Changes to the vaccination process

[Workingman]

Due to difficulties in handling it, and the priority groups, very few of the thousands of GP surgeries up and down the land have been authorised to administer the BioNTech / Pfizer vaccine, so it is not wonder that many of us have not been called for that.

And Oxford has only been approved for a couple of days and that over a holiday period.

Stay calm and give it time. Monday is apparently the first day....

[miasmum]

We were told about this earlier Debih, but then the BMA got involved. Because from what I can gather over 1million people are booked in for the second jab, which is now being cancelled with 2 days notice, which means over 1 million appointments to cancel and another 1 million to rebook all within the space of 2 days for some surgeries. Not possible.

We have been told there will be an update on Monday.

[Kaz]

I feel reassured now as my brother-in-law J who is a senior paramedic, and heavily involved with Covid issues down in Dorset told D last night that the one dose she's already had will give her 90% cover after three weeks, and the second dose will only add another 4% to the first!

[JanB]

Hope Master O is okay Ossie xx

Over here, the nurses, doctors paramedics and all health dealing bods are being done, next month, it's us oldies, those with serious health issues and then the rest of the population.

I have to admit that the Portuguese way of doing things can be very very frustrating at times, but I think that we will be called in, next month. We already get texts from the health bods, telling us we're next in line, so it's a wait and see scenario.

We've decided to have the vaccine, rather than not.

[miasmum]

I feel reassured now as my brother-in-law J who is a senior paramedic, and heavily involved with Covid issues down in Dorset told D last night that the one dose she's already had will give her 90% cover after three weeks, and the second dose will only add another 4% to the first!

Kaz that’s a well supported fact and why they are considering only giving 1 vaccine now apart from to the elderly who should still receive 2 as every little helps. It enables double the amount of people to be vaccinated over the same time period. Makes perfect sense if only they’d get on with it.

[Kaz]

Absolutely!

[TheOstrich]

Just out of interest, our surgery now has the following updated message:

COVID Vaccination Clinics
Dear Patients,
Happy New Year!
We have some good news to start the year off. We will be receiving our first batch of vaccine (Pfizer Biontech) next week and our first Covid vaccination clinics will be taking place on Saturday 9th January 2021 at Sturminster Newton Medical Centre. These will be BY APPOINTMENT only.
PLEASE DO NOT CALL US TO BOOK YOUR VACCINATION. YOUR SURGERY WILL CONTACT YOU.
We are working with Blackmore Vale Partnership and will be following the government recall process on prioritisation of the vaccinations. Our first cohort will be approximately 975 patients over the age of 80 based on their age and clinical risk. Do not worry if you or your relative is over 80 and doesn’t get called this week, we will be calling the remainder as soon as we get confirmation of our next delivery which will hopefully be the following week.
Following on from this this we would hope to vaccinate more people each week so that we can immunise as many people as possible in a short a time as possible. This will be dependent on vaccine availability.
We will also be going into our local care and residential homes to vaccinate residents and staff within the next few weeks as well.
This good news however is not a reason for complacency. COVID numbers are rising in North Dorset. An 50% increase from previous weeks. Please adhere to social distancing rules and protect yourselves and others. The finish line is now in sight, so please stay safe until we get there.
Please pass this message to anyone you know who might not see this message.

So, we shall see how it all works out. I don't expect Mrs O or myself will hear anything until well into February, but that's not a problem - we're not doing anything in the meantime!