UKH

Apologies if this is well known. If you are over 60 you can book your jab now. Quick google should direct you. I’m booked in for the 4th and it’s surprisingly exhilarating😀

Most people haven't had their first one yet and you're going for your fourth!
Just how Covid proof do you want to be? 🙄

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/coronavirus-vaccination/...

Does indeed have the first qualification as:

"You can only use this service if any of the following apply:

• you are aged 60 or over"

I'm so old that I had my first one two or three weeks ago   Well, that should be a smiley, I suppose.

5 years time I'll qualify for that, woooo!!! That's something to look forward to. 

Waaay ahead of you. Had my first done last thursday (2nd booked for May). Someone told me last Wednesday you could book on line so I did and was surprised to get one for the very next day

Meanwhile our local health centres, who are still vaccinating the over 65s, had no vaccines delivered last week.

Vaccinations are only available to over 60s in selected areas. If you live in Cumbria over 60s can book a vaccination in Morecambe, Lancaster, Kendal or Ulverston. That's it.

Bit of a postcode lottery developing if you don't have a car to drive the 75 miles to your nearest centre.

It is very confusing. The NHS website said 64 and over last week but someone told me that they were accepting bookings for 60 plus. I went on line and was surprised that I got in so quick. I was also given a choice of venues I could attend all within a three mile radius.

My dad (87) had his second injection back in January, as have several of his friends, but others are still waiting.

Looking at it the other way, if all those over 60 who can do the drive, do so, it will make it easier for your local health centres to finish the over 65s and crack on with the vulnerable 18 - 65.  

I was thinking it would be a good excuse for an essential journey, through the Lakes, with an opportunity for some exercise at some point. Looks like there might be one in Penrith before I'm eligible.

Apparently the site was saying “over 64” yesterday am but had changed to 60 by afternoon.

A friend of mine was 60 last Wednesday and she is booked in for tomorrow!

Had mine yesterday, no side effects apart from waking up this morning thinking "I must ditch my Apple Mac and get a Windows PC" 

That's a good idea anyway, I hate MacOS!

Unfortunately because I recently moved and changed GP practices I seem to have fallen into a black hole. Although I'm 66 the NHS site says I'm not eligible, but when I phone 911 they say I definitely am and to contact my practice - who won't take calls about vaccinations. Hmmm.

That's two benefits from one jab - lucky man!

Also there are trains and buses, so you don't have to be able to drive.

Meanwhile I've heard people complaining in MK of it not being their nearest GP surgery.  Mine, which has 2 practices, has dedicated one of them to COVID jabbing and the other to GP services.  I genuinely saw a FB post complaining about being "unable to get to" the one that was doing COVID jabs because the person didn't have a car.  It's about 45 minutes' walk between the two, and served by MK's most frequent bus route (albeit with a change), or if you really must then about a fiver in a taxi.

Yep. Its very efficent.10/10.

I wouldn't want to use public transport at the moment. 

Do you mean 119? 

Phone your GP again.  They don't want routine calls from people who need to wait or can use the website, if you've been told specifically to call them because the website isn't working then they need to sort it out.  

Speaking to friends in Yorkshire the NHS website has been accepting over 60s for at least the past 2 weeks, and anecdotally some over 55s have managed to get appointments. 

If it were the only means by which you could get your vaccine, would you use it?

It seems odd that in Cumbria there are appointments available for over 60s in Kendal (Population 28,398) & Ulverston (11,678), but not Carlisle (73,270) or Barrow (56,745 although not too far from Ulverston). There's also about 70,000 people in a single conurbation made up of Whitehaven, Workington & Maryport.

I can see a case for prioritising over 60s in areas of high population to limit spread, but not apparently restricting vaccines for over 65s in some areas but prioritising over 60s in others.

Wow thanks so much, we were totally unaware of this and I have just secured appointments for myself and husband nearby, we are both 63. 

I would.  If I was in a shielding category I wouldn't.  

It does seem a bit odd, but how long ago was Cockermouth getting mentioned in the national press/media (by Prince William and Bojo) for being one of the first places to offer the vaccine to all 70/75 year olds? I think it was 3 weeks before my 91 year old auntie got hers in Mid Wales.

