Sawston health Centre

[lesj]

Went there for my Covid jab yesterday.
Have to say I was very impressed with them. VERY efficient.

From the moment I drove into the car park there was a marshall directing you to the next point.
where you were given hand sanitiser & asked the Covid questions .

You then lined up in a small queue of less than a dozen.

The next step a person placed a yellow sticker on you asked you your name and appiontment time.
A bout 2 minutes later I was ushered inside where a machine took my temperature.

Next step, I was asked my name and time again and given a ticket with my details and ushered into a waiting area ( all this was socially distanced)

2 minutes later I was was ushered in for my jab , 1 person to give me my jab and 1 person entering details on the computer & writing out a card with the vaccine suppliers name, batch number and date of injection . Card to be kept in your wallet/purse for your 2nd jab.

You were then ushered into a recovery area to sit for a 1/4hr just in case you had any ill effects from the jab. (Said to one of the staff, you are doing a lot of jabs today , 600 she replied)

Then if you were feeling O.K you were ushered out the front door and away.

Have to say this was very well organised and running like clockwork

[Jerry1971]

That's really good to hear, and mirrors the experience I had when I took my Mum for her vaccine at Clay Farm last Wednesday (sadly I'm too young, but having just turned 50 at least I get on to tier 9!).

Government has had a lot of criticism during the pandemic, some of it justifiable, but much of it media scaremongering. There really shouldn't be any concerns or criticism over the vaccination programme, it has so far been a magnificent success.

[mike_CUFC]

Yes I saw their post about vaccinating 2,000 people over the Sat/Sun/Mon earlier this week, very impressive stats. More so when you read the bungling of the EU and how they have built places to vaccinate 1,200 a day that are sitting their empty because of a lack of supplies.
Sawston Health centre is a very impressive building and they have adapted very quickly to the vaccination to so hats off to them.

[kentishu]

I also took my Mum to be vaccinated in St Neots a couple of weeks ago. Half an hour queue in freezing cold conditions and it knocked her out for 36 hours afterwards. However if it works it will have been 100% worthwhile. And I agree that the pace of the vaccination program has been impressive, is to the credit of the UK government, and in complete contrast to the total shambles of everything else in the past.

Kentish

[martin018]

So glad the Government declined to join the EU vaccine supply.
On our own we did much better 🙂

[Mark of Carnage]

Jan 31, 2021 7:18:14 GMT martin018 said:

So glad the Government declined to join the EU vaccine supply.
On our own we did much better 🙂

It certainly worked out well for us on the face of it. So far 11% of UK citizens compared to 2% EU citizens have been vaccinated. The work of the Oxford group has worked well for us and it was a gamble that paid off. Had the AstraZeneca jab not been given the green light we would have been buggered. Controlling the AstraZeneca distribution has given us leverage with getting the Pzizer vaccine in from the EU but then at the eleventh hour to dishonourably cut the promised shipment of 400m doses of AstraZeneca to 100m doses was a massive blow to the EU. I know this was due to the filtering problem at the huge AstraZeneca plant in Brussels but there are smaller plants in the UK that could have diverted vaccines to the EU so a more proportionate approach was taken to distribution. Arguably AstraZeneca were contractually obliged to do this. Morally they certainly were. Everyone knew the UK would put its own citizens first but to start vaccinating younger people in the uk when there are still huge numbers of unvaccinated over 80s in the EU is not at all neighbourly. Some would say murderous.

The EU showed their desperation when they made the huge mistake of closing the Irish border and will not forget how we treated them over this. I find this sort of behaviour by my country embarrasing. We should be taking a lead in always doing what's right and leading by example but alas perfidious Albion strikes again.

[martin018]

Surely it was up to the EU to organise their vaccine supplies earlier.
Why should we not vaccinate our own priority groups first.
We’re not talking about poor nations here but a large seemingly disorganised EU.
We were more organised and ordered before the EU.
Even ’Die Ziet’ in Germany is saying this is the best advert for Brexit.

