[chris j]

I didn’t have to cancel to rebook my appointment.
I just went in (followed the link in the text) and made the new appointment and the old one was automatically cancelled. Surely the system can’t be so regionally specific?

It's probably the difference in the system between being invited to rebook or going in through the nhs web page front door as it were. I'm trying to juggle my 2nd dose around everchanging offshore dates and it's kind of nerve wracking trying to decide whether to cancel the appointment in the hope it can come forward 10 days. At the moment it's bang on the 12 weeks and I don't also want it to go back another 6 weeks after, which is the alternative scenario.

[slab_happy]

As of last night, it should be fixed so you can see availability before having to cancel:

https://twitter.com/fordie/status/1405281727761711109

[slab_happy]

Btw, for anyone in Lancashire, they need more stewards:

https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/news/blackburn/19377428.call-goes-steward-volunteers-lancashire-vacccination-sites/

[chris j]

As of last night, it should be fixed so you can see availability before having to cancel:

https://twitter.com/fordie/status/1405281727761711109

Only for appointments at the same vaccination centre. If they don't have any appointments there, it then says you have to cancel before you can try your luck elsewhere...

[chris j]

Not being in a high risk group, I don't even know if there is the possibility of bringing the second appointment forward from the original 12 weeks. Does anyone know, if you call the number instead of using the website, do you get to talk to an actual human being who can make a decision based on your circumstances, or do you either interact with an automated booking system, or simply deal with an operative who is working the website?

I

[Duma]

I'm not on a high risk group, just over 40

[chris j]

Rebooked via the website.

Initial appointment was at Plymouth Argyle football stadium. System says "There are no available appointments at your chosen centre, please cancel your appointment to check availability at other centres."

Cancelled...

Please input your post code to check availability. Done...

System says "There are appointments available at Plymouth Argyle football stadium" (and nowhere else!) with a choice of about 10 dates between the end of June and mid-July. So I'm booked 2 weeks earlier at the same centre, ideally somewhere closer to Exeter would have been helpful but I'm not complaining really. But the look-up in the system doesn't quite work yet...

[James Malloch]

Skipton are inviting anyone 3 weeks after 1st jab to drop in clinics today 👍🏻

[Bonjoy]

I cancelled rebooked via the NHS booking website (having your NHS number and previous booking reference to hand makes this a very quick process).
I entered my postcode and it gave me a whole host of possible vaccination centres to choose from. I was then able to look at availabilities at all of these until i found a time and a place that best suited me. Ended up bringing it forward from the 4th July to the 21st June and at a centre some miles closer to home. There were heaps of slots available on loads of dates in the next two weeks.

[slab_happy]

National Booking Service now open to everyone over 18:

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/coronavirus-vaccination/coronavirus-vaccine/

[tomtom]

I’m quite impressed the booking/rebooking system is working as well as it is (seems to generally be doing the right thing non?) especially considering it’s got 55 million people on the books, a whole manner of different ways of getting the jab (mobile, pop up, gp, health trusts etc etc). Haven’t heard of many/any double bookings, ghost appointments etc…

Could be because it’s organised by the NHS? (Not serco…) 😁

Btw - the drive in test place at Manchester airport has moved from a nice new car park - to what is best described as a partially paved field with tents in it nearby… quite a come down. Wonder if the rent was eating into Sercos profits a bit much… MrsT got her recent test from there back in 16 hours though!

[sdm]

I’m quite impressed the booking/rebooking system is working as well as it is (seems to generally be doing the right thing non?) especially considering it’s got 55 million people on the books, a whole manner of different ways of getting the jab (mobile, pop up, gp, health trusts etc etc). Haven’t heard of many/any double bookings, ghost appointments etc…

My friends and family have had very mixed experiences with it. People's experiences seem to be a postcode and age group lottery.

I know 2 people who ended up with double bookings which seemed to be caused by them booking through the National Booking Service which was not passed on to their GP surgery who then booked them a second appointment.

One of them received their first jab with their second dose booked for a 12 week gap. They then received notification of their appointment for the duplicate first and second jabs. They tried to cancel their duplicate appointments online but it cancelled all their appointments without warning. The only available slots were then at a later date (nearly a 14 week gap) and over an hour's drive away instead of walking distance. 119 and the GP surgery both shrugged their shoulders and blamed each other.

After hearing the above story, the second person has decided not to cancel their duplicate appointments so they are still on the 12 week gap and are taking up 2 unnecessary appointments.

