The BFD | Letter from the North

8th February 2021

Well, I received the command and turned up for my COVID-19 vaccination yesterday. On arrival, marshals checked my credentials and my appointment time and directed me to the car park. I joined the queue, and everyone was socially distancing. So far so good. Unfortunately, we were queuing outside, and the temperature was 3 C. The queue was in the open and on top of a hill with strong winds blowing in from the moors. With a wind chill factor, it was about -3 C. Most of the queue comprised elderly folk and some had walking sticks and Zimmer frames. By the time they had progressed to the front of the queue 35 minutes had elapsed, and the effect of standing in the cold for this length of time had left some quite distressed.

They fared better than people in Plymouth. The centre there was at Plymouth Argyle’s football ground and the queuing time was 90 minutes, again outside and with a temperature of 0 C.

This is typical of the UK. They had made a brilliant job of organising the roll-out and getting large numbers vaccinated, with the army providing much of the logistical support. The problem is in the final delivery, which they leave up to local jobsworths to organise. No one had the thought or the authority to organise windshields or keep people in cars and notify them when it was their turn, as the bad weather had been forecast for a week. (News flash, it has just been disclosed that at one centre in Lochgelly, Fife, a woman collapsed with hypothermia).

Anyway, once inside it was quick and easy, then a 15-minute wait before driving home. I developed a bit of a headache and a slight weakness which went after a night’s sleep. Today I have no side effects. Others however have been incapacitated for two or three days. The vaccine was the Astra/Zeneca one and I will have the second shot in 12 weeks’ time.

Because of the perishable nature of the vaccine any left over at the end of the day has resulted in non-urgent patients receiving the inoculation. This makes absolute sense until one hears how this has been allocated. A quick phone call to a mate, and a mate’s mate has resulted in low priority patients getting the vaccine. This has been evident in large numbers of police, teachers and council workers etc jumping the queue. The principle of not wasting the vaccine is of course right, but how they organise the use of it leaves a lot to be desired.

In another glimpse of life in post-Brexit Britain there have been major hiccups (or deliberately induced EU super officiousness) in the supply of goods from the UK to the EU. This has resulted in uproar as Marks and Spencer’s in Paris ran out of custard creams, and Fortnum and Masons have stopped supplies to France as the paperwork has become too difficult.

Meanwhile up in Scotland the Daily Record reports: –

Rutherglen police officers are being probed by their own colleagues for staging a lockdown-breaching bash that ended with one of them being arrested.

One officer has been charged over an alleged assault during the gathering on Saturday night.

And several colleagues are under investigation for breaching lockdown rules on indoor gatherings at a £300,000 semi-detached home in Rutherglen.

A female officer has appeared in court accused of attacking a male colleague at the four-bedroom home.

All the police officers present are now being probed by top brass for potential Covid-19 regulation breaches.

It is understood that people from at least three households were present at the gathering – despite lockdown rules which ban all social visits to people’s homes.

But the gathering has infuriated other officers, who say it will make their job harder.

One police whistleblower told the Record: “We are under a lot of pressure having to work through the pandemic and we are all worried about the virus and anxious as to when we will get the vaccine.

“We all feel the need to blow off some steam, but the regulations are there for a reason and none of us are above the law.

“How they thought this was acceptable, never mind a good idea, is beyond belief.

“They’re making a mockery of the force and it sends a terrible message to the public.”

Neighbours revealed that officers had carried out door-to-door enquiries in the street in the wake of the bash.

And one said they were “disgusted” when they found out what the investigation was about.

Police Scotland yesterday confirmed they attended the house after a report of an assault.

Chief Superintendent Andrew McDowall said: “A 31-year-old woman was arrested and charged in connection with the incident, which took place on Saturday, January 30.

The officer was released from custody on Sunday after being detained, charged, and ordered to appear in court the following morning, where she pled not guilty to an assault charge.