London vaccine race: NHS crackdown on clinics allowing second dose queue-jumping
As foreign travel opens up to Brits who are fully vaccinated against Covid-19, the rush to secure an early second dose is met with dwindling success in different boroughs across London.
According to the latest government data, over 1m people received a vaccine dose in the UK between Friday and Sunday, as hundreds of walk-in vaccination clinics within stadiums and shopping centres opened across the country.
The mass vaccination drive at centres where no appointment is necessary is part of the government’s “grab a jab” campaign to deliver as many first doses as possible to over-18s before the 19 July full reopening – what NHS chief Sir Simon Stevens dubbed a “race to the finish line”.
Surely the huge numbers of second doses, particularly in London, would keep health bosses at the NHS happy? Not necessarily.
A growing number of eager adults keen to get fully vaxxed and return to normality has some in the NHS vexxed.
So much so, they’re reminding a growing number of vaccine centres to turn away those who haven’t waited eight weeks since their first dose.
A 4000 member Reddit thread called GetJabbed, dedicated to sharing walk-in vaccine centre information, reveals the huge discrepancies in vaccine policy at different sites across London.
This week, the walk-in vaccination centre at Marble Arch changed its policy to 6+ weeks for a walk-in dose, according to one user’s experience.
“Marble Arch today confirmed it’s 6 weeks+ for Pfizer walk in. I was turned away at 5 weeks,” they wrote.
For another user just two days shy of 8 weeks since their first vaccine, they had even less luck:
“Ealing Update. Brentford Fountain has a sign up saying 8 weeks plus between doses – I’m two days short and got turned away after trying everything. CH House likewise and having none of it unless you are 8 weeks for second dose.”
Early bird catches the … vaccine
When the “grab a jab” mass vaccination drive began a couple of weeks ago with the aim of increasing vaccine uptake amongst Londoners, thousands of people received a first vaccine and many seized the opportunity to get a second.
Some pop-up vaccination clinics including Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium, Watford’s Vicarage Road Stadium, and the London Science Museum offered a second dose to anyone who had received their first dose more than 21 days before.
Londoner Elisangela Mendonca got her second Pfizer jab at London’s Science Museum on Sunday lunchtime, four weeks after her first.
“I had an appointment booked for my second dose after eight weeks of my first dose – which I found very weird, considering that Pfizer itself recommends 21 days,” she said.
Mendonca had seen a viral Sunday morning tweet by Guardian journalist Jim Waterson, with a tip-off for Londoners about a second dose opportunity at the Science Museum.
“I just think it’s ridiculous we have to rely on social media and other people’s experiences to figure it out,” she added.
In order to administer as many first doses as possible, the NHS is following the JCVI and government guidelines instructing an eight-week interval between the first and second dose of the Pfizer and Moderna jabs.
Evidence suggests the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine is still effective when doses are administered 12 weeks apart, but Pfizer has said it only tested the vaccine’s efficacy when the two doses were given up to 21 days apart.
Other countries are not leaving such a large gap between Pfizer doses.
As foreign travel is set to open up to those who are fully vaccinated, younger people are seeking out a second dose earlier than the government eight week guideline.
Rumours and crackdowns
The second dose information has not been shared officially, however. Instead, those who have chanced it and secured their second dose early have taken to Twitter and Reddit to share their experience and spread the word so that others could benefit.
Mendonca had seen a viral Sunday morning tweet by Guardian journalist Jim Waterson, with a tip-off for Londoners about a second dose opportunity at the Science Museum.
Although Elisangela followed the tip-off she saw on Twitter, she was one of the lucky ones. A couple of hours later, Waterson tweeted again with a screenshot of a direct message from NHS London saying the site had now been told to stop giving early second doses:
Members of the Reddit GetJabbed thread spread the word when there’s been any crackdown on giving early doses and advise at which centres or pop-ups that are no-questions-asked.
One user confirmed the Science Museum crackdown: “Proper bummed, they gave us a sticker, walked us in, and then someone higher up said no walk-ins today :(“
Another user said volunteers at Harrow’s Byron Hall had turned them down after a 27-day gap because “according to new guidance last night, there should be a minimum six weeks of gap between 1st and 2nd Pfizer doses now.”
Off Reddit, the rules seemed even murkier when Labour councillor for Watford’s Vicarage Ward Sara Jane Trebar tweeted to let her borough know about early second dose opportunities at the Watford pop-up centre:
Supply issues
Last month, the government’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) recommended that adults in the UK aged between 30 and 39 should seek an alternative vaccine to Astrazeneca, following concerns of rare blood clots.
Now that the invitation to book a jab has extended to all over-18s in England, this has put significantly more pressure on the supplies of the two main alternative vaccines – Pfizer and Moderna. Unlike the Oxford-Astrazeneca jab, these have to be imported.
Although the government has denied any vaccine shortages, analysts today told The Times that the UK doesn’t have enough Pfizer and Moderna vaccine supplies to be able to reduce the eight week interval between doses.
“It appears from the data available that Pfizer and Moderna supplies are the pace-limiting factor,” Matt Linley, an analyst at Airfinity, a data company tracking the vaccine rollout, said.
Pressure on vaccine centres
One healthcare manager in charge of the vaccine rollout in London said that different pressures on vaccine centres may explain the discrepancies across London.
Preventing individuals from getting their vaccine is rarely on a vaccine centre supervisor’s mind. But the safety of attendees and clinic staff is – especially when posts about walk-in doses go viral on social media.
“When something gets out so widely and unexpectedly, most of the individual vaccine centres aren’t sent the staff to deal with crowds,” she said.
“When you’re trying to enforce social distancing so people don’t actually get Covid at the centre, as well as figuring out what your vaccine uptake is going to be, each site has to make an on-the-spot decision to discourage massive crowds from gathering.”
In addition to the practical issues for walk-in centres as word gets out, the local GP federations that organise vaccine centres in each borough are under their own funding pressures.
Every time a person gets a vaccine, their GP federation receives an Item of Service (IoS) fee that helps then with underfunding.
But the IoS fee only gets paid out to the local federation if a vaccine is administered to the target group, hence why some vaccine appointment application forms ask if people live in the local area.
“If a 20-year-old from out of borough walks in for an early second dose at your vaccine centre at the moment, you can give them the jab, but you wouldn’t get the IoS fee,” the vaccine lead said.
“It’s a penalty system to discourage the practice – and if centres do give lots away, questions are raised about their competency to run a clinic.”
Asked about whether the central NHS guidance may change for the recommended gap between vaccine doses, a spokesperson for the NHS told City A.M: “NHS operational guidance is clear that second doses should be offered from eight weeks to ensure maximum protection, and this is in line with JCVI and government advice for people aged 40 and over.”
“The NHS is also proactively contacting those who are eligible to bring forward their jab,” they added.