It’s closing time. Where next? Can I have Pfizer please?

 

Well my jinxed journey as a modern day Jonah through the vaccination centres of Edinburgh continues. QMU drive-through in Musselburgh was my first location which closed down last summer in early June. I was redeployed to the EICC in central Edinburgh which closed its doors in September, only to reopen them in haste in December to cope with booster demand! And now Leith CTC vaccine centre is also closing and I will be redeployed to Ocean Terminal (OT) next month. While I would like to think this may be my last move I note that online OT only appears to be open until the 6th March and, as my contract comes to a close at the end of March, I may yet have one more centre to close and one more move to make.

I have regularly joked with new colleagues that once I begin to work in a new location that they should prepare themselves for imminent closure and redeployment. This no longer has the power to amuse.

My attempts to work additional hours via either my contract or via the staff bank have proved equally frustrating. I have still not had any direct feedback from NHS Lothian staff bank about my request to join beyond a generic email stating that they are very busy and that it might be quicker to arrange extra hours via my substantive post. As readers may recall I did request one extra 8hr shift per week back in December. That request has translated into me being allocated two 11 hour shifts each week of January and early February. At the time of my move to Leith I specifically rejected these long shifts as they did not much appeal, however in the interests of expediency I decided to go along with them. One issue with my new shift pattern has been that with my 11hr shift I am apparently supposed to have a 1hr unpaid break in the middle of my shift. However at Leith, while we were originally closed between 12 and 1pm, appointments have now been scheduled for these times so lunch breaks now need to be staggered and it is extremely rare to be able to get much more than 30min break in the middle of the day which makes for quite a long shift.

However it is also the case that as January has progressed the numbers attending for vaccination have gradually fallen. We no longer have queues of more than four hours thankfully. Indeed if the numbers continue to fall as seems likely, it does make sense to close some clinics and, as Leith currently has two, closing one of them makes sense. I’m less convinced that we should also be closing our vaccine sites in Pennywell and Craigmillar as these areas are likely to have lower vaccination rates and greater access issues.

We appear to be approaching some period of relative calm and stasis with this pandemic and possibly entering into the endemic phase. I hope I am not proved wrong but Omicron seems to be fading. It was highly contagious but, at least in our well vaccinated population, not too virulent. In Scotland we currently have 92% of our eligible population who have had one dose of vaccine, 86% with two and 68% boosted. These are good high figures and what remains is essentially a winding down, mop up operation to complete the vaccine take up for those still requiring second and booster doses.

At this stage no fourth dose is envisaged for the general population and, all being well, any fourth dose required is likely to be targeted, later in the year, to a still large, but more limited, vulnerable cohort of the population.

With that in mind I expect my contribution to this process to end in the spring. However, as mentioned previously, I am in the process of rejoining the NMC register for a further three years, I still intend to pursue joining the NHS Lothian staff bank if they’ll have me. I will pick up occasional vaccine shifts over the summer if they are on offer, and may working a few days a week in the autumn, if required, as part of any booster/fourth dose/flu campaign that may be undertaken.

I expect there may only be one or two more blogs left before I sign off for a wee while.

I have enjoyed my time at Leith with some excellent colleagues and many interesting patients. I will miss many things about Leith but probably not the routine, daily debates with those clients who have had access to a vaccine regime elsewhere in the world and demand a dose of Pfizer for their third or booster dose when what we are offering is Moderna. They have many, various and wonderful reasons for needing Pfizer:

  • Their constitution is weak and they can only have Pfizer

  • Pfizer is better/more effective/has fewer side effects

  • Although over 18, they are very small and need a vaccine suitable for an under 18yr old

  • Their doctor/university/parent/friend has said they must only have Pfizer

  • Another vaccinator/vaccine centre told them they should only have Pfizer

  • If I come back tomorrow/go elsewhere will I get Pfizer?

  • I had XYZ illness recently/as a child which means I can only have Pfizer

Their persistence can only be lauded even if it is somewhat wearing at times.

Anyway, enough for the time being. My next blog will carry some tales of Ocean Terminal and may contain news of where I might go next once I shut down my new vaccine site!

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