Vaccination Experiences

[JimSh]

Thought it might be a good idea to open a thread comparing vaccination experiences.
My wife and I were offered vaccinations by phone and text (no blue or white envelopes) yesterday.
Appointments 5 minutes apart Saturday morning at local health hub (amalgamation of 3 or 4 GP practices about 15 minutes walk away)
My wife is a bit more anxious about timing than I am so we left in good time and then not wanting to have to queue unnecessarily took a detour but still arrived 5 minutes early. Ushered straight in . 2 receptionists took names, DOB and address. One scored off names as in a polling station. We were each allocated a different number
The layout of the place is a big central waiting room with consultation rooms radiating off. Some of the seats had been removed and there were half a dozen stations labelled around room.
At the station the vaccinator asked about half a dozen questions - all relevant and ticked off answers on sheet then gave injection. Didn't even sit down.
I was finished before my wife ( she is a bit more communicative than I am and it transpired that her vaccinator was a former pupil of her's). Both walked out the exit door before the 2nd appointment was due.
Information gleaned from my wife's vaccinator was that they planned to do 700 vaccinatons that day and the reason for the short notice was that they only took delivery of the vaccines the previous day.
Astra- Zeneca vaccine. No hassle, no problems with social distancing, no side effects for me. My wife is concious of her arm and says she is slightly light-headed. Hope everything runs as smoothly at other vaccination centres.
The weather is fine here but there are weather warnings elsewhere.

[peteo48]

We received our letters on Monday this week. I went on line and booked us both in for the first dose on Thursday (4th Feb). There was a good choice of centres. Living in a densely populated area sometimes has its advantages. I know of people in rural areas who are having to make long trips.

Booked the 2nd dose at the same time - 28th April. It was also made clear that another option was to wait until contacted by the local GP - clearly a good option if mobility is a problem.

We had the Astra Zeneca vaccine. Yesterday I woke up feeling a bit flu like with a head ache. My wife just had a mild headache. Today we are both back to normal.

[Johncb500]

Good to hear.

I received the blue/envelope yesterday.

Went online to book. No venues closer than about 27miles.
Worcester. Gloucester. Bristol. Birmingham etc.

Rang surgery. They said they were due to contact me in the next few days. So I decided to wait.

Maybe I should have booked Bristol. It's a lovely excuse for a drive.

BTW,I am 71

Sent from my SM-A750FN using Tapatalk

[guest9236]

We were contacted by phone in December offered our vaccine  appts two days later on 17December and our second Vaccine appt 21 days later on Jan 7th 2021.
 On both occasions it was as smooth as silk. With NO complaints or problems  beyond a sore arm for an evening and back to normal nxt morning.
We had a return journey of 21 miles  on each occasion, and that was in itself a good reason to enjoy a change of scenery.
Well done Mr Johnson and all involved. However I would like to say.

Regarding these idiots who refuse there Vaccinations and or deny Covid 19 exists or for whatever other reason mostly because there Imaginary friend in the sky tells them to.
Should be forced to work in a situation that would change there opinions very quickly for Example as a hospital porter transferring bodies to the Mortuary,or working in a grave yard with a shovel, and as they are so surely convinced of the non existence of this wretched virus that has caused untold sadness to so many people, they will not need the protection of PPE etc, this would I am sure in a very short time focus there minds if indeed they possessed one in the first place.

[Jocko]

My wife got the Pfizer jab on December 30th (front line NHS worker) and an appointment four weeks later for the second one. Obviously, that was cancelled due to the change to the 12-week regime. She was warned it would be nippy and she said it very much was. She had pain at the site for the remainder of the day, but she was fine the second day.
My mother-in-law had her jab on Burn's night. The surgery had phoned my wife a few days earlier to arrange it. They said if it didn't suit, not to worry, someone would come to the house and vaccinate her (she is 96). I took her to the local community centre, two minutes walk from the house, pushed her in in the wheelchair, the receptionist took her details and ticked her name on the sheet, just at that the nurse said "I'll get you here" and after the usual questions. which my wife answered, Mum, got her jab. She was in and out in two minutes. Mum had no after-effects at all.
Yesterday Madge and I received our blue envelopes, mine for the 10th and hers for the 11th (different categories. I am 73, and she is in the underlying health condition). The appointments are for a local community centre, 8 minutes and 2.2 miles away.
Because Madge has already had her first vaccine, I phoned the vaccination hotline, got straight through, third in the queue, waited 20 seconds and spoke to Douglas. I explained the situation; he pulled up Madge's data and amended it accordingly. Here's hoping Wednesday's jab goes as smoothly. I will keep you informed.

[ColinB]

I’m nowhere near the priority categories so have probably got a month or so to wait yet. But I am doing volunteer stewarding shifts at one of the large vaccination centres, so I can see how it’s all working. It’s actually quite uplifting to see real first-hand evidence of progress at fighting this virus. Many of the clients are quite nervous and apprehensive as they arrive because they don’t really know what to expect, so we do our best to settle any concerns and shepherd them through the process. Lots of happy faces afterwards, and some of them are almost skipping back to the car park.

