Bureaucratic nonsense

I totally agree with you luckygirl, absolute bonkers. Don't worry about Alegrias1 and her opinions. You say white and she will automatically say black.

Having experienced total efficiency with my first two Covid jabs getting my booster was far from straightforward. Mobile drop in unit was advertised to be near my home on Sunday morning 9 - 1. I was eligible for booster so went along at 9.30, van hadn’t arrived so went back home and returned at 11. Van had arrived but vaccine had run out so couldn’t vaccinate any more people. I made appointment yesterday afternoon at venue for booster. Very long queues, mainly outside, cold , pouring with rain and windy. Waited in queue for over an hour along with a lot of very elderly and infirm people. It was awful.
The only good thing about it was that people were so keen to be vaccinated but very annoying to hear on news that people are not coming forward for boosters.

Below is from NHS website. 30 weeks would be 210 days rather more than 190 days. Unless I've misunderstood something, can't see how OP is trying to queue jump.

Well written, first and second comment. First world problem indeed!

I am really struggling to book my booster, I’m over 60, had my 2nd jab 6 months ago yet coming up on system as not eligible !!

I can't even get an appointment for my flu jab, I really don't know what you're moaning about tbh!!

I got a letter from the NHS telling me to make an appt. either with my surgery or at a walk-in centre. This was last Saturday and I went that afternoon. They’re trying their best but you need to be patient.

That is good to hear.

The problem is that people do not know whether to wait for a phone call or letter from their GP practice because they do not know where arranging their vaccine is going to come from.

When I had my first vaccine at a centre in town (in response to a letter from the NHS), I was sitting in the car park ready to go in and had a call from the surgery on my mobile to say I was supposed to go there for it on a different day - I said that I would stick with where I was - a bird in the hand and all that!

Gold star to our rural GP practice which battled to get the Pfizer boosters and then did a brilliant day of oldies. We were telephoned to make the appointment and had our flu jabs at the same time. I would think the proportion of over 70s who have had their booster jab is pretty high here.

Nonogran

From the threads above, I agree the system is a mess however I have not quite reached the 190 days eligibility but was able to go on line earlier this evening & have an appt for next week. The website was really easy to use.
I am in the West Country so maybe there’s less pressure on booster resources down here?

Would you mind saying which website it was?

From the threads above, I agree the system is a mess however I have not quite reached the 190 days eligibility but was able to go on line earlier this evening & have an appt for next week. The website was really easy to use.
I am in the West Country so maybe there’s less pressure on booster resources down here?

I fit in the group that says that the booster jab is vital to keep people well/alive, the NHS functioning as far as possible and the economy open this winter. The only way to achieve that is with an efficient booking system where the right hand knows what the left is doing.

I had particular reason to pursue this as I have changed address and medical practices and I needed to find out where I fitted in the system, given that my new practice has only just received my notes from the old one. There was a real possibility that I would simply slip through the net - so I took steps to make sure that did not happen. In doing so I opened up a can of worms and discovered a chaotic fragmented system for the booster jabs, and came across many others who felt lost in the system.

Such a system is not just frustrating to those trying to navigate it, but leaves the country vulnerable.

As far as I can see there are several ways to get the vaccine booster: via your GP, via 119, via the NHS website, via the grab-a-jab website, via walk-in centres (not available in rural areas such as round here), and via the local CCG (health authority).

The government exhorts us to get the vaccine but does not tell us how - no-one knows which of those routes applies to them or to their area. Add in the complicating factor that the time interval between second jab and booster was changed half way through the process and you have a recipe for chaos.

When I rang my GP practice I was told that they did not have any jabs to give, did not know whether they would be getting any and did not know where I should go or how I might slot into the system and get the jab.

People using the website are simply getting a message that says You Are Not Eligible, without saying why - sometimes it is because insufficient time has elapsed, but it does not say that - it leaves people thinking they are not eligible full stop, so they are lost to the attempt to cover all those who should be having it.

