Covid vaccine

I'm not an anti-vaxxer; if it can stop me feeling worse than I do then I'll take it... flu jab, measles, shingles and covid; I'll take them all, although I still need to sort out my shingles one (having had chickenpox at 47 and knowing how rough it made me I don't want to go through how it made me feel again which I'm told shingles would do). Maybe I'm wrong to do so, who knows, but I know that I've had flu and it's not nice; I like to think my flu jab helped me deal with it a little easier. Usually I am quite good; I have a good immune system but anything I can do to give it a boost I will do.

I kept checking, after I'd sorted my Mums out for her (being an oldie she gets to have hers earlier) to see when I was able to have my booster, back in October last year. Finally I got a message to say I could book so I got online looking for an appointment. Jeez, I've had more luck getting Take That tickets than I did finding one I could make. The nearest place to me was 6.2 miles away but they were only offering week day appointments, but not Tuesday afternoons which is the one day of the week I would be able to get some itme off. Eventually I found one for the end of October at a town 9 miles away; it's near a garden centre we like to visit so I thought we'd fit a coffee and some plant buying in at the same time. The day before the appointment I recieved an email telling me the appointment was cancelled. There was no reason giving (as you can see by the photograph below). Since then I have made 5 more bookings - 2 at the original place, 1 at another and 2 at another (which is closer to me, has great parking and is easy to get to). All of the others meant I would have to take time off work but so be it; I wanted to get vaccinated and that was the only way too. Bookings 2, 3 and 4 all gave me a days notice with the cancellation. Booking number 5 was for today at 4.55pm. I received email and text confirmation for it. 

The very next day after booking I recieved my 5th cancellation email; all have been identical. I looked online at the venue and saw they were still offering them for today (I assume they didn't want to work later) and was able to book one for an hour earlier at 3.55pm. Because of traffic at that time of day, and getting to the place I had to close my shop at 3pm. Oddly (and unheard of) a journey which usually takes 35-45 minutes, took me 20 and I found myself with 35 minutes to spare, so there I sat, in my car, in amost freezing temperatures (I couldn't feel my toes after 5 mins) until just 6 minutes before my appointment time (I wasn't far from the entrance). I got out of the car, walked across and before entering the building I thought I'd get the booking reference up on my phone so I was ready and good-to-go when I got in there. As I opened my email app a new email came through, timed at 15:49 telling me...? Yep, you've guessed it... I had received the standard "your appointment has been cancelled email". I was at the entrance to the building; I'd closed my shop, taken time off, sat in the freezing cold for them to cancel on me just SIX minutes before I was due to be jabbed. I'd gone so beyond being angry; livid, fuming, raging, none of those come close to just how angry I was feeling. 

I think our NHS is one of the best things about this country - at least it used to be until they split everything into different trusts with board members; it's gone downhill steadily ever since, but today, I wasn't singing their praises. I know they are understaffed and underfunded but they have staff sitting there sending out constant reminders to book a jab (even when I've had them booked) and they equally have staff to send me the cancellation) but this government are systematically destroying what was once the best health service in the world. I could not bother having the jab but then what if I am unlucky enough to catch Covid? What if I am quite poorly with it? My cousin was in hospital for 4 weeks with it, I know others who've been in equally as long - if not longer; how much will it cost the NHS for me to be in for that long if it came to it? Surely it's cheaper to get me jabbed, than run the risk I may add even more pressure to an already overstretched NHS on it's knees at break point. 

I've booked my 7th attempt at another venue (one which isn't easy to get to for me but when needs must). I can't get one until the 31st of this month and will have to close the shop again. We'll see if they actually jab that needle into my arm next time!