Si dH pointed out, on a different thread, that North Cumbria is classed as being part of the North East as far as coronavirus is concerned, not sure if that has anything to do with it.

Thanks. Makes sense. 

That could well be it, (although the postcode search only pulled up the South Lakes centres not North East). Mrs says she'll give it a week to see if local appointment comes through and then book in at Kendal if not.

Thanks for this.  I hadn't realised I could be more proactive - I'm sure I've read guidance that says I should wait until I'm invited.  As it happens, I've just agreed to do an antibody test for UK Biobank and, since I'd be quite interested in the result, I'll wait just long enough to do that before I get myself jabbed. 

It's mostly empty so the risk is very low.  Lower than a taxi as you're a long way from the driver.

Walk, or cycle, or get a lift from a friend, then, or even ask your GP if you can be added to the NHS Volunteers scheme if vulnerable, they have a patient transport service.  People who choose to live in rural areas accept that they need to travel; if you want stuff convenient to you, you need to choose to live in a town or city.  And TBH, knowing that the person in MK who was moaning wasn't disabled, just typically MK bone-idle*, the only answer I really had to that was "put your shoes and coat on, put one foot in front of the other and stop whining".

* Despite MK's excellent walking and cycling infrastructure, the ability to park (or get a taxi to) right outside where you want to be does, in a fairly large part of the MK population, breed a certain level of bone-idleness, of which this was very clearly an example.

Shielders are higher up the list anyway and the risks of transport would be being considered for them.

For everyone else, requiring them to travel a reasonable distance so as to get the jab, if that means it can be delivered more efficiently and thus to more people more quickly, seems totally reasonable to me.  It's a national emergency, quite right that each of us should have to put a bit of effort in if that makes the overall effort better.

SW London. Many buses and trains are not crowded eg sometimes one person a carriage if non-busy hours chosen. Obviously using public transport for non-essential travel is not sticking rigidly to regs, but we don't have a car and do use it for reaching parks for stroll.

Me too. I'm a bit pissed off at this. I'm a vulnerable under 65 (group 6) so I'm supposed to be ahead of the over 60s. I'm still waiting and I can't use that link.

I'd ring your GP. Husband rang his GP and while the receptionist tried to fob him off at first, he politely persisted so she looked at his record then agreed he was in Tier 6 and booked him in.

Ask your GP.  I am in that bracket and had mine Saturday.  It requires going through records (no nice way of doing it) to flag people in that group up.

Done that. Had a reasonable chat with her. She said that I'm on the under 65 and vulnerable list and they'll be starting that in a couple of weeks, but at the moment they are still doing over 65s. If I was obese then that would bump me up the list. I told her I was working on it

I think it's a combination of lots of oldies near me and them being a bit crap meaning they are behind the rest of the country. Someone else in the same town as me with the same condition has got their jab already.

Ah fair enough. That is annoying. My mum has retired to an area with a lot of older people & care homes and was complaining before about the fact that she hadn't been vaccinated yet; I pointed out that she was a spring chicken by Bognor Regis standards.

I think it stayed at 64 long enough for letters to go out to 64 year olds following the announcement that 2^6s  qualified for the jab.

I don't disagree, but It depends on what is reasonable. We're relatively well off, so a 3 hour round trip (x 2 jabs) for Mrs Ridge to the nearest place offering over 60s vaccinations in the car is a minor inconvenience plus a total cost of about £30 in fuel plus parking. 

For someone without their own transport, google suggests 4 hours 42mins each way, dropping to about 3 and a half hours if you put in an additional £12 for a taxi (and I shudder to think what the cost of bus and train fares adds up to.

That's getting close to a 2 tier system for less affluent people, (I'm guessing at maybe up to three weeks delay in vaccination?) and I don't think that's reasonabe.

I think it's a direct consequence of going for large "hubs" at the expense of doing it locally.  Hits places like Cumbria disproportionately. 

Quite a few people round here seem prepared to sit it out until they can get a jab in Penrith, quite understandable and natural.

Reckon if you pitched up at a vaccination centre with your NHS number that might jab you

I know of people in Stoke and Coventry who tried it.... unsuccessfully! 

