Nearly. He was sent to the same centre on one particular day of the week, but I wasn't on duty for that particular shift. It's also in the next building along from BA's Newcastle Contact Centre, so a small world.

I am happy to jab Bronze card holders, I should add!

I'm Silver can I come?

Why do you think the jabs have slowed down today only 365k?

Quick legal question, am I right in thinking the legislation for this current lockdown ends on 31st March, (I remember there was a bit of a reaction about that as it was thought it would only be to 15th February), if so to extend the travel ban to keep it illegal to travel, will it have to be put to another vote? Thanks

I'm also interested to know the answer to both of those questions too. It seems like vaccinations have slowed a bit over the past couple of days?

https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk/details/vaccinations

Seems ok.

We did over 500k a day for 3 days before the target of 15th, I just wondered if there was a massive push and many volunteers have simply now taken a bit of time off?

the current legislation has been in place since early December and includes within it tiers 1-4, we are in the pre Christmas tier 4 but with outdoor leisure removed as a reason to leave home. It’s already been extended to end of March and could be extended again - I don’t see any vote would be required for that. Within the current legislation different areas could be moved in to any of tiers 1-4. There has been some talk of replacing the tier system tho so I don’t know if some new law will be introduced to replace the current one.

There must have been a bit of a push to get the 15 million target - and I think that was legitimate, we need to set a positive spirit to encourage take up. So it wouldn't surprise me if we have a few weeks in the 350-400k area until Moderna becomes the 3rd vaccine. We don't get a lot of notice about vaccine supplies, and we sometimes get updates very late on. If we had more vaccines we could certainly run the centres for longer hours and double up the staffing quite easily. We vaccinated 1,500 today but we can do about 4,000 without straining too much.

On the politics, it depends what Boris says next week, but my expectation is that there will be at least a parliamentary debate and perhaps a motion relating to next stages sent to a vote. The focus is on education at the moment, so I'm not expecting much specific in respect to travel, or even an immediate end to lockdown, which of course prevents any leisure travel.

So it's probably a supply issue then. Good to hear there will at least be a debate so any delayed easing will get some heat. So expect to be disappointed on Monday then with no real dates about leisure travel?

Weekends are typically busier for vaccinations than weekdays - not entirely clear why as most of those being jabbed right now aren’t working age! Oddly the testing profile is the other way round.

Supply is a little bit limited too, I gather.

If any new laws that extended lockdown or made it more strict were sent to a vote, they would pass for sure I think. Because Labour is fully behind increasing and prolonging restrictions, so it wouldn't really matter how many of Boris' backbenchers were pushing for easing up unfortunately.

Thats what I wonder, a tiers system still allowed for travel in 1-3. Even if it still made things difficult with quarantine and testing, the change from "law" to "advice" in reasons to leave the country would make a massive difference.

I agree that would be good as then we could still travel but BJ has indicated we probably won't be going back to the tiers unfortunately.

well I think at least it makes internal travel for leisure possible.

as you note, there are a large number of additional hurdles now for international travel and removal of this would be just one part of it.

Another great day vaccination wise today - 482k first doses, 16k second doses. We are still averaging about 400k a day over the past few weeks, which is 2.8 million per week. Assuming Moderna comes along next month as planned, if we maintain 2.8 million per week, Groups 1 - 9 should be done by the first week of April. Even if there is a slowdown to approx. 2 million per week (which would be a large drop), we should still hit Groups 1 - 9 by mid-April.

I think the way out of this lockdown and opening foreign travel is now contingent on vaccines and not cases. It seems like other countries may only accept vaccinated travellers. At the same time, it seems like the UK government has completely shifted from 'protect the most vulnerable (Groups 1 - 4)' to protect all the priority groups/Covid-zero.

It makes sense to me to have lockdowns and restrictions continuing till all priority groups (1 - 9) have received their first jabs + 3 weeks (to get protection) - which based on current numbers lands us somewhere in April. I hope after that the government is sensible and opens up foreign borders. I think a Covid test on arrival into the UK is sensible for a few more months, but surely there is no reason after this to keep things shut.

I agree if BJ has significantly moved the goalposts now to want immunity for groups 1-9 (grrrr not what he promised in January though), if he's supposedly going to follow the data and doesn't allow an earlier roadmap than the dreadful one printed in the press yesterday then what is he doing? I noticed both the DM and Sky News are now also saying this jab target should be achieved much earlier than the end of April, they must have read my calculations lol.