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Author Topic: Take the bus (or train) for you vaccination appointment  (Read 5480 times)
grahame
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« on: January 29, 2021, 07:53:52 »

Buses and trains are part of the solution - YES, you may take the bus or trains to get to vaccination centres, some of which are being set up out of town.  Masks must be worn, social distancing observers, etc, on the buses and at public transport access points.  See your invite for details of when and where to  go ... and local publicity for how to get there.

THANK YOU to the bus operators and their paymasters for helping get people to the centres.



Lots more centres being announced.  Shuttle buses to places like Bath Racecourse are in place.  Please note that the Salisbury center is in the town centre (at City Hall, I believe) and NOT at the Racecourse as reported in some places.

Forum members welcome to follow up with their area / local details.
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« Reply #1 on: January 29, 2021, 08:31:13 »

Salisbury seems to have a second vaccination centre at the cathedral.

From https://www.englishcathedrals.co.uk/latest-news/another-vaccination-centre-salisbury/

Quote
Salisbury Cathedral is the second cathedral to become a Covid-19 vaccine centre when it open its doors today (Sat 16) – and its patients are in for a treat.
For music will be provided throughout the day on the cathedral’s famous Father Willis organ thanks to the cathedral’s Director of music, David Halls, and assistant director, John Challenger.
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Marlburian
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« Reply #2 on: January 29, 2021, 09:44:54 »

Yesterday I initiated a long thread on my Nextdoor (neighbourhood) website by announcing I had just received a letter from the NHS directing me to its website to book my jab. The nearest place was near Marlow Station, 18 miles away, followed by High Wycombe (22 miles), Slough, Oxford and Guildford. I can get by train from Tilehurst to Marlow in an hour. But I thought it odd that I wasn't being offered a closer site.

Six hours later I got a text from my surgery with a link that enabled me to book an appointment ten minutes' walk up the road tomorrow morning at 0850!

Some of my neighbours had received the same letter a day or two or three before me and a few had already been to Marlow. One had even travelled to Aylesbury. A couple had subsequently received the text message inviting them to a local centre.

A touch of left hand, right hand, I thought.
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Lee
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« Reply #3 on: January 29, 2021, 09:45:22 »

Our nearest vaccination centre is in the middle of Guingamp so very do-able by train. My wife meets the criteria so can expect to be vaccinated very soon, whereas it is likely to be quite a while for me.
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rogerw
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« Reply #4 on: January 29, 2021, 10:50:38 »

Some areas have removed restrictions on the use of bus passes for a period to facilitate travel to vaccination centres.
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« Reply #5 on: January 29, 2021, 11:05:59 »

Go-Ahead in Swindon (Swindon's Bus Company) and the Isle of Wight (Southern Vectis) have no need to run additional services as the vaccine centres are on existing routes.   However they have been drawing attention to the services on Twitter.
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IndustryInsider
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« Reply #6 on: January 29, 2021, 11:16:28 »

I've seen far more elderly people on the trains the last few weeks, no doubt many are heading for a vaccination.
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« Reply #7 on: January 29, 2021, 11:23:31 »

A touch of left hand, right hand, I thought.

I can see reasons why this might be likely, if not inevitable. Assuming the coordination between local GPs and the hastily set up centres is a matter for IT, how long would that take? The organisers may face a choice of "do we get stuck in as soon as some doses turn up, or do we wait for ... however long an NHS IT provider's promised two weeks turns out to be"? I think the official policy on this kind of issue is JFDI (just flipping do it (polite version)).

But no-one seems to want to explain the implications of delivery to the deltoid ASAP. That applies also to reports of vaccinators with no vaccine: isn't this (in part anyway) "by design"? The idea is for the rate of injections to be determined by the production rate from the factories. That means that all the downstream steps must match at least that predicted capacity, and reliably so. And there are a lot of  those steps that could, if something goes wrong, hold back the rate - as well as production, as we have seen.

So in practice the best you can do is to size the whole chain at maximum possible production plus a significant margin Then when reality is a bit less (or a lot less) than that maximum foreseen several months ago, most of that extra capacity will be idle (or doing their day job, in the case of GPs). The alternative is to have vaccines having to wait - perhaps a long - time before being used.

But, going back to the local coordination question, it should be possible to do better, by other means if IT was the issue.
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Bus_Lady
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« Reply #8 on: February 02, 2021, 04:43:33 »

WECA» (West of England Combined Authority - about), Somerset, Wiltshire have now all removed restrictions allowing travel to vaccination hubs in the South West. I know Surrey has too, might be other counties too.