I guess the process differs in detail at different centres, but at “mine” it’s basically 4 stages:
1. Reception, where they check that you do actually have an appointment and aren’t just chancing it.
2. Assessment, where a nurse asks you questions about your health to check there are no issues.
3. Vaccination pod, where they do the business. Also give you your appointment for the second jab.
4. Recovery: the OAZ vaccine can make you a little woozy immediately after so you’re advised to wait 15 minutes before driving. No tea and biscuits though.
Depending on whether there’s a queue when you arrive, you can be through to recovery in 15 minutes.

Before anyone asks, volunteers don’t have priority for vaccination (despite the well-publicised accounts of certain MPs). The clinical staff are extremely careful with vaccine quantities such that there’s hardly likely to be any left over; on one of my shifts they thought they had only enough doses for two people but had three waiting. They weren’t going to start another batch because that would have wasted some of it (I think they did eventually squeeze three doses out of what they had left from the batch).

[madasafish]

Non event of teh year.
Booked:arrived on time, vaccinated and out in 20 mins.
No pain when vaccinated, no after effect. Pfizer.

As for anti vaxxers,my somewhat jaundiced view it's Darwinism in action.

[JimSh]

I guess the process differs in detail at different centres, but at “mine” it’s basically 4 stages:
1. Reception, where they check that you do actually have an appointment and aren’t just chancing it.
2. Assessment, where a nurse asks you questions about your health to check there are no issues.
3. Vaccination pod, where they do the business. Also give you your appointment for the second jab.
4. Recovery: the OAZ vaccine can make you a little woozy immediately after so you’re advised to wait 15 minutes before driving. No tea and biscuits though.

Quite interesting to see the difference in approaches.
I was expecting the process to be as you described which was similar to when I had the flu vaccination.
In my case the assessment was done by the vaccinator. I was actually surprised when he asked me to bare my arm.
My wife was vaccinated by a former pupil who is now a GP in our practice. I'm guessing that my vaccinator was a young GP I hadn't seen before.
No next appointment. Told they would get in touch.
No recovery time although the vaccinator had asked if I was driving (I was walking).
No tea and biscuits either.
Total through time approx 5 minutes.

[richardfrost]

Was anyone asked about allergies?

My mother-in-law had potentially fatal reactions to dyes used in heart surgery so was quite concerned about the talk about allergic reactions. She was quite surprised when no-one asked her so she insisted on speaking to a Doctor, who reassured her. She had the Astra Zeneca but I don't think an alternative was available anyway.

[JimSh]

Was anyone asked about allergies?

Yes.
I think there is lower risk of allergic reaction to AZ.

[peteo48]

Was anyone asked about allergies?

My mother-in-law had potentially fatal reactions to dyes used in heart surgery so was quite concerned about the talk about allergic reactions. She was quite surprised when no-one asked her so she insisted on speaking to a Doctor, who reassured her. She had the Astra Zeneca but I don't think an alternative was available anyway.

Yes we were asked.

[John Ratsey]

I was phoned on Friday 29th by my GP Surgery offering me a slot at the local mass vaccination centre on Monday pm. I accepted. I was surprised to get the call as it meant I jumped past a few million people higher up the queue (I've only just reached 70). I was asked about allergies (and several other questions) both in the phone call and when I checked in at the vaccination centre.

The vaccination centre was in a big hall. After checking in people were directed to join one of 7 queues but they were evidently running behind schedule as each queue contained 6 or 7 people (all suitably spaced apart) and resulted in a 20 minute wait before the jab (Pfizer was the brew of the day which was followed by a compulsory 15 minute wait (the vaccination card was marked with the time for leaving which was checked by someone at the door). There was a place for an 8th queue so I assume that someone was absent and this would have caused the backlog.

I received my letter inviting me to make a booking three days after the jab but the letter was dated the day before the phone call. I suspect that when gaps are found in the bookings one working day before the jabs then those people least likely to have received the letters are those which get the phone calls to minimise time wasted trying to find those who had not already booked. I was happy to get a jab at the local centre as it's within walking distance but I know of people who have had to drive about 40 miles (each way) to another centre to get their jab.

[RichardA]

I've recently turned 40 so I'm a long way off from mine. My parents had to drive 10 miles for theres which isn't bad, but they were told to drive round the block a couple of times before they could even park due to length of the queue.

[Jocko]

My wife picked up her phone this morning to call about her second appointment, and there was a text inviting her to come in for it. She is to attend at the hospital where she works, so no problems.

[Henryge]

 Hi There,
 Phone message last Wednesday giving me date time and location for today 10min walk, got there 15min early 1st stop name check 30secs, 2nd stop waiting chairs 15secs, 3rd stop go to doorway of room 10secs, 4th stop sit down confirm name and question about allergies and meds being taken then INJECTION Oxford ab, card given 1min30secs, then out the door done.