How would you prioritise the vaccine schedule?

[scifisam]

The current UK schedule looks OK to me, for the most part. I'd also like to say that it's been decided by medics with more information than I have, but politics will have affected what the medical experts actually advise. And many countries have different priority lists, so it obviously isn't set in stone.

OK, for me, I'd go:

1) Healthcare workers who work face to face. With a 1a) for HCW who have pre-existing conditions. Not much point sending people to hospital with staff who might infect them

2) Care home residents (The staff should count under number 1)

3) People who have to attend hospital in person within the next three months (because it takes a while for the vaccine to be effective after its two doses). With 3a) being those of any age with pre-existing conditions, 3b) being those over 80 who have somehow made it that long, need to go to hospital, and still don't have any pre-existing conditions

4) Teachers and other face-to-face education employees, social workers, police, and care workers who don't count as health care workers (like support workers). Again with 4a) for anyone who has a pre-existing condition, and 4b) For those who don't

5) Everyone over 70 who doesn't already fall into the other groups

6) Students of any age attending courses that have to be delivered in-person, with a 6a) for students who have a pre-existing condition

7) Face-to-face workers in other sectors such as shop workers and hospitality workers, with the usual 7a) for workers with a pre-existing condition(this could be swapped with number 7, but universities seem to be major vectors, so I'd put them first)

8) Everyone of any age with a pre-existing condition

9) People over 60 who aren't already in the above groups

10) Everyone else

By pre-existing condition I mean one of the ones usually listed as making covid more likely to have serious effects.

It bumps me down the list, but since I can work from home, I think it's more important that people who actually have to work with the public should be ahead of me in the list. Anyone with my health conditions who still has to work with the public would be ahead of me in the queue. And anyone with really terrible health conditions, like cancer, would be likely to be in group 3.

I don't think it would be that hard in terms of administration because it's largely based on work sectors. Plus it does seem important to me to keep schools open, but not by putting the staff at risk.

 

[8ball]

1) Me first
2) Whatever

 

[Ted Striker]

1. Glastonbury tickets holders and staff
2. Probably NHS or something
3. Everyone else

 

[krtek a houby]

anti-vaxxers first

 

[rubbershoes]

Politicians last

 

[SpookyFrank]

Police aren't essential workers, or even workers, and can fuck off to the bottom off the list.

 

[LDC]

1) Healthcare and social care workers.
2) Patients currently in hospital or attending for appointments.
3) Over 75 year olds.
4) Essential/key workers.
5) Clinically extremely vulnerable of any age (people shielding).
6) Over 65 year olds.
7) Over 55 year olds.
8) Everyone else.

Something like that. Maybe 4) and 5) the other way round. Hopefully some of those could be done at pretty much the same time.

 

[beesonthewhatnow]

anti-vaxxers first

Yes

 

[farmerbarleymow]

anti-vaxxers first

Why waste vaccinations on those idiots? Let them catch it and regret their stupidity.

 

[SpookyFrank]

Why waste vaccinations on those idiots? Let them catch it and regret their stupidity.

Give them the dummy jab that's just sugar water, microchips and autism.

 

[Buddy Bradley]

sugar water, microchips and autism.

The cornerstone of any nutritious breakfast.

 

[William of Walworth]

Noticing that scifisam 's list relegates people with underlying conditions from a higher place in the official priority list (see below) down to no. 8.

LynnDoyleCooper 's category no. 5, seems only to cover people with the severest conditions.

For comparison, here is the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisations (JCVI)'s list (Source) :

This priority list is as follows :
1. residents in a care home for older adults and their carers
2, all those 80 years of age and over and frontline health and social care workers
3. all those 75 years of age and over
4. all those 70 years of age and over and clinically extremely vulnerable individuals [footnote 1]
5. all those 65 years of age and over
6. all individuals aged 16 years to 64 years with underlying health conditions which put them at higher risk of serious disease and mortality
7. all those 60 years of age and over
8. all those 55 years of age and over
9. all those 50 years of age and over

That page was 'Updated 3rd December' though, I have no idea whether the new strain, or any other factor, might affect their priorities .....

 

[Badgers]

All key workers
Old folk
Families
Other people
Prisoners
Tories

 

[William of Walworth]

All key workers
Old folk
Families
Other people
Prisoners
Tories

I see a flaw in that list -- the Tories are on it

 

[frogwoman]

Prisoners need to be quite high up the list I'd have thought.

