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New thread about vaccine appointments


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Got rid of the old one. But it seems a good to talk about vaccines and appointments, so here it is.

Just to start off, I have my second jab tomorrow, that’s Wednesday 31st, so wish me luck. My little bird has already warned me to set the alarm!

But after the two jabs what next what can I do, am I really immune, should I have an an antibody test....?

Or does it all depend on the general popular behaviour in the end?
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That’s nothing!

Mrs G and I have appointments for vaccinations shortly at a new ‘centre’ quite close by.

When it opened last week, the local rag was trumpeting the fact that there would be 40 patients dealt with every afternoon, Mon - Fri.

Yes, forty! I reckon that at that rate, it’ll be next Pancake Tuesday before they vaccinate the 70+’s in the catchment area, let alone other age groups. And yes, afternoons only - that way, no need for a 2 hour lunch break.

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The number of vaccinations delivered per day is going up but I can't see it reaching 500,000 per day any time soon not least because of doses available in France. This is a useful site though it is not always updated daily.

According to my interpretation of that information, France has only had slightly over 12m doses of all vaccines available for arms so far. If France did achieve 500k per day, they'd have ripped through the remaining doses within a week.

Getting an appointment
We (both in our 60s) hedged our bets:
- regular contact with our MT who is young and proactive

- OH's company has a médecin du travail so he phoned and signed up there
- we used Doctorlib though never found any appointments available

- we also kept in touch with our pharmacy as she's a small business but well-connected so tho' she wouldn't be setting up to administer jabs, she'd hear about who was

The MT phoned with appointments for 10 days ago so we both had our first AZ vaccination then. Second is scheduled for 9 weeks time (phone for appt in 8 weeks).

Médecin du travail also phoned this week with offer of vaccination for next week which we declined, obvs.

The appointment
Local mairie (not ours) set up as vaccination centre. Timed appointments and from chatting in the queue they weren't all for the same time! People were turning up early for their appointments as they didn't want to miss out. No one seemed to care which vaccine they would get, just pleased it was happening at last.

- our two local MTs had separate tables + separate sides of hall + separate sets of infirmières administering injections
- brief chat with MT re vaccine, side effects, any questions, etc, and to provide carte vitale, get printout of instructions personalised to me with details of the vaccine, batch nr, etc
- queue for jab, producing cv again so the infirmière gets paid
- wait for 15 mins after jab before blood pressure was taken and we were released into the wild

It wasn't a fast process. OH and I were processed together but from sitting down with MT and leaving it was just over an hour. However, hearing about people's experiences in some parts of the UK, they don't always get issued with paperwork (though there are tales of smiley stickers being handed out - to adults!) so I do prefer France's methodical approach to delivering vaccine into arm and giving me the details.

The aftermath
- OH had a sore arm for several days but no other symptoms
- I had a sore arm + mild shivery / hot / cold symptoms for about 36 hours but not bad and more like a feverish cold than flu. I didn't need paracetamol (and ibuprofen not recommended, said MT, because there is evidence ibuprofen and asprine + similar may interfere with the reaction of the body to the vaccine. If you get a bad reaction at the injection site, take antihistamines.

The main thing I take from this is there is an element of a vaccine postcode lottery going on and if you don't want to sit and wait to be summoned, do some phoning around and express your interest in getting vaccinated as widely as possible.

@Chessie, are you a registered 'carer' for your OH? If so, I know some carers (who are simply 'present' in the home as opposed to actually hauling their partners in and out of a wheelchair, for eg) are prioritised.

Congratulations to anyone who's read this far. Have a sticker. [kiss]

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Two MT's giving the vaccines?

Somehow this all beggars belief.

Was there really not a general callout for retired Drs and Nurses and anyone medical to help. Aren't the army medical teams working all over the country.

Yes, next Pancake Day IF you are lucky.

NH kindly gave a link to Johns Hopkins and as I imagined in the UK we now have a higher percentage of people with both vaccinations than France, so that didn't work, as you cannot have the second dose without having had the first, first.

A friend who is just 50 had their first one on Saturday and the next in June, and their friends are complaining that it is hard to get an appointment, and one has to keep on trying, even here it isn't so easy, but if a fifty year old, 'just' can have one, then the system is working.

The thing is that there are never just TWO doing it. Even in the pharmacie I went to there were at least 8 people just vaccinating, the place is not big, an area cordoned off and makeshift changing room type places installed. Upon entering there was one person taking names and a Dr of some sort asking a few questions, not a questionnaire......... and I was in and out in 10 mintues, even there, they will be getting through getting on for 50 an hour.

