Hi all,
a friend is trying to book the COVID vaccination via the NHS website, but the local vaccination sites don't appear. Does someone know (maybe CWS?), when the new appointments are released? The locations available are far away
Thanks in advance

turning people who have booked appointments away is very rare. If you are worried turn up early, most centres see people in the order they arrive rather than appointment order,

If I recall correctly they started using Sinopharm first (late last year) and long before the other 3. I could just be an anomaly for Bahrain but then you've got Chile which has high vaccination rates which were also 100% Sinopharm until recently (They've received some Pfizer & I think AZ recently).

Then you compare it to Israel which is 100% Pfizer and has managed to bring daily cases down to double digits.

So the idea that all the papers are spewing that Bahrain is going to be green seems off to me.

GP led clinics won’t show up on the NHS booking website. If the locations offered are too far away and you know there are nearer places that you can book online then keep trying. That said, I would suggest you aim to book sooner rather than later, if you can get to a centre.

There is some real concerns that the Chinese vaccine is not very good, I believe even a Chinese official said so other day. This could be a big problem for UAE, Chile and Bahrain in long run.

I doubt Bahrain will be going green unfortunately. If anything there is talk of it going red which I hope it does not. I am likely going to Bahrain in coming days.

The GP is doing second doses only at the moment. I'll just tell them to keep trying

Daily data:

Cases 2,064 (2,963 last Monday)
Deaths 6 (4)
People vaccinated up to and including 24 April 2021
First dose: 33,752,885
Second dose: 12,897,123

The rolling seven day daily average is down 6.5% on the previous week. No updates to the hospital data so far. The fall in daily cases has improved over the last few days though. Total vaccinations is 46,650,008.

Late on Saturday afternoon I received a call from the GP where Mrs Wilsnunn did her vaccine saying that they had spare Pfizer and if I could get there fast, one was mine. Unfortunately I was a few hundred miles away and was gutted not to be able to race round to the surgery. I really hope that I didn't lose my place on their good list for next time they have spares...

They no longer report hospital figures.

Mrs FW went online and booked her 2nd jab 48 hours or so after having her first. That was for late May. Her GP SMS'd today offering her 2nd jab, she's now booked for this week. Interesting it's been brought forward by a month. Perhaps trying to clear as many 2nd jabs before moving onto 1st jab in the 30-40's bracket. AZ for her. My Pfizer jab is a bit more up in the air, GP said once they receive confirmation of supply then someone will call to book.

With AZ you really don't want to be too soon. The relevant section on the Protocol says "Given these data, JCVI now advise that the second dose of COVID-19 Vaccine AstraZeneca should be given between 8 and 12 weeks after the first dose." Now I have vaccinated on the minimum of 4 weeks (which was a special case) but 10 weeks is around the ideal. But yes, some GPs seems to be doing this since 2nd jabs don't get much attention in Whitehall, so long as they are done before 12 weeks.

The way it works (at least here) is that we always have enough vaccines for those who are booked, we don't assume on any DNA (did not attends) but obviously it happens. Sometimes for good reasons - such as getting a vaccine early before the booking records could be updated. But normally having a slot on the final 5 minutes is a good one to have, you'll normally be through quickly.

Blue envelopes continuing in Scotland
 

Hi,

Scotland will continue to use the blue envelopes for Covid vaccination invites

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-56887312

Regards

TBS

Good shout! The appointment would be bang on 8 weeks, the latest slot available is bang on 9 weeks so have pushed it back by a week.

If you are under 30 you will now normally be offered Pfizer / Moderna anyway. But there is an aspect for you to think about. You should always accept the first slot you are offered, and you are more likely to be offered Pfizer/Moderna on the national website rather than your doctor. But the factor to bear in mind is let's say you are offered AZ, whether you should turn it down. The UK protocol is that we give the second dose as the same vaccine as the first. But we will change vaccine type either due to a very harsh reaction to the first dose or to maintain the timetable. So today we had some people who were on 12 weeks for Pfizer dose2, we only had AZ and won't have Pfizer for the rest of the week, so we offered them AZ, talked them through the options (waiting or mixing), and they were in the end ok to mix. Other people would wait, and that's fine. But that's a decision you could ponder in the hypothetical scenario that you are offered AZ for dose 1. Personally I'd be OK with mixing, accepting that it's not the ideal outcome.