 

[platinumsage]

For the next pandemic I hope they invent a device that allows people to self-administer the vaccine, then you just need Royal Mail to do their thing and the rollout will only take a few days.

 

[campanula]

No idea...but I am baffled why absolutely vulnerable people who are still having to work are not higher than older people who have a choice about isolating (because they are not likely to be evicted)...and I admit, watching some 101 year old woman getting one made me gnash my gums..
But obvs, I am speaking from my own frantic viewpoint here.

 

[Badgers]

Prisoners need to be quite high up the list I'd have thought.

1. Everyone
2. Tories

 

[nyxx]

OK, for me, I'd go:

1) Healthcare workers who work face to face. With a 1a) for HCW who have pre-existing conditions. Not much point sending people to hospital with staff who might infect them.

I thought we didn’t have any data yet on whether the pfizer vaccine that’s going out now gave ppl sterilising immunity - ie the benefit of the vaccine is not developing Covid-19 - but you could still catch the sars-cov-2 virus and shed it?

 

[LDC]

No idea...but I am baffled why absolutely vulnerable people who are still having to work are not higher than older people who have a choice about isolating (because they are not likely to be evicted)...and I admit, watching some 101 year old woman getting one made me gnash my gums..
But obvs, I am speaking from my own frantic viewpoint here.

I agree. I personally think care and nursing home residents should be further down the list. I think they're not as some political consolation from the first wave being so devastating (and fucked up) in those institutions.

 

[Cloo]

1) Over 80s, care workers and health workers
2) Pre-existing-conditions having-people
3) Anyone else whose job has to be face-to-face - teachers, essential retail
4) Over 70s
5) Secondary school kids
6) Everyone else

 

[campanula]

I agree. I personally think are care and nursing home residents should be further down the list. I think they're not as some political consolation from the first wave being so devastating (and fucked up) in those institutions.

Yep, I think this is exactly so. But I am uncertain that Covid is necessarily a death sentence just because someone is old whereas my 32 year old D.i.L (currently relying on gamma globulin type weekly injections with no choice re.WFH because she is a nursery teacher) has a very bleak outlook indeed, if infected. Moreover, it seems a better idea (to me) that vaccinations for those who have to be 'at large' would benefit us all in terms of achieving some sort of general immunity.
But then again, the original 'shielding' group seem to have been somewhat ignored, since the initial March levels of support

 

[weltweit]

At the moment I think I am in category 8 ..

In your listing Cloo I move up to category 6 so I am all for it

 

[8ball]

For the next pandemic I hope they invent a device that allows people to self-administer the vaccine, then you just need Royal Mail to do their thing and the rollout will only take a few days.

I don't think they would try that due to the inevitable compliance and competence issues.

 

[8ball]

Police aren't essential workers, or even workers, and can fuck off to the bottom off the list.

They are essential workers under easily foreseeable circumstances, but regardless, many of them regularly deal with vulnerable groups.

 

[Buddy Bradley]

I personally think care and nursing home residents should be further down the list. I think they're not as some political consolation from the first wave being so devastating (and fucked up) in those institutions.

I disagree - I would assume that they are further up the list because their mortality rate from the virus is so high. While frontline healthcare workers might be at higher risk of catching it, they're at far lower risk of dying from it.

 

[LDC]

I disagree - I would assume that they are further up the list because their mortality rate from the virus is so high. While frontline healthcare workers might be at higher risk of catching it, they're at far lower risk of dying from it.

Yeah, but I'd mitigate for that by making care and nursing homes more secure with regular testing for staff etc. Residents are basically isolated anyway, healthcare and key workers have to go to work. I don't think there's a right answer though. It's not just as simple as personal mortality risk from infection though, there's other factors at play like keeping essential services running. I expect some modelling could be done that shows more lives will be saved by keeping the NHS staffed through reducing sickness rates with vaccination for example.

 

[Cloo]

Yeah, sad to say, if you can still give people corona after the vaccination, it does seem as those who aren't mobile, eg those in care homes, should perhaps be further down the queue as they are a limited vector for infection, although there still remains the issue that they could still catch it from vaccinated carers.

NB, I still think we need major publicity on explaining what it actually means and that we can't just go back to normal with vaccinated people straight away as I'm sure a lot, maybe most, people don't understand that this doesn't instantly make things fine.

 

[LDC]

Also, and possibly controversially, I think the vaccine should be compulsory for healthcare and social care workers.

 

[SpookyFrank]

Teachers are apparently also going to be frontline healthcare workers as of next week, I wonder if they'll get bumped up the queue accordingly.