My 57 year old brother is booked this week in Hertfordshire. Clearly varies across the country.

To be fair to the NHS system, I've just opened my mail box to find a letter inviting me to make my appointments

I see what you are saying, but it is less of a problem for people in their 60's than any other age group. Around 90% of households in that age bracket have access to a car or van, higher than any other. As others have said, if they travel to the big vaccination centres, shouldn't that free up capacity for the remaining 10%, who at that age could have a bus pass so don't need to worry about the cost if a trip is feasible.

I do see your point there (I guess you must be VERY rural to be looking at a trip of 2.5 hours each way to one of those centres?  Perhaps the "top left" bit of the Cumbrian Coast?) - but I suppose it comes down to whether you'd want to artificially slow down delivery in some locations in order to make it "fairer" - which if it was just about individuals you might, but vaccination is much more about the "bigger picture" than individuals, so that being the case one more injection means one fewer potential intensive care patient, so I think allowing that to persist *does* make sense.  In essence "number of jabs in arms in order of risk profile" is the most important thing over fairness in this specific case.

I do wonder if people should perhaps be offered free public transport to a booked vaccination centre, which might deal with the issue of cost of the journey?  Penrith to Lancaster on the train, for example, is only 35 minutes which is hardly prohibitive (and it's a stunningly scenic journey, one of the best on the rail network, so hardly something unpleasant), but it does cost something like a tenner each way which some may not be able to afford.

For non-car-owning, very rural people who don't know anyone who could at least give them a lift to the station, I suppose you've still got an issue there, but I suspect there will be some "sweeping up" with e.g. mobile facilities (I've seen one of the bus companies proposing free use of a bus to do it) - but setting all that up will take time, and you can only do it with the Oxford vaccine, not the Pfizer one, due to storage and transport requirements.  I think if you live without a car in somewhere that rural (I'm talking the "one bus every third Thursday" type places) you're going to pretty much live the life of a hermit anyway, pretty much, and thus have a negligible risk of catching it, so that taking a while is not of that much consequence.

Yep, in the days when Mrs J still worked on a friday,  if we were planning on heading south for the weekend,  I'd need to catch the X5 at 7:36  to get to Kendal wall for 10. Covid wise it would  be OK this week,  but I'd recommend a later bus after that.

Many thanks for posting this! I've just booked my first jab for tomorrow after work. It's going to be one MASSIVE weight off my shoulders to get this. I'm 61 and work in a supermarket and had no idea this could be done. Thank you again.

Ditto.

I got fed up waiting for my GP (who messed up my flu jab) so I went online on Friday and have it booked for tomorrow. 

Actually feels quite empowering to book it yourself rather than get stressed by waiting for an unknown appointment 

I'm 52, in no particular risk group and I just got a text from my GP to book my jab now. I can't make head nor tail of the "queue" it seems to vary so much from place to place.

I do see your point there (I guess you must be VERY rural to be looking at a trip of 2.5 hours each way to one of those centres?  Perhaps the "top left" bit of the Cumbrian Coast?)

That's the area. Not even particularly rural, there's largeish urban strip (ideal Covid transmission area, population circa 70,000) that would involve an additional hours journey on top of that to get to Carlise or Penrith. Even more from the outlying towns and villages.

I appreciate there will be disparity, but I'd have thought Penrith or Carlisle auction market would give better coverage than having two almost next to each other in the South Lakes.

I thought it was highlighted above that there is a facility at Carlisle but it's still finishing off the 65+?  I'd agree if there wasn't one.

Some places have finished the 60 + already I think.  

Yes, it seems to be completely random. My partner (51) had hers a fortnight ago, and today I (50 in July) got the text. Both jab places 15 minutes walk. Who knows? There were plenty of people younger than her in the queue at her practice. 

Brother in law 54 has just been contacted by Eden Street surgery, Carlisle? It all seems a bit random/pot luck.

