What’s the point of a curfew if they want to vaccinate 24/7?
Think the 24/7 thing is more news media than anything else, and initially I thought the same - lets go for it all guns blazing.
But in terms of practicalities remember you're dealing with older people, we're only seeing the first 14.4m people at this stage and that's the over 70 group and the clinically vulnerable. Asking that lot to tip up at 3am in the middle of a freezing cold winter night is just asking for issues.
- Gritting road runs on its own schedule and getting to a regional vaccination hub might involve a fair drive. Probably not best to do this at 1 in the morning.
- Waiting should be done in open air if possible. Less ideal having old people stood outside in the cold at night time.
- Volunteers need training and it's probably easier to have a regular group of volunteers turn up during the 7-7 timeslot then go home
- Car park management. You're dealing with old people so again, grit the car parks, don't hit anyone when you're driving around with your windows steamed up.
- Security: old people are extremely security conscious, so getting them out of the house after dark might be an ask, nevermind driving somewhere new.
- Logistics and availability: the big one, once these centres are open do we have enough stock to keep up with the demand to run 24/7
Overall I'd say it's worth doing a vaccination centre trial and run 24/7 to see the practicalities of it, but this seems like something which the 16-50 age group would be all over but perhaps the more senior lot just aren't quite as able to turn up in the middle of the night to get a jab, particularly in rural areas.
