Details of how the UK will vaccinate millions per week

[vagrantbrain]

The biggest help at the moment would be a reduction in the large numbers of people, mostly care home staff, who are no-shows despite confirming they would be attending.

That's really annoying, but I wonder what the story behind those no-shows was? Being care home staff, is it possible that circumstances with their patients dictated that they couldn't come along?
Maybe they tried to contact the centre about the situation but couldn't?
I wouldn't assume they were just being lackadaisical.

I have heard of similar cases in which the excess vaccines were used up by calling others on the list, which seems emminently sensible if it can be arranged.

Arb.

I don't know any more of the details but anecdotally i've heard of some people not wanting it in case they have some of the (mild) side effects and miss a shift which they won't get paid for, especially agency staff. They'll all end up having to get it to work for the reputable care providers anyway so it'll sort itself out.

[vagrantbrain]

Well, the centres are not all working well as yet, Vagrantbrain. There was an old chap on R4 who went to the Epsom centre yesterday by appointment and he was told to sit in his car and wait to be told when to go in for the jab. 3 hrs later, he was still there, having been forgotten about. He decided to get out of his car when he saw someone else go in and found that they had no record of him. He did, however, eventually get the jab. Not an experience I would like.

I don't wish to sound rude but if one patient that had to wait a few hours to get his vaccine due to an admin error is the biggest problem so far with the vaccination programme then I think that's a fantastic result.

Until very, very recently it wasn't known for certain which (if any vaccines) would actually be approved, what the dosages would be, what the storage and transportation conditions were, or even how much could be supplied and when. These are the key details that were required to finalise the strategy and design for the rollout, and as always the devil is in the detail. The fact that we managed to get over a million doses in peoples arms before the strategy document was even finalised and published shows just how much effort is going in to this.

[Bouleversee]

Well, the centres are not all working well as yet, Vagrantbrain. There was an old chap on R4 who went to the Epsom centre yesterday by appointment and he was told to sit in his car and wait to be told when to go in for the jab. 3 hrs later, he was still there, having been forgotten about. He decided to get out of his car when he saw someone else go in and found that they had no record of him. He did, however, eventually get the jab. Not an experience I would like.

I don't wish to sound rude but if one patient that had to wait a few hours to get his vaccine due to an admin error is the biggest problem so far with the vaccination programme then I think that's a fantastic result.

Until very, very recently it wasn't known for certain which (if any vaccines) would actually be approved, what the dosages would be, what the storage and transportation conditions were, or even how much could be supplied and when. These are the key details that were required to finalise the strategy and design for the rollout, and as always the devil is in the detail. The fact that we managed to get over a million doses in peoples arms before the strategy document was even finalised and published shows just how much effort is going in to this.

I have no idea whether his was an isolated case. I tuned in half way through the programme. However, I would be mortified if I had been responsible for even one old person suffering that experience on a bitterly cold day. As you say, the devil is always in the detail and it is the lack of thinking things through in detail which has caused all the problems and failures which have arisen in the context of the pandemic and which sadly knock the shine off the undoubted successful efforts in some respects.

[tjh290633]

Excerpts from our latest communication about vaccinations: https://www.midsussexhealthcare.co.uk/covid-vaccine

We are delighted to be able to inform you that have now had confirmation of our first delivery of Covid
vaccines and are booking our patients in for appointments on Saturday 16 and Sunday 17 January 2021 at
our PCN vaccine site

Nationally the vaccine is being rolled out in waves with the hospitals and large practice based sites being
prioritised in waves 1, 2. It is now our turn to get started and we are excited to be able to start inviting our
patients in Group 2 (over 80s, frontline health and care staff), as well as organising for our care home
residents and staff to receive their Covid vaccinations (group 1).

We are working as fast as we can to deliver vaccines to our patients, as soon as we
have confirmation of our next delivery we will book patients in. We do not have control over how many
vaccines are delivered to us and when, we can only therefore book patients in when we know we will have
the vaccines to give.

As a practice we have over 1500 patients that fall into the over 80’s group, it will therefore take a minimum
of 4 to 5 deliveries for us to complete the vaccinations for this age range, and as yet we do not know how
frequently we will receive deliveries. So don’t worry if you haven’t received an invitation this week- we will
contact you as soon as we can.

How are we contacting you?

50% of invitations will be sent via text message to those patients that we hold a mobile phone number for,
this will include a link for you to access a direct appointment booking. Please use this as soon as you
receive the text message. The remaining 50 % of invitations will be generated via a telephone call from our
team, for patients that don’t have a mobile phone or access to the internet.

Housebound patients

All patients registered with us as housebound will be vaccinated by a centralised team once we have access
to the Oxford vaccine, which can more easily be stored and transferred.

As we are in a group of 5 practices, we can assume that they have similar numbers of over 80s, so that no doubt explains the 4 to 5 deliveries figure.

TJH

[Bouleversee]

The following was on one of the ADVFN boards:

supernumerary14 Jan '21 - 17:44 - 4920 of 4920
0 0 0
Following 3posts from makendon on the SNG Guild thread. Shocking business - acso should be there, so people could sit in their cars until called...

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Re vaccine. I took my MIL for hers on Tuesday. Bearing in mind she's 80 and the vast majority of others were well over 80, they had them queuing up outside of the centre for around one and half hours. One poor chap collapsed right in front of us, really traumatic!!. Great that they're vaccinating thousands per day at each venue, but some of them, like the chap who collapsed might die of exhaustion and frostbite before they get the injection.

---

>> super, honestly could have been better managed. She was booked for 11:30, so we got there at 11:15 and just joined the queue, once inside it took about 20 mins to process, stab and observe - but we didn't leave till after 2:00pm. Ref the queue, to be fair there were two or three helpers, who were occasionally walking the queue, looking for vulnerable people, but really that was not sufficient. They needed to maintain the timings, offer chairs and blankets.