Duncan not sure if I got your dates right but there needs to be a minimum of 3 weeks between jabs

My mum is early 60s and right on cue she had a call from her GP surgery today inviting her for a jab - booked in for Sat. My dad who is the same age had his a few weeks ago but that's because he is in the vulnerable (but not extremely vulnerable) category. I think it may have been a few days before that demographic was supposed to be officially invited. Seems that their local area (West Suffolk, Matt Hancock's constituency in fact) is well supplied with vaccines and perhaps they have a lower than average % of older people (I wonder if areas with relatively high % of older people are not as advanced in their vaccination drives).

Feb to May is more than 3 weeks? 

My 2nd is booked in at 10 weeks & 2 days.

I'd have preferred somewhere I could cycle to like Penrith.  Mid 60s and have a jab booked for Sunday before 9 in Kendal but there seems to be an issue with the car at the moment - will know more tonight but not sure we could get it fixed in time so the distance definitely makes the jab more at risk.

Plus it will be 4 round trips as my wife is in a different age category.   But with things opening up soon and people already having barbecues on the shores of Ullswater I'm not really keen to delay - this is going to be a risky time for older unvaccinated people as the population perceives it can relax.

I've fallen right through a bureaucratic worm hole. My GP surgery insists that I must wait for an invite - which I haven't received, even though I'm 66 - and the NHS keep insisting I'm not eligible even when I enter my NI number and date of birth when I apply through them directly. When I spoke to the NHS, a very nice lady said yes I was  due, and call my GP to arrange. Except they won't take calls...

You do know it's your NHS number needed to book via the website? NOT your NI number.

Yes, my mistake but I used the correct one, honest.

Fortunately you don't actually need your NHS number to book online- just name, address and DoB. 

Unfortunately the online booking was way more efficient than the actual jab. 40 minutes standing outside in the freezing cold in an Alton Towers type snaking queue in a high covid area. Entirely my fault for not dressing as if belaying in the Ouray Gorge 

that sounds like a problem on the website - is there a facility to report urgent problems ? (given you are over the age that is explicitly eligible to apply)

Actually I was offered my jab in Tunstall (Stoke). I’m going to Newchapel which is, more or less, also Stoke.

As I now have - guess it’s a case of the internet being quicker than post.

I'll be off to Milton, also Stoke, on Saturday.

Yup!

from 25th Feb - 19th May = 12 weeks

Not sure if this affects you.

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=3770682513020367&id=1066427...

Probably not, but thanks for the link.

Vaccination booking via NHS website are now available in Workington, so looks like it's now rolling out further.

Got mine tomorrow which is perfect.  Can have a few home beers on Saturday night and if I feel rough on Sunday,  blame the vaccine!

Can't wait!!

In my experience, working in 2 GP practices in 2 different parts of a city, the issue is not the GPs being a bit crap, but the vaccine supplies being a bit crap.  I don't know how the vaccine supplies are allocated centrally, but they don't seem to bear any relation to the number of people in each cohort.  One GP network I work for has 5000 patients in group 6, but we've only just been able to start inviting those patients for vaccination this weekend..  Or supplies in the last couple of weeks were sparse, to say the least (2 other networks donated some vaccine which helped), and we also had a lot more newly-designated CEV to vaccinate first.

Identifying people in eg vaccination cohort is quite a simple job, using searches for diagnostic codes which flag up people with heart disease, asthma, etc.

They'd better not have run out when I go for mine tomorrow!

Yes, I don't think it's my GP herself that's crap, just something in the system. They hadn't forgotten about me, they just hadn't had enough vaccine yet for me to be done.

I finally got my text yesterday and I'm booked for the first slot, next Friday. Looking at Omnicalculator it appears that group 6 is nearly complete, so I reckon I'm going to be one of the last group 6 people in the country to get my jab.

We don't book people in unless we're sure we've got doses for them!

You definitely won't be last!  Round here, we're only just starting group 6 (due to the slow supplies the last few weeks)

But the NHS website that lets you query whether you are eligible for a vaccine DOES require the NHS #

Really, the query system and the booking system should be using the same information, surely...?

Then again, booking a covid test last august required about 10 different pieces of personal information... And then said I didn't exist...

[edit: since I knew my NHS#, I used that. but I see you can also enter other personal details. actually, famous last words: my details are not recognised...]