Silly question but it isn't it about time that those of you living in France started giving elected officals hell. Write to your Deputes, the Minister of Health, your local councellors, the Prefecture, the Conseil Regional, as well as you local papers.

Many of these officials are very well paid to DO THEIR JOBS and they are not. IF everyone wrote, then how could they ignore the mescontentment in the country?

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Catalpa, we were issued with a pamphlet, explaining about side effects, what to do, and we were told not to take other than paracetamol too. The Doctor I spoke to mentioned that as they gave me the pamphlet. I have my card saying I have had the jab and my next appointment date.

So YES, even in backward NE England, everything was VERY methodical, and more importantly they were just getting on with their jobs. There was absolutely nothing unprofessional about any of this.
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[quote user="idun"] Two MT's giving the vaccines?  [/quote]
Yes? And?

They are the two 'resident' MTs from the immediate locality, supported by local infirmières, providing vaccinations in an easily accessible place for those of their patients who qualified.

Judging by the number of A4 laminated centres de vaccination signs I see popping up in even small villages (pops <500) plenty of MTs are doing something similar, particularly at weekends.

It is not ideal, of course, but that's the way - France being generally vaccine resistant for reasons we've previously covered - it's being done here at the moment. Bear in mind not everyone drives and with public transport being sparse in rural France (not to mention not entirely advisable in the current circs) it's better than only using large vaccination centres.

I'm most appalled by the abysmally small quantities of vaccine that are being delivered across the EU.

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John Lichfield, who used to be the Independent's France correspondence (in the days when the Independent was worthwhile) and has been a French and Europe commentator for years.

He now does a round up of Covid and vaccinations in France generally, twice a week via Twitter. Even if you're not on Twitter, I think you can still read his contributions. They're invariably concise, factual, blunt and worth reading. This is today's.

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It’s really good news that so many of you are now receiving your vaccinations in France - so many friends and neighbours there haven’t heard anything yet.

Or GP surgery has been running 2-4 vaccination sessions since January, 400 vaccinations at each session, for their group practice and other local practices.

They use the surgery on Saturdays and also had the use of the Salvation Army hall during the week so that as many normal appointments could continue as possible in the surgery.

Our surgery is about a 10 minute walk from our home, so a pleasant stroll before and after for many.

My husband and I had first jabs in the SA hall, a chance to see inside their lovely modern building, where 8 GPs and nurses were busy. We received our card with details of which vaccine (OAZ) and batch, sat for 15 minutes and returned home.

The atmosphere was celebratory, as many of the patients hadn’t been out of their homes since last March, although I doubt that many of the 75+ year-olds were planning doing anything other than continuing to be sensible.

On Saturday we had our second jabs in the surgery, with 10 GPs and nurses giving them, our cards were then updated (I’ve since laminated ours), we sat gor 15 minutes and came home.

Note - no badges were used in these operations. Actually, I think that badges were probably a good idea, visible proof to others that some of the people they passed on the way home or at the shops had been vaccinated - a type of personal advert. ?

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Congrats Wooly !

No appointments available here either and you all know where we are.  If you meddle with the site, you can often pull up AZ appointments FAR from where we live, but usually by the time you try to book them, they are gone.  Some Pfizer or Moderna appointments can be seen if you are in the medical provider category. 

I'm not yet eligible, so I just wait.

We do have our prescriptions for the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine from our MT.  So, at least we've got that..

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I was told, by someone who knows, that calling the 0800 number, and saying that you would like the first available vaccine anywhere in your department, is faster and easier than other methods. I just phoned, and have a RDV for myself and Mr Betise, for the Pfizer on the 21st April. Admittedly it is an hour's drive away, but I'm happy.
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Catalpa, have I misread or do you seem to be  defending how this is being dealt with.

I do know about rural France, had enough friends who lived nulle part. And the government knows about rural France too. Two Drs giving the jabs simply is not enough, even with the local nurses perhaps helping out, you also have pharmacies and surely there are still some small local hospitals or clinics with staff who could be ferried about.

There is nothing to recommend such a system during a pandemic. AND it gives time for this awful thing to mutate even more when governments are dragging their feet.

AND getting the sputnik jab. Well, all the furore about the AZ and yet Merkel and Macron are hoping Putin will help out. Is it safe? how can any of us know the true figures about side effects, efficacy etc from Russia. It is one that I would not want. And yet, it may be fine. BUT a country who deals with perceived traitors with novichock does not instil confidence.