Apparently the queue was so large because as soon as the pensioners were sat down they wanted a bit of a chat with the vaccinators and they were in a difficult position not to rush them on...

---

It was one of the new super vaccine centres in Newcastle at the Centre for Life.

[zico]

Looks like finally the government is underpromising and over-delivering on something. Scotland plans for vaccinations (which were briefly online before UK government told them to take them down) showed 400,000 expected vaccinations per week. If scaled up to UK, means 20 million jabs could be done by the time the government has committed to 14 million in Feb.

[Gerry557]

Well I think things are moving on quite well really. Yes there are individual errors, people being asked to travel to a center further away ie Birmingham when they live 10 miles from the Manchester one etc.

In context though its relatively small numbers compared to the amount of jabs being carried out. Hopefully these errors will be ironed out but that isn't to say they won't be replaced by newer different issues.

The numbers far out weigh my expectations and I thought that the last ones announced would be lower as snow interfered with travel plans.

I suppose they can jab the low hanging fruit and then find it harder to get to some certain individuals which might slow things down but I'm sure these will be looked at and caught up with. Some areas have 80% of care homes jabbed already and overall 40% of the first priorities are jabbed.

Just have to wait for the media headlines when the first difficulty arrives. Currently it's just in time delivery and no "stock". No stock is good news cos its in arms! But doesn't help planning if its arrives late.

[Arborbridge]

Well I think things are moving on quite well really. Yes there are individual errors, people being asked to travel to a center further away ie Birmingham when they live 10 miles from the Manchester one etc.

In context though its relatively small numbers compared to the amount of jabs being carried out. Hopefully these errors will be ironed out but that isn't to say they won't be replaced by newer different issues.

The numbers far out weigh my expectations and I thought that the last ones announced would be lower as snow interfered with travel plans.

I suppose they can jab the low hanging fruit and then find it harder to get to some certain individuals which might slow things down but I'm sure these will be looked at and caught up with. Some areas have 80% of care homes jabbed already and overall 40% of the first priorities are jabbed.

Just have to wait for the media headlines when the first difficulty arrives. Currently it's just in time delivery and no "stock". No stock is good news cos its in arms! But doesn't help planning if its arrives late.

I've been pleasantly surprised so far - I have to agree with you. We will have to seewhat happens over the weekend and next week to get a better idea whether this is sustainable, or could even increase.
One worry is the production changes we hear of in Belgium which have delayed shipments to the EU. I've no idea whether this will also effect us, or whether our next batches have been secured or are in testing for the month's ahead. Unless told to the contrary, I should assume this temporary slow down could bite into our supplies too, in a while.

Arb.

[redsturgeon]

Well I think things are moving on quite well really. Yes there are individual errors, people being asked to travel to a center further away ie Birmingham when they live 10 miles from the Manchester one etc.

In context though its relatively small numbers compared to the amount of jabs being carried out. Hopefully these errors will be ironed out but that isn't to say they won't be replaced by newer different issues.

The numbers far out weigh my expectations and I thought that the last ones announced would be lower as snow interfered with travel plans.

I suppose they can jab the low hanging fruit and then find it harder to get to some certain individuals which might slow things down but I'm sure these will be looked at and caught up with. Some areas have 80% of care homes jabbed already and overall 40% of the first priorities are jabbed.

Just have to wait for the media headlines when the first difficulty arrives. Currently it's just in time delivery and no "stock". No stock is good news cos its in arms! But doesn't help planning if its arrives late.

I've been pleasantly surprised so far - I have to agree with you. We will have to seewhat happens over the weekend and next week to get a better idea whether this is sustainable, or could even increase.
One worry is the production changes we hear of in Belgium which have delayed shipments to the EU. I've no idea whether this will also effect us, or whether our next batches have been secured or are in testing for the month's ahead. Unless told to the contrary, I should assume this temporary slow down could bite into our supplies too, in a while.

Arb.

News this morning is that it does affect us too.

John

[Bouleversee]

It would not surprise me if there weren't enough Pfizer vaccine available for 2nd jabs even after a 12 week gap. I heard on the news yesterday that deliveries were not guaranteed after the end of March, something to do with the new factory.

[Lootman]

It would not surprise me if there weren't enough Pfizer vaccine available for 2nd jabs even after a 12 week gap. I heard on the news yesterday that deliveries were not guaranteed after the end of March, something to do with the new factory.

Yes, that was always the risk with delaying the 2nd jab. They should have used half what they currently have for a 1st jab and then the other half for the second jab 3 weeks later, as specified and tested. I continue to believe the 12 week idea is bad.

[jackdaww]

It would not surprise me if there weren't enough Pfizer vaccine available for 2nd jabs even after a 12 week gap. I heard on the news yesterday that deliveries were not guaranteed after the end of March, something to do with the new factory.

===============================

i WILL be surprised if there enough of ANY vaccine to get even the FIRST jab done for many people in 2021 .

politicians raising expectations....

[AsleepInYorkshire]

Covid-19: England delivering 140 jabs a minute, says NHS chief executive
Sir Simon Stevens told the BBC that 140 people a minute were now being given the jab, usually the first dose of two.

Lots of other interesting information in this article

AiY

[dealtn]

It would not surprise me if there weren't enough Pfizer vaccine available for 2nd jabs even after a 12 week gap. I heard on the news yesterday that deliveries were not guaranteed after the end of March, something to do with the new factory.

===============================

i WILL be surprised if there enough of ANY vaccine to get even the FIRST jab done for many people in 2021 .

politicians raising expectations....

How many, and why?