JAB-SOLUTELY FABULOUS
Rollout of the Covid vaccine brings hope and even more appreciation for our astonishing NHS
LAST week my parents-in-law were vaccinated against Covid. On the appointed day there was thick snow on the ground so, with them being in their late 70s and early 80s, a free taxi service organised by their local NHS picked them up and delivered them to their nearest vaccination hub.
There, despite the numbers of people waiting, they were seen quickly and efficiently by kind but professional medical staff and sent on their way, back by cab, to their home and to a whole new outlook on life.
Because that little jab in their arms spells hope. Hope of a return to a more normal existence involving going to the shops and perhaps even a weekend away – the Blackpool holiday brochure is already out.
Hope too of continued good health for years to come, and hope that after so long they may get to see their son and daughter-in-law and grandkids again. Their own personal little miracle performed on a chilly Thursday in Halifax and now being replicated around the country.
More than four million people have to date been vaccinated against the horrors of Covid.
Medics, from student nurses to senior consultants and many already on their knees from the strains of the last 10 months, have mobilised.
They’ve been joined by an army of volunteers, trained in quick-smart time to wield a needle or keep accurate records or just usher people from here to there with a kind word in sometimes cavernous and hastily put together vaccination centres.
The logistics of this operation are overwhelming. In any other circumstance it would have taken months of planning, endless committee meetings, budget proposals and presentations.
Yet, despite the enormous strain it is already under, the NHS has delivered within the space of just a few weeks.
Working out and securing the supply chain alone – vaccine, needles, swabs – would test the brainpower of a Mastermind champion.
On top of that, those most in clinical need have to be identified and then delivered to the right place at the right time. And all under the strictures which this pandemic has brought.
But the health service has done it. Not our Government, not ministers or politicians but the NHS. It’s nothing short of astonishing.
I know there are grumbles that certain regions are moving faster than others when it comes to the vaccination programme but there were always going to be wrinkles in an effort this big.
Let’s not forget that a year ago we didn’t even have a vaccine. Now it’s our route one out of this crisis and it’s happening before our eyes.
And all for free. Because that’s the other truly wonderful thing about our health service. It costs nothing at the point of delivery.
It doesn’t matter if you’re a millionaire or a lord or lady. No amount of cash in the bank or grand title will get you to the front of the queue for the jab. Only need will.
I know some people like to compare what we’ve been through with the war. I don’t subscribe to that. It’s too glib.
But when my mum-in-law told me she’d had the jab, that famous quote of Churchill’s wouldn’t leave my mind.
“This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.”