I am the first person to be glad that the vaccine is there and that I can have it for free. But we do a disservice to all the brilliant scientists who developed the vaccines if we cannot establish an efficient system for getting them into the arms of those who should be having it.

I am agog that anyone thinks it’s fine to sweep errors under the carpet! Combined with other errors, it hardly fills one with confidence.

I haven’t done anything about my booster, I’m just hoping that the letter will come through the door soon, but patience with the NHS is wearing thin when one has been waiting for twenty months for an operation for a condition which is now having a considerable effect on one’s daily life.

That's it growstuff. The original system worked well. Don't know why is seems so fragmented for the boosters. The systems were all there. What's happened to them?

No, I don't want my booster the day my six months is up. I just want a date and time that I can put in my diary and work round that. Other people will possibly have to arrange lifts, which can sometimes take weeks to plan, if you don't have friends and relatives on call. They managed to do it for the original jabs, so I don't really understand why it's not possible now.

PS. No, I'm not upset or being indignant. I'm slightly irritated and don't understand why the current booking system is less efficient than the original one.

You know what?

Everyone wants their booster the day the day after their six months is up? Well, life is hard. You might not get it.

Parents got theirs about 4 weeks after their six month anniversary. They weren't knocking on doors or calling up helplines indignantly telling everyone that it was past six months and they were entitled. They had worked out that there are several million people eligible to get it and that immunity doesn't fall off a cliff the day after your six month anniversary. Unlike those several Aberdonians who the Scotsman think we need to know about, they walked down the road to the local vaccine hub and got jagged.

So we can all be really upset that we have to wait a couple of extra weeks, or we can be really grateful that we live in a country where we're getting a booster at all. I'm in the second group. You'll all have to choose for yourselves where you fit.

IKR! www.scotsman.com/health/coronavirus/covid-scotland-appointments-rearranged-as-aberdeen-public-sent-to-wrong-location-for-their-covid-and-flu-jabs-3415308

nadateturbe - thanks for your good wishes - I got there in the end!

SueDonim - that is beyond credence!

You’re right about the confusion, Luckygirl. People in Aberdeen were sent appointments at non-existent vaccination centres! Staff at sundry little community halls were most bemused when people started turning up demanding boosters.

I'm so glad you're booked for the vaccine Luckygirl. The lady sounds very helpful.
But so complicated!
I hope you enjoy your break.

Shelflife - I am guessing that the website says you are not eligible because of the time since the second vaccination. At 72 you are definitely in an eligible group. I hope that you will get your vaccine soon.

SueDonim - so many people have been dealing with this sort of confusion. It is so important that the system is clear and efficient. A lot hangs on getting this right.

I don't know whether it's related, but Nadhim Zahawi was moved from Vaccines to Education Minister at a critical stage.

Emily Lawson, who was the former head of the vaccines programme, has recently been moved back to her former role from Number 10.

news.sky.com/story/covid-19-former-vaccine-chief-dr-emily-lawson-returns-to-nhs-amid-concerns-about-pace-of-booster-jabs-rollout-12441847

I get the impression that, compared with the original programme, the booster programme has been a bit of a shambles. Key people had gone, so experience was lost and the new people didn't seem to know what they were doing. I suspect the government knows that, which is why Dr Lawson has been moved back.

My aged and housebound mum has just received a letter telling her to go to a centre 20 miles away for her booster. She can’t manage that. She phoned her GP practice who gave her a helpline to call. They referred her back to her GP. ?‍♀️

It will be 6 months and one day this coming Saturday since my second vaccination. I tried to book my booster on the NHS app only to be informed I am not eligible - I am 72. I now wait to be invited for my booster . I must confess I am very anxious indeed to be vaccinated. I have taken great care during the pandemic, scarcely been any where, cancelled my Grandma duty ! All I want now is to receive that invitation. I am trying to remain calm but it is not easy. My husband is older than me and has had his some weeks ago.
I am finding this waiting very stressful indeed!!!!!