I have prepared the next vaccination session for 9/10/11 Jan. Tomorrow Sue and I will ring those on the rota to ensure they will be available to attend and once again help with the outside work at Blackthorn. We will be marshalling at the main gate and leading patients to the registration point and after their jab we will guide them to the waiting room for their 15 mins observation time. It has worked extremely well so far over the first 6 days especially as in the press it appears there are some boroughs who have not started yet. The Govt have today proudly announced that the UK will be delivering 2 million vaccinations per week and that means that the light at the end of the tunnel will be reached. What a load of rubbish! I know our surgery is doing well but even so there is only enough waiting space to accommodate one use vaccinating at a time. In Israel they have taken over huge stadiums and are vaccinating 24 hrs a day. They already have done over 3 million.
Our doctor in charge has taken the lead from the Maidstone & Medway CCG and this next weekend they will be giving the second jab to those who came in the first week. This is despite the Govt wanting to delay second jabs until 28 weeks. The good thing about this personally is that I will receive my second jab on Friday. There is still a lot of confusion and I cannot understand why it has been left to GP surgeries to deal with all this. Surely, they could have pooled staff from all over including military medical staff and had mass vaccinations in football grounds and other large premises such as warehouses where people could have been kept warm and there was plenty of parking and waiting space. Anyway we will focus on our small role and make sure Blackthorn has all the backing we can help with.
This morning I had a 6 mile run as we will be busy later in the week and the weather isn’t looking good over the next couple of days. Today I focussed on hill climbing including our steep Vanity Hill. I managed 700 ft of elevation during the run.
Stuart rang last night, his great pal Steve B was running yesterday morning, on a footpath, when a drunk driver hit him and then ran off. Steve is in ITU and in an induced coma. They operating on a broken femur and several other breaks. Fortunately a CT scan indicates no bleed on the brain which is slightly re-assuring. The police caught the driver and he is in custody. Steve is a friend of ours as well. I have ridden a couple of sportive with him and Stuart and we are pals on Strava. I bought my first triathlon bike from him and I used it in the London World Championships in 2013. Life is so unfair, he was doing nothing wrong but was in the wrong place at the wrong time. I thoughts are with him and his young family.
Tomorrow Viv’s husband, another Steve goes into hospital for an operation we wish him well, also. Not good times I am sorry to say.