nicktonight

A slightly tongue in cheek question but I am getting messages from my friends in the UK gloating that they are getting vaccinated and asking me when I expect get mine. Well reading the sole24ore this morning and after what seems to me the absurd decision of the Italian Authorities not to use the AZ vaccine in people aged over 55 I think it is likely that I will have to wait until the summer or autumn. As a UK citizen can I go back to the UK and get vaccinated?

Geordieborn

You probably would need an address here and be registered with a GP. You would also have to be able to get out of Italy and into the UK, that might not be too easy these days.... I suspect the several European countries touting the AZ as being used for more mature folks will change all of a sudden when more vaccine becomes available for the EU.

christmasoompa

Afraid not. NHS care isn't based on citizenship.

The Department of Health have said the following: "Anyone who is returning to live in the UK from abroad will be eligible for the vaccine in line with Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) priority list. Britons living overseas should obtain the vaccine in their country of residence. They cannot arrange a vaccine in the UK from overseas.”

HTH.

philat98

After 2 weeks imprisonment in a Travelodge youd be wishing you were back home. I suspect you can buy a vaccine dose if you know the right person.

nicktonight

Thanks Christmas for the clear info so I won't be be going although Phil I think I could stay with a relative? Also I'm a pessimist by nature and I don't see how they are going to avoid another big wave in Sicily with these new variants rampant at both ends of the Mediterranean (Portugal and Israel) if they don't speed up the vaccination program

modicasa

Gov.uk do allow you to stay with a relative if they are not in a vulnerable group, and ideally you have your own kitchen and bathroom. Do you have relatives with a cottage in the grounds, or a wing they dont use?

philat98

If you fly into Scotland you have to stay in a hotel starting Monday.

nicktonight

At the moment they are giving 45,000 vaccine doses/day in Italy, i.e. 22,500 people vaccinated/day for a population of 60 million and therefore another 2400 days before everyone is vaccinated. With all the excitement about the new government the Covid problem seems to have left the headlines. Luckily in Sicily at least with the hot weather (29.5°C last Saturday) the R rate has gone down

philat98

The vaccination strategy is a bit odd in Umbria. They are starting with people born in 1940 and working down. The ASL are giving appointments for the 1st and 2nd jabs at the same time with a separation of 1 month apart. You have to queue outside the very cold ASL office complex at a given time slot.
We had 17C last Saturday and today it is snowing.

jiminalpago

This was in today's Guardian; not strictly linked to the thread, but puts things in context.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/co...ination-fiasco

Plan B

Jeez, doesn't the anti-Brexit Grauniad harp on! No amount of waffle can disguise that the UK's vaccination roll-out is a huge success compared to the EU's. By thinking and acting swiftly the UK obtained large number of doses which through skilful organisation they are managing to deploy. They have done so imaginatively in extending the gap between first and second doses which doctors and scientists have agreed should not significantly detract from their efficacy, thereby protecting a greater number of people quickly.

jiminalpago

I would like to "leave Brexit aside" but it is central to both our posts.
The UK were first out of the gate because it was in line with the Thatcherite ideology of recent Conservative governments that approval was given to the Pfizer vaccine without an independent, public authority analysis of the manufacturer's research data; the body of data was simply rubber-stamped. Compare with the approach of the FDA, with Trump breathing down their necks. Was the UK government influenced by the need for a Brexit success, any Brexit success?
Then there is the delay in the second jab. I am impressed by the courage of the NHS (perhaps HSE) functionary who authorised this procedure, against the advice of the developer/manufacturer and WHO, with no research data to inform her decision. There are not many nations following suit, I notice.
All of that said, the individual nations in the EU could have done better.
O.o kilO

philat98

Its curious that Israel didnt adopt the UKs vaccination plan. The UK is a long way behind Israel with 40% of people vaccinated. It will be interesting to see how the two vaccine rollouts perform. If Britains health advisers have made a mistake it is like to be an expensive one.

Geordieborn

The UK government is a disaster regards Covid, but on the vaccine I think they got it spot on and the EU got it totally wrong! I've just been told there is talk of not going ahead with the second jab at all here in the UK, now that might be another big mistake, but who knows what variants are around the corner?

philat98

Israel payed £34 per jab so it is quite a cost saving to skip the second one.