
Before the government decided young people could be made a priority for the vaccines, I had phoned my GP to ask if it were possible for Sir to have his, and also myself as his carer, mainly spurred on by the horrendous stories in the news at the time. I was told it would be a couple of weeks for him, and that they would take my details, though no promises could be made.
I was most surprised to receive two text messages the following day inviting us to make an appointment. The first available day was today – 2nd March. I’d been told that you needed to pick up a consent form on the day of your appointment. In order to try and minimise the stress all round I again phoned the GP and asked if these could be obtained in advance (this was Friday) the receptionist said she would print them off and I could collect them that day. I took a walk up a couple of hours later. I filled the forms in over the weekend.
We arrived at the center slightly early, there were parking marshals everywhere, showing you where to park, what to do and answering questions. We were advised to wait in the car with the hazard lights on until told to go in. As it happened the queue wasn’t very long so we basically joined it straight away. The admin people inside were very efficient, social distancing very well marked out. Sir was grumpy but not too unhappy!
He didn’t want to go into the main hall. It looked a little like a brightly lit theatre – he doesn’t like theatres – and staff were in full PPE. He turned round and walked out..
One of the helpers asked if we were okay, I enquired whether they had a side room we could go in, explaining Sir’s dislike of halls. Straight away he showed us through some doors to a quieter area and offered to do our jabs there. Sir’s was done without any fuss as was mine. The gentleman then showed us a back way out to avoid crowds coming in.
I cannot fault the organisation, the staff, the guy who gave us our jab, any of it. I am especially proud of Sir! I had been worried but thankfully it went swimmingly.
So, my advice would be:
Phone and see if you can collect your consent form(s) in advance
Take distractions with you – phone, food, hand held fan, whatever works and is small enough to carry.
If you have concerns about anything, tell the staff when you go in. Certainly the people I spoke too were very helpful.
Try to stay calm ( yes I know, easier said) you can have your meltdown, cry later. If you stay calm then your young person will too.
Don’t forget your mask!
Good luck and I hope all your young folks get their jabs very soon (and the older ones!)