Vaccination priority groups

[Mowsehowse]

Great news for Caroline!
Front lineworkers such as teachers and police are hugely vulnerable, and it is vile they are expected to turn up for work with no protection.
But where is the provision for the medical staff in all this?
All the same, I shall be 70 in June, and can't help feeling like I am being left out for the wolves, and the fact remains that around 75% of our 100,000+ have been in the over 65 age range.

[Gadget]

We had ours last week (Pfizer). We are in Grp 3 (75+) but both would have been happy to give our turn up to frontline workers*  if we'd been asked.  We don't have to put ourselves on the front line every day. They do.

* including NHS, care workers, teachers, delivery people,  etc.

[John915]

Good afternoon,

I realise that for many people, vaccinating the elderly is a priority. However, I feel that perhaps the order of play is the wrong way around.

Surely the best thing for getting the country back on it's feet and industry  up and running fully would be the opposite. So all the younger age groups (under 60 say) who make up the largest proportion of the workforce should be first. Along with the keyworkers who are not in those younger age groups.

John915

[LizzieL]

Good afternoon,

I realise that for many people, vaccinating the elderly is a priority. However, I feel that perhaps the order of play is the wrong way around.

Surely the best thing for getting the country back on it's feet and industry  up and running fully would be the opposite. So all the younger age groups (under 60 say) who make up the largest proportion of the workforce should be first. Along with the keyworkers who are not in those younger age groups.

John915

How would that reduce overall hospital admissions and deaths which are much higher for older people especially those with certain medical conditions which are often also related to age?

[Marmalady]

Good afternoon,

I realise that for many people, vaccinating the elderly is a priority. However, I feel that perhaps the order of play is the wrong way around.

Surely the best thing for getting the country back on it's feet and industry  up and running fully would be the opposite. So all the younger age groups (under 60 say) who make up the largest proportion of the workforce should be first. Along with the keyworkers who are not in those younger age groups.

John915

Except most hospital and ICU beds are taken up by the elderly.
So even if you vaccinated the younger age groups and sent them back to work, the hospitals would still be struggling to cope.
Giving the elderly priority in vaccination is more to do with keeping them out of hospital than anything else

[familydar]

Ooh John you've voiced my deepest darkest fear.

As someone in group 7 I am more than a little concerned that after groups 1 to 4 have been jabbed, priorities may change and vaccinating the working population will be deemed more important than vaccinating the fit retired.

I don't have an issue with the principle but I'm getting a little fed up with the constantly changing goalposts.

In the majority of cases the vaccine will stop people getting seriously ill, but as yet none of them have been proven to stop people catching the virus and passing it on.  It worries me that a vaccinated working population will fail to maintain social distancing and my weekly trip to the supermarket will become even more stressful.

Jane :-)

[heywood]

I was discussing some of the points here with my husband on our walk. He has had both vaccinations and I had my first last week.
We both agreed that it will not change the way we conduct our lives at all. We are warned after vaccination that it is not a signal to go out and be active.
I do see how dreadful it is for those who have been in their homes since March and am thankful that we can have a walk most days.
On the other hand, I am fearful for my relatives who have to go out to work each day. They need to work, they are in education, as do others to keep us safe and provide for our needs - health, police, supermarkets, refuse collectors and so on.
Whatever groups are decided, some will feel that they are being treated unfairly. I don’t know the answer.  I think I would opt for the working population, especially now as, it seems, younger people are becoming more ill with the disease.

[PaulineJ]

I don't think that there is (yet, maybe never) any evidence that younger people are becoming more unwell than before when they contract the infection.

Hospital admission rates are still very low for them.

[Gone]

Older people have mostly followed the rules, self isolated etc to avoid catching and spreading the virus.
Not holding raves, parties, weddings with large groups of guests.
There's no doubt in my mind that vaccinating the younger population first is going to be a green light to some of them to carry on as normal and continue spreading the virus, as it appears that even when vaccinated, you can still possibly spread it.