[kentishu]

Jan 31, 2021 13:18:48 GMT martin018 said:

Surely it was up to the EU to organise their vaccine supplies earlier.
Why should we not vaccinate our own priority groups first.
We’re not talking about poor nations here but a large seemingly disorganised EU.
We were more organised and ordered before the EU.
Even ’Die Ziet’ in Germany is saying this is the best advert for Brexit.

Martin, you Brexiteers are so desperate for anything at all, no matter how tenuous, to justify the disaster that it sounds like you know you have caused, it is really pathetic.

Kentish

[Mark of Carnage]

Jan 31, 2021 13:18:48 GMT martin018 said:

Surely it was up to the EU to organise their vaccine supplies earlier.
Why should we not vaccinate our own priority groups first.
We’re not talking about poor nations here but a large seemingly disorganised EU.
We were more organised and ordered before the EU.
Even ’Die Ziet’ in Germany is saying this is the best advert for Brexit.

I agree the EU have made a pigs ear of this. I understand Germany and Italy started their own procurement early in 2020 but decided to hand it over to the EU commission who were far too slow on contracts with providers. Good move by the UK government to avoid piggy backing that arrangement though it was a gamble on our part. Nevertheless German providers BioNTech were really good about getting the Pfizer vaccine to the UK to vaccinate our over seventies. Can see why Germany is particularly miffed at the EU Commission. They will also be angry at the UK for not making up quotas for distribution of the AstraZeneca vaccine to them after they were so generous to the UK. Hasn't the Italian government fallen on this issue?

This isn't something to grandstand on. The EU are our neighbours and our friends and need our help because their people are dieing. I find the whole subject of lives in one country being of more importance than the lives in another country to be nationalism at its most sickening.

[martin018]

People are dying in all countries. The EU has been very disorganised and well behind us with every vaccine order.
I don’t think I was grandstanding but feel once our priority groups are done we could help.
Hungary is even going alone and ordering China and Russian vaccines.

[lesj]

It's a pity this thread had to turn political, it's supposed to be about Sawston Health Centre.

Could we not leave politics out of it for once??

[martin018]

My apologies.
My dad was vaccinated Haverhill last week and was very impressed and my mum is being vaccinated at Newmarket racecourse tomorrow which looked impressive on the local news yesterday.

[Jerry1971]

Jan 31, 2021 15:47:46 GMT lesj said:

It's a pity this thread had to turn political, it's supposed to be about Sawston Health Centre.

Could we not leave politics out of it for once??

I agree Les. Given that I normally relish a political discussion, particularly with Kentish and Mark (both of whom have views opposite to my own, but I respect them both greatly!), and also with Martin who more normally shares my views, but the circumstances surrounding this have for me transcended the need for a 'we're better than you' or 'the EU is a failed bureaucracy and is just a self serving jobs for the boys and girls enterprise'.

My in-laws, younger than my Mum, are both being vaccinated at Newmarket Race Course too, later this week. What is really fantastic is that it just gives me great confidence in the claims made that the NHS will be in touch with all, and in the agreed priority order. With, by this weekend, the elder generations of my family all receiving their first dose, in line (and in fact ahead, as my in-laws are both under 70) with the target Government set for itself, it makes me think that we are seeing a continued and ongoing vaccination effort and not just a good start whilst the media are interested. 600k jabs yesterday was a terrific effort.

[martin018]

Just to let you all know I know of 3 carers who had their first jab a couple of weeks ago.
They have now become Covid positive with symptoms.
Still be careful after you’ve had first jab.

[Tom Shaw's Fist of Rage]

Feb 1, 2021 11:54:54 GMT martin018 said:

Just to let you all know I know of 3 carers who had their first jab a couple of weeks ago.
They have now become Covid positive with symptoms.
Still be careful after you’ve had first jab.

Sorry if this is too political, but this is worrying given the government's preference of focusing on first jabs.

Hearing of people still getting Covid will reduce vaccine trust - thankfully we start from a relatively high base on this in the UK. And it's natural that people with one jab might take more risks, especially with the second potentially months away. Hopefully our strong procurement & production will mean that these negatives are a short term issue though.