By Tony Winterburn • Published: 16 Jan 2021 • 11:20
GP's THROWING AWAY Leftover Vaccines Sparks Outrage. image: Pixabay
GP’s THROWING AWAY Leftover Vaccines Sparks Outrage.
An NHS nurse has spoken out about colleagues having to throw away supplies of the vaccine because people aren’t keeping the appointments that their GPs have made for them. Mass injection centres have recently opened across the country in a bid to tackle the coronavirus pandemic with hopes that a jab can be given every 45 seconds.
The nurse, who prefered to remain anonymous, that was working at one of the hospitals in West London said: “Loads of people are not keeping the appointments their GPs have made for them. The trouble is the vaccine has to be given or it has to be thrown away. On Thursday night we had something like 45 people who were booked for jabs but didn’t turn up and didn’t let us or their GP know in advance.
She went on to say: “Had we known they weren’t coming, someone else could have been slotted in their place. We were left hanging around, and then when they didn’t show up, we were faced with the choice of throwing the vaccine away or trying to get it into someone’s arm.”
She added: “I rang some friends and said ‘How quickly can you drop everything and get here?’ Other staff were doing the same. Some people we rang were able to come in at short notice and they had the vaccine, but a lot of it had to be thrown away because we can’t keep it beyond a certain time. I think it’s deplorable and a scandal that people are offered a slot and then just don’t turn up, and never get in touch.”
A GP who runs a practice in West London said: “It’s outrageous this can happen, I myself already work double shifts to cope with the vaccinations and then people don’t turn up. Worst is, we then have to literally throw away all the unused doses- scandalous!
Unlike Pfizer and Moderna’s mRNA shots, which must be kept at subzero temperatures, AstraZeneca’s vaccine can be stored, transported and handled at standard refrigerator temperatures of 2 degrees to 8 degrees Celsius (36 degrees to 46 degrees Fahrenheit) for at least six months, potentially easing rollout hurdles.
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