Covoid jabs

None of my family and friends reacted as badly as that, though my ex-wife had an uncomfortable couple of days.

I wonder if the severity of the reaction indicates how badly an individual would have reacted to the full-strength virus? If so, thank your lucky stars you didn't catch the real thing!

There seem to be two separate booking systems operating on behalf of the general public. My mother had an invitation from the Central NHS to book into one of their large central facilities (in her case a football stadium), and the following day her GP rang offering a local jab. Mum's surgery isn't doing their own thing, they and a number of others are sharing a Sports Centre. Part of the organisation is enough car parking to get people in and out smoothly. Employees are covered by other arrangements; my sister was inoculated in the hospital she works at, whilst my daughter was told to report to our local hospital.

In all cases you have be invited and can't jump the NHS queue by pre-booking. It may be possible to get the jab done privately, but I listened to a very upset gent on the radio explaining he was £400 down because the private firm he'd booked with had gone bust. It appears they went down the toilet because they couldn't get any vaccine.

Whilst tempting to think NHS Staff, police, firefighters and others should be given priority, that's not how it's being done. The most effective use of the vaccine is on the people who become very ill, partly because the disease is unpleasant to them, but mostly because they consume a lot of hospital resources. Things will be much worse if hospitals are overwhelmed by more patients than they can treat. Also, none of the vaccines are 100% effective and nor do they make recipients immune. People who have been inoculated can still catch and spread Covid, it's just that they are much less likely to become seriously ill themselves. This is why it's important to stay isolated and maintain all the usual precautions, and to have the booster when it's available. Avoid catching it, and above all don't spread it.

Dave

Edited By SillyOldDuffer on 02/02/2021 13:50:20

Our county health officer commented that a reaction means its working. We had Oxford, both had shivers and slight headache. Our eldest grand daughter is a nurse and had the Pfizer and had a bad reaction and was ill with flu like symptons for 2 days.

A con?

A couple of years ago, about ten days after a flu jab I had a high temperature, pains in joints, etc. All the symptoms of flu. After three hours it had passed and I was fit again. Friends also experienced this during the same vaccination regime.

JA

I think it is not really about protecting individuals but reducing the "R" number, that is the transmission.

Edited By JA on 02/02/2021 14:03:33

The vaccine priority is about first protecting those most likely to get seriously ill or die.

See ‘UK COVID19 vaccines delivery plan’:

‘Our priority is to save as many lives as possible, as quickly as possible, while also reducing the hospitalisations that are creating such pressure on the NHS.’

**LINK**

This where the priority groups 1 to 9 are defined.

Table 2: number of people in each cohort for vaccination under JCVIpriorities^{[footnote 2]}

Stuart

Edited By Stuart Smith 5 on 02/02/2021 14:34:46

Edited By Stuart Smith 5 on 02/02/2021 14:35:31

Edited By Stuart Smith 5 on 02/02/2021 14:44:17

Had my vaccination this morning, was expecting perhaps a long queue when I got there but was pleasantly surprised when I walked straight in and after booking in didnt even manage to sit down before I was called in for the jab. The jab I had was Pfizer, the girl on the computer in the room where the jabs were being conducted, nearly fell of her chair laughing when I asked whether it was the vaccine with the microchips in so the government could track us all. They were very strict on the 15 min resting time after the jab, we were directed to a room with chairs, suitably distanced, where we had to sit until the time stated on the post-it note stuck on our vaccination card then we were allowed to leave. My jab was organised by our GP practice, they had banded together with other practices and were using the largest premises for the vaccination station. My only reservation was the location was in Eastbourne, unfortunately one of the towns with the highest incidence of COVID infection on the South Coast, it meant travelling in from our rural village located in one of lowest infection rate areas, a bit daunting because wife and I have maintained a strict lockdown of our own since last March. Wife gets her jab next Monday, she has to have the Oxford/AstraZeneca version as she had an anaphylactic reaction to radio opaque dye used with x-rays, now has to avoid iodine and any variety of shellfish, gets me out of having to fork out for expensive lobster meals. Dave W

Posted by geoff walker 1 on 02/02/2021 12:49:03o you could/can book before receiving an invite?

Geoff

Yes you can, Geoff.

See my post here.

Unless they've very recently changed policy, the key is eligibility, not receiving an invite.

Wife carries an epi pen for the odd allergic reaction (undiagnosed allergy to something unknown) and was advised by our GP's surgery NOT to have a Pfizer. We cancelled our on line arranged Pfizer jab appointments and our very helpful practise manageress booked us both in elsewhere for the Oxford stuff.

Separately but related, I have just read online that chinese researchers have discovered that folk with blood group "O" are 33% less likely to be infected by the pestilence. Maybe my O+ will help until jab day on Saturday.

Rik

I'm just under 72 and therefore in group 4, so North Somerset must have reached this far as my jab is tomorrow.

A friend and his wife, one only 60 without any health issues are both due to have theirs today.