We need methods of public transport to get to the hubs. Most are or should be only accessible by bus. As far as I am aware the only vaccination centre with a poor bus service in the is Taunton race course which is served by a 3hourly bus or a bus that drops about 20minutes away which isn't suitable for older people and the disabled especially in weather conditions of winter.
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« Reply #9 on: February 02, 2021, 06:50:41 »

As usual, it is the IT question. Private IT providing the Covid IT system. Almost certainly does not connect to the GP systems (not a lot does). Being NHS I had mine locally, although it was noticeable the draught on the buses with all the windows open when you go out of town. I must admit my organisation is running a very slick system, they are doing all the NHS staff in Berkshire, as well as care homes. Just got to wait to see if EU» (European Union - about) allows my second jab.
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« Reply #10 on: February 24, 2021, 06:42:07 »

I had my first vaccine jab yesterday.

Initially I had some problems with finding transport. I was put on the Clinically Extremely Vulnerable list last week and so wanted to avoid trains and buses. I'm sure the operators are doing their utmost to keep vehicles/carriages clean but it only takes one person with symptoms to touch a hard surface that you touch soon after for transmission to occur.

I'm without a car at the moment. I was resigned to using public transport to get from Templecombe to Morrisons car park in Yeovil for my jab. That was until I reached out on Facebook and someone suggested Community Transport. I got in contact with them in Wincanton and they suggested trying to re-book my jab for Bruton Community Hall, which is in their area of operation. I was able to do that re-booking on Monday 22nd with an appointment for the following day, Tuesday 23rd.

Community Transport were able to cover that date and time. The only cost to me was £10 membership to South Somerset Community Accessible Transport. The fares for trips to vaccine centres are being covered by Somerset County Council.

The friendly driver arrived on time, sanitised all hard surfaces and handholds before I boarded, questioned me about symptoms and checked my temperature. I was the only one on the minibus, and he explained that, whilst they can seat 16, they're only carrying a maximum of 4 people at any one time at the moment.

The vaccine itself at Bruton Community Hall was quick, efficient, and painless. I was in and out in 5 minutes. Top marks to the staff of Bruton Pharmacy who are running the centre. And praise to the Community Hall volunteers too. Further praise for the NHS and local authorities for their logistical efforts. I'm glad the vaccine delivery programme has been largely kept out of private hands. It would undoubtedly have been another expensive fiasco, like Test & Trace. The best folk for a mass public health programme are most definitely the NHS and councils.

Whilst the jab itself was painless, I have been experiencing some side effects. I've got a headache and muscle aches at the moment. Also feeling a little nauseous. Mild effects, treated with paracetamol. I guess that's just my body doing its job alongside the vaccine. Anyone else experienced side effects?
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rogerw
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« Reply #11 on: February 24, 2021, 08:51:56 »

I too have been impressed with the efficiency of the operation.  My jab was given at a local chemist, a short bus ride or hilly walk away. I chose to drive combining it with a shopping trip and thus using the supermarket car park. I am fortunate that I have suffered no side affects but the leaflet I was given listed a number of side affects which could be suffered by about 1 in 10 people. Sorry, BNM, you must have been one of the other 9. Side affects also vary by the vaccine used. I was given the Oxford one.
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grahame
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« Reply #12 on: February 24, 2021, 10:03:53 »

Anyone else experienced side effects?

Had ours (Lisa and I) a week ago. Qualified on age. Very efficient indeed - whole process - booking and then at Spencer's Sports and Social Club here in Melksham. No medical side effects (sorry you have had some, BNM, but small price, I think!) - but in sitting there for 15 minutes after the injections, I did get to start thinking about something ... which (being transport related) will be subject of a new thread ...
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« Reply #13 on: February 24, 2021, 10:25:34 »

Wife and I went to the Bath & West showground hub so public transport (on a Sunday) was not really feasible. We went there as we got quicker appointments and it was an opportunity to "go somewhere !".  Very slick operation, someone had obviously thought about how to do it properly.....and they got it 100% right. We drove there and back in a mini blizzard, very scenic but the roads were OK. We both had the Oxford vaccine, wife had a sore arm and nothing else, I felt slightly under the weather for a couple of days but that may not have been the vaccine anyway.
One slight downer - the vaccine centre was in the main bar at the showground.......it was closed !!!
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« Reply #14 on: February 24, 2021, 12:12:22 »

Yes, had my first early February - the Oxford one.
I always have side effects from all jabs!  Just felt yuck for 36 hours and a very sore arm.
Again, paracetamols helped.
One of my work colleagues felt absolutely frozen for half a day or so.  Just couldn't get warm at all, so no sleep that night.
Again, we're both fine now and back working.

I drove to my centre - 10 miles away.
My colleague was at his local surgery, just down the road.
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