of blue re-emerging amongst the red where I am on the Southern fringe of Greater Manchester.
I would put money on lockdown ending and london being open the north being shut again, which will be absolutely heartbreaking for people and businesses.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-56289054
The Cypriot government said those who had both Covid jabs could travel there without restrictions from 1 May.
I've got a 2 word response to this. THe first rhyme with truck, the second refers to a generation born in the post WW2 period.
You make it read like there’s some sort of boomer plot that involves them dying in large numbers so they can have a quiet holiday without any yoofs
ignore, missed a decimal point in my question