Had my 1st AstraZenica jab yesterday. No side-effects thus far apart from the injection site feeling a little bruised. Went for a 15mile bike ride this afternoon, don't know if that was a good idea or not but certainly not slowed down by the jab. The information leaflet given out makes interesting reading (especially section 6). The AstraZenica PDF version is available on-line for anyone who might like the information before the jab because it is unlikely you will get time to read it at the vaccination centre. The similar information leaflet is also available for the Pfizer BioNtech PDF leaflet is also on-line.

John

I am off to Bath Racecourse on Saturday for the first jab. I hope they use my right arm since the left sometimes aches from too many injections. The worst is the Yellow Feaver jab from 22 years ago. I feel that one every time I am stressed.

I see that the Sputnick vaccine works well after all the comments in the media. The second injection uses a slightly different vaccine to the first.

JA

In Chesterfield our doctors surgery uses the SwiftQueue website to enable you to book a jab. If you go directly to the website it says no times available, but if you use the URL shortcut provided to us in a text message by the doctors you can get an appointment within two or three days. After booking we also received a an invitation from the NHS to book via a different website.

Had the jabs last Saturday, really impressed with the set up, super efficient, in and out in less than 10 minutes. Fully geared up for disabled people, my wife needed a wheelchair.

I think its very difficult for people to understand the massive scale of this operation, the whole operation was extremely professional and the computer systems were working perfectly. No mean feat for something that has been setup so quickly.

Peter

I've had a few responses to my earlier lunchtime post, so thank you to all.

I do hope I did not give the impression I was queue jumping.

The website was open for over 70's on Sunday which allowed us to book our first and second jabs despite the fact we had received no invitation.

Our text invite arrived yesterday and the snail mail letter today.

Long wait now until 20th. April for the second jab, can't wait!!!

Geoff

I am 66 and have a part time job delivering medication for a local chemist, I was deemed by the powers that be to be a "health care worker" a title I'm not worthy of but I was told to attend our local hospital as a walk in, no booking required, so last Wednesday I joined the queue of other Health care workers and the booked appointments, it took two hours of paperwork work etc including the 15 mins wait which we were all given the choice of tea, coffee, water and biscuits, my injection was Pfizer and I've had no side effects at all. My wife is 69 and like me is classed as vunerable because of health issues but as yet we have had no indication of when we are were to have it.

Martin P

I had mine on Thursday at our local surgery. Straight in and out within minutes. Two miserable days followed, shivering and aches. My wife has an appointment for next Saturday but in a leisure centre about 12miles away. I put it down to a computer glitch so many people in Wales have had the same complaint. but we are just glad to get the protection

I had Pfizer last Wednesday. Arm very slightly sore on Thursday but no other reaction. Very efficient, turn up at allotted time, check who you are, take temperature with non contact probe, sit down, jab immediately, no wait, move to waiting area for 15 minutes, out. SWMBO going Thursday

Last night my plastic model group held it's first Zoom meeting. One of our members in his fifties looked really quite drawn and grey. He, his wife and son had all had Covid just before Xmas - his daughter had tested positive also but showed no symptoms. Steve said he had been very bad, was still off sick and was still suffering from very bad chest pains. His looks certainly conveyed his poor state and was confirmation for others, as if one was needed, not to end up with this virus if at all possible.

Stay safe everyone and have that jab - a few side effects no matter how unpleasant are going to be a lot less to bear than getting the virus.

Tug

How is this being tracked? I assumed it was arranged by your doctor so some big database was ticking people off on agains NHS number and records which knew exactly your age and eligibility. WIth all this talk of self booking on the one hand and lots of questions on the other how do they know who is who.

.

Tracking seems to be in-place, but running slightly out of phase : My Doctor’s receptionist ‘phoned last week to offer my appointment [which I have booked for Friday] ... Then a couple of days later, I received an NHS letter inviting me to book an appointment

... A third of the way down page_2 it says :

If you receive this letter and already have an appointment booked to have your vaccine at a local GP service please ignore this letter. There is nothing you need to do except turn up at your scheduled GP appointment.

.

Methinks this might have been better-placed at the top of page_1 ... but aside from that, it all seems appropriately thorough.

MichaelG.

There is a covid vaccination centre in town. But the NHS site there is no mention - the closet one being in a very ’high risk of infection’ area about 15 miles away.

Rang 119 and directed to enquire to my local practice. Their answer system said “do not ring the surgery for covid vaccination details”. However, after pre-empting the receptionist reply (before she had chance to read out the standard spiel) we have been contacted re a jab at the local centre.

This was after explaining the points - such as shielding, epipen, both of us preferably (sensibly) attending at the same time, the non-existent local vaccination centre, the need for the Oxford jab - closer than 3 months between jabs? (for someone shielding, due to immune system deficiency), etc. Now sorted and organised for the 8th. Phew!

It may be reasonably organised but a couple (both over 80) in Essex were given appointments in separate weeks 30 miles from their home with the more urgent patient being the week later. Sorted eventually and both done at the same time - except access for ‘blue badges’ was non-existent.

Friends in Hastings - one has MS and the other is high risk - were offered jabs about twenty miles away at different times, then in Hastings for one them. Finished up he got his jab local and she had a 30 mile round trip because the organising was too much for her.

Sometimes complicated, ennit!