- The UK government says it will vaccinate all health and social care professionals by 15 February.
- This is approaching and many workers still do not know when they are receiving the photo.
- Five frontline workers talked to Insider about being left in limbo.
- Visit the Business Insider home page for more stories.
Health care professionals in the UK are increasingly frustrated by not knowing when they will receive their first injection of a COVID-19 vaccine.
This includes test center employees and medical students who do not know where they fit on the priority list and fear that they may fall completely into the cracks.
The UK government said its “top priority” is to ensure that 15 million people in its highest-risk categories have access to the first dose by 15 February.
As well as people who are vulnerable due to their age and health, this group also includes residential, health and social assistance assistants, with nursing home residents and employees who work with them first in the ranking of priority.
This followed the guidelines of the Joint Vaccination and Immunization Committee (JCVI), an independent medical agency, which advised the government to prioritize the protection of the health and social care team, in addition to preventing deaths from COVID-19. The government is working to rapidly distribute the vaccine and has launched a risky, untested strategy of administering as many first doses as possible, delaying when people will receive their second injection.
But frontline officials, including some who work for the NHS, told Insider that they have not yet been contacted about their first dose and that they are having to treat patients, even though they are not protected.
In one case, medical students at hospitals – including some at the COVID-19 wards – were instructed to cancel their vaccination appointments so that employees could get vaccines first.
This is because an increasing number of health professionals are showing positive results for COVID-19.
Earlier this month, the British Medical Association (BMA) reported that more than 46,000 hospital employees were ill with COVID-19, according to The Guardian. And in some hospitals, more than one in seven employees is absent from work due to illness, said Dr. Tom Dolphin, an anesthesia consultant in London, Kate Duffy of Insider.
NHS officials at St. Thomas’s Hospital hold a sign telling Prime Minister Boris Johnson that he “must go” during a protest at the gates of Downing Street against the health cuts on January 14, 2021
Guy Smallman / Getty Images
This means that the healthcare team may have to treat more patients than normal or work longer hours. A BMA survey showed that two-thirds of respondents regularly had to work additional hours during the pandemic, and almost half said their work caused or exacerbated emotional distress, depression, anxiety and other mental health conditions.
BMA is urging the government to ensure that all frontline employees have a chance as soon as possible, both for their own protection and to alleviate the broader NHS burden of having to isolate themselves. To keep the services running, all healthcare professionals must be vaccinated by the end of January, Dolphin added.
But people are falling into the cracks. On January 11, 43% of London’s ambulance and hospital workers – including nurses, administrative staff and janitors – had not received a COVID-19 vaccine, according to a study by the GMB Union, according to The Independent.
The NHS did not respond to Insider’s request for comment. The Department of Health and Welfare referred the Insider to the NHS when asked to comment.
A junior doctor, a doctoral student in hospital, an exam center assistant, a dental administrator and a home caregiver talked with Insider about their experiences.
The five health officials spoke to Insider on the condition of secrecy, and their names have been changed for this article.
The junior doctor
“Me and many other doctors are feeling extremely frustrated by the incompatibility between government announcements and the reality of what is really going on in our hospitals,” said Rosie, a junior doctor at a large hospital in Leeds. She works in emergency wards looking after dozens of patients every week.
There is regional disparity between the distribution of the vaccine by the government to the NHS team, she added.
“I have colleagues who work in a different area of the country who have already taken two doses of the vaccine, when there are older colleagues with whom I work who have not yet taken.”
She does not blame the hospital’s trust for those who work, however.
“Despite government guidance on vaccine implementation and group prioritization, there is no strategy to ensure that it is implemented equally,” she said.
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“It appears that the government has abandoned hospital funds to fight to bring together the staff and resources to give the vaccination on its own – which is not easy, given the large number of NHS staff working on the front lines.”
As a result, the funds are offering vaccines to their employees at different rates, affected by issues related to vaccine supply, storage and administration, said Rosie.
“I think most hospitals are doing their best to manage the ever-changing COVID-19 environment,” she said. “The frustration for me lies in the lack of government support.”
The medical student
Megan, an internship medical student, told Insider that she is not sure where she fits on the government’s priority list. She works full time and moves between three different hospitals most weeks, and is in a different ward almost every day. This includes medical and surgical wards, theaters, intensive care units and clinics.
“It’s as if we were employees, but not employees and sometimes forgotten,” said Megan. She is not an NHS worker, as she has no staff or paycheck, which means she is not in the same priority range as them, but works in NHS hospitals alongside NHS doctors.
“I feel that as medical students, we are often neglected in things, as we are not classified as full-time employees, but we are full-time focused on patients and have moved around a lot,” she told Insider.
A row of ambulances parked in front of the Royal London hospital
Daniel Leaf-Olivas / AFP via Getty Images
One of Megan’s friends, who is also on a medical student placement, was due to be vaccinated this week, but was turned down at her appointment because she was not an employee. This despite receiving an email inviting her to take the photo.
In an email seen by Insider, a friend of Megan’s was informed that the team must be vaccinated before the student doctors and, if they have an appointment, they must cancel it – including the student doctors who work in the COVID wards. -19.
The test center assistant
Connor, for his part, works as a general assistant at a large COVID-19 test center in northern England. The job involves instructing people on how to use a test and process it, in addition to occasionally cleaning the site. He is not an NHS employee and instead works for a private agency to which the UK government has outsourced test contracts.
“We haven’t heard anything about the vaccine and I don’t think we will get them,” Connor told Insider, adding that he doesn’t think he is ranked in any of the highest priority cohorts.
Read More: UK hospitals transfer COVID-19 patients to the hotel amid a shortage of beds
“I think this is because we all have zero hour contracts and therefore we are not seen as a priority, even though some people work more than 30 hours a week. It seems that we are simply not concerned.”
“Everyone who works there is putting themselves at risk each time they enter, manipulating objects that we know to be infected with COVID-19. It’s disheartening and anger-inducing how we were overlooked.”
The dental administrator
Lily is a receptionist and administrator for an NHS dental office. In addition to performing administrative work such as scheduling and filing, Lily is also responsible for doing COVID-19 symptom tests and taking temperatures.
Lily’s workplace was only informed last week that her team would have priority for vaccinations, after being told that dentists and support staff do not count as health professionals.
“We were told that our office would be contacted about how to provide vaccines, but we still don’t have a plan or schedule for that,” she told Insider.
Read More: A quarter of New York City’s vaccines are going to people who don’t live there. Some don’t even work in the city.
Despite this lack of clarity, the government is asking dental offices to see as many patients as possible now – including for routine, non-urgent treatments, Lily told Insider.
“It is really frustrating to hear all of this from the same people who are crawling to get us vaccinated,” she said.
The home caregiver
Paige, in turn, is home caregiver for a private company. Her job involves visiting elderly clients at home to care for them, including personal care and dementia.
Paige said his company contacted the competent authorities to obtain access to the vaccine “several times”, but has not yet been informed when the team will be able to get the vaccines.
Read More: London Mayor Sadiq Khan declares a ‘big incident’ when city hospitals are filled to capacity with patients with COVID-19
“Even some of my clients have not known when they will receive the vaccine,” she said, noting that some of them spent Christmas alone, only with visits from their caregivers to keep company.
“Personally, I think the government has disappointed many people,” she told Insider. “It’s embarrassing and revealing how bad the whole pandemic has been in this country, with all the staggering decisions and all the pocket lining we’ve seen, from offers of personal protective equipment to free school lunches.”