Significant extra driving is also a common theme. I have a mass vaccination centre and 2 pharmacies doing vaccinations within a 10 minute walk of my home but the nearest appointment I was been able to book is over an hour's drive away. There are loads of centres close by around here but I don't think any of my friends have been able to book 2 appointments without having to drive a long way.

Ultimately, most people are able to get an appointment, so from that perspective it's a success, but I think the booking system could be a lot better.

[Evil]

Rather weirdly there is actually a vaccination centre in the other side of the building my GP is in, however I am not allowed to book in there and it is not a part of the NHS website. I am not sure who it is for. It is frequently closed and made the news at one point for having to send the vaccines to other centres and closing unexpectedly (whereupon they blamed the closure on possible 'low take up by minorities'  ) so I think there are some fundamental problems not being addressed but the main centres and the NHS booking website seems to be ok. I didn't really appreciate having to wait outside 45 minutes in the rain for jab #1, but I guess that is kind of expected when they have so many people to deal with.

[erm, sam]

I rebooked for my 2nd easily and moved it forwards a week but I when I tried to do the same for my partner there were much less options despite doing it straight away. Maybe because she is Moderna but I was AZ?

[slab_happy]

I rebooked for my 2nd easily and moved it forwards a week but I when I tried to do the same for my partner there were much less options despite doing it straight away. Maybe because she is Moderna but I was AZ?

Yeah, I'd assume so. Loads of AZ around, but not all the vaccination centres have the mRNA vaccines (because of the super-refrigeration thing), and I believe Moderna's the vaccine there's least of in the UK system the moment.

(Moderna and Pfizer are damn near identical so it would make zero difference if she had Pfizer for her second jab, but that's not been officially okayed.)

[James Malloch]

Had my second Pfizer yesterday and it totally wiped me out overnight. Really sore arm and fever.

Does anyone know the deal with symptoms now? Seems like these are very common for the second jab and also now much lower down on the likely Covid symptoms list.

I’d have got a test if I felt like this last year but now it’s almost certainly the jab I think. Feeling a bit rough this morning still but think a lot of it is due to lack of sleep…

[battery]

Had my second Pfizer yesterday and it totally wiped me out overnight. Really sore arm and fever.

Does anyone know the deal with symptoms now? Seems like these are very common for the second jab and also now much lower down on the likely Covid symptoms list.

I’d have got a test if I felt like this last year but now it’s almost certainly the jab I think. Feeling a bit rough this morning still but think a lot of it is due to lack of sleep…

Sorry you're feeling so rubbish. Just plain old paracetamol helped me loads when I felt rough after the first Pfizer. Take heart in the fact that it should all be over by tomorrow.

[sdm]

I think it's quite common to feel worse after the second Pfizer than the first.

Zoe released a video and an article a week or two back about the differences in symptoms between Delta and the earlier variants.

They are also very keen for people to log symptoms on their app in the days after vaccination and the app will direct you to get tested if it thinks there's a chance your symptoms are covid rather than side effects.

If you don't have any already, you can also get free lateral flow tests posted to your home. Mine have always arrived in a day or two. Usual caveats about LFTs mostly only picking up the most infectious stages of covid apply.

[slab_happy]

I think it's quite common to feel worse after the second Pfizer than the first.

Yeah, that's a known thing. Most commonly, people feel worse after the second dose with the mRNA vaccines (Pfizer and Moderna), and after the first dose with AZ. Paracetamol and feel better soon!

[James Malloch]

Thanks all! I’ve logged it in the Zoe app and taken some paracetamol too.

May do a LFT after too.

I’m not feeling that bad this morning - it’s more that I wasn’t sure if the guidance was to isolate still until you get a proper test if you had any symptoms. But these are almost certainly due to the vaccine rather than actual infection.

Will go with the LFT and see what it says 👍🏻

[tomtom]

Lagerstarfish just messaged saying the Walk in Pfizer vacc centre at the Crucible is open to anyone over 18 and presently has no que. as of now (10:30am)

[lagerstarfish]

Still no queue
First jab or second if first was over 21 days ago
Open until 2pm

[slab_happy]

Good intel, have passed that along!

[Nigel]

Still no queue
First jab or second if first was over 21 days ago
Open until 2pm

Does anyone happen to know if this Crucible walk-in vaccine thing is happening today as well? Thanks!

[lagerstarfish]

 Not as far as I know.