EDIT

I did mean to say that I am glad that there is some vaccinations being done where you live, but it simply sounds like it is just too little.

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[quote user="idun"]Catalpa, have I misread or do you seem to be  defending how this is being dealt with. [/quote]
Misread? Or did you not read at all?

I stated clearly (well, I thought it was clear and unambiguous)...

[quote]I'm most appalled by the abysmally small quantities of vaccine that are being delivered across the EU. [/quote]
So, to clarify:
I am definitely defending the efforts of people like our two MTs and their team doing their best in these current circumstances. Of course it's bleddy obvious that two doctors doing the vaccinations just for their patient lists is not enough even with similar efforts being replicated across this rural region. But that's how it is. And from the sound of it, there are plenty of over 60s elsewhere in France who'd be grateful for that level of effort - Judith's OH being one, I suspect.

As I outlined earlier, we're both mid-60s yet in the last 3 weeks we've been offered two appointments from different sources for our first vaccination.

What I am not sure you are grasping even now is there are two steps to a successful vaccination program. One is the infrastructure to administer the vaccine but that is dependent (obviously!) on the availability of doses of vaccine. France and other EU countries do not have the latter - not compared to the UK, Israel, etc.

The EU's purchasing / ordering strategy was wrong. I damn them for that though hindsight is 20/20 and similar clichés. France's vaccination roll-out made a three-legged tortoise look hyperactive but the EU's / France's delivery of the vaccines from suppliers has been unreliable. For that, as I've said elsewhere, I trust at some point OAZ will be held accountable for over-promising and persistently under-delivering to the EU and other countries. The whole world is looking for vaccines and the UK, after its appalling management of the pandemic pre-vaccine, has struck lucky with its vaccine purchase plan and investments. And for that, Matt Hancock thanked the script writers of 'Contagion'.

Unless the vaccine delivery - ie, orders fulfilled - improves across the EU, not just France, infections and deaths are not going to diminish. Yes, large pharmacies and small hospitals could no doubt be mobilised but for what? I say again - there isn't the volume of vaccine doses available across France to make it worthwhile at this time. Your idea of taking large pharmacies and small hospitals off line when there are few vaccines to administer would just further cripple the 'normal' delivery of non-CV health care - which, I'm happy to say, is still taking place in this region.

The need for larger centres in rural areas may change from 16 April (though logistical challenges of getting rural arms to centres won't) when the Janssen (J&J) vaccine starts fulfilling orders and that vaccine requires one dose only to be effective. The downside is the predicted efficacy which is substantially below that of P-BNT, Moderna and OAZ.

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What I can’t understand is why France hasnt got plants making the vaccine under licence, or is the problem that the raw material is difficult to make reliably so production of that rema8 s in the hands of Ox/ Pfizer etc.

I see that a huge load of J and J vaccine was dumped yesterday because the ingredients were messed up.

Back to the garden!
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Catalpa, yes, I did add that I think it good that your Drs are doing something as it appears  others are in your area.

The logistics of this, I agree, have been so poorly thought out and royally messed up, by bungling idiots,.........

...........strange, that last bit was all too often what Boris was being called.[Www] And maybe well be again at some point, who knows!

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[quote user="anotherbanana"]What I can’t understand is why France hasnt got plants making the vaccine under licence, or is the problem that the raw material is difficult to make reliably so production of that rema8 s in the hands of Ox/ Pfizer etc.

I see that a huge load of J and J vaccine was dumped yesterday because the ingredients were messed up.

Back to the garden![/quote]

Well, Macron did say that he was going to get 3 plants here in France producing the Pfizer.  Said they had all the requisite licences, also that they would be ready end of March, beginning of April.

Now it's beginning of April and he has said nothing further about the new plants.....not that I believed him, I was waiting to see if it actually happened.

As a bit of further info, Pfizer has now said they could produce the vax by themselves, without help from Biontech.  Said they'd learned how to do it and said they hoped to speed up production and increase supply.

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So, Macron told porkies. Not surprised really. Yes, Mint, I remembered that. I guess Pfizer too want to escape the clutches of the Germans and Europeans, especially as the Brits make to one key product without which they cant make their vaccine. Eye of newt or toe of frog or something!?
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[quote user="anotherbanana"] Eye of newt or toe of frog or something!?[/quote]

Who knows really !

But, I do love your sense of humour.  Truly.  It is especially nice when you (me) are so sick of this crap and your mood has dropped to the lowest possible level.  You have to laugh.  When all is so not funny, you simply have to laugh.

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