Sourcing a flu jab - the annual will power test begins!

 Since the pandemic I like to get a flu jab.  This may be a psychological post pandemic thing in that having constantly been told, as an over 50, I am ‘vulnerable’, I may have started to believe it.  It may be purely selfish in that peak flu season and ski season tend to overlap.  I am not huge on the ‘Apres’ side but airport security, pre flight breakfast at Wetherspoons, flight, passport control, transfer bus, hotel and other restaurants are all ‘super spreader’ events.  I would rather not be ill or, at least, not too ill the week after I get back from holiday.  Obviously, I tell myself it is because we see my parents and the MiL often and it would not do to pass flu along so some precautions are necessary.  I can’t swear to that actually being the reason but it suits me better than to think the pandemic has driven me to hypochondria and/or I have caught the ‘me, me, me’ bug. 

In 2020, my GP surgery contacted me to get one done on the NHS there.  In. 2021, after I turned 55 and at my supposed 5 yearly check (they seem a bit hit and miss - will have to chase), the nurse decided, on my enquiry, that she had enough time to do one at the same time.  In 2022 it seems I was no longer ‘vulnerable’ (woohoo!) and no longer eligible for a free vaccine (not so woohoo!).  This applied to S also so we booked and paid online for appointments at Boots.  Several reminders from them later (who are these people who cannot manage their diaries and need constant reminders via text and email?) we rocked up of a Saturday morning to sit at the back of the store opposite a dispensing hatch and await our appointment.  Entertainment being laid on from the clientele approaching that hatch.  Were it not for our unlikely appearance (I hope) our positioning would almost certainly have had marked down as drug addicts waiting for their methadone.  

Beyond the unfortunate waiting area and the irritating reminders it was a relatively painless experience and we repeated the process with Boots in 2023.

In 2024 we booked our appointments with Boots, received in excess of 20 reminders (I gave up counting) then, less than 2 hours before the appointment, I got a phone call to say they did not have any vaccine.  They hadn’t had any vaccine for a couple of weeks or so but had been waiting to see if anything changed.  Seems the vaccine delivery fairy had not turned up and that was the end of those appointments.  I find I mind less about the really irritating reminders if the provider actually comes up with goods.  

This was followed by much ringing around to find a pharmacy that had vaccine and would allow one to pay for a jab.   I didn’t actually get into double figures but it was close.  Turned out the MiL’s local pharmacy could do it and could do it that afternoon. So we went along.  Turned out they couldn’t do it that afternoon after all but suggested we come back the following morning (Saturday).  We headed back the following morning, more in hope and resignation than expectation.  A flu vaccine was, however, actually administered.  We chalked them up as a possibility for 2025.

In 2025 that was not to be, they did not have any vaccine and Boots, seemingly, did not have any appointments at all locally.  I work on a 15 mile radius as being ‘local’.  More ringing round.  I eventually found a Co-op Pharmacy who could do it that afternoon.  Except on turning up, they couldn’t. They had just administered the last one but expected some more the following week.  An appointment was booked so they would save us some.  That worked and the 2025 flu jab was duly ticked off the ‘to do’ list.

So here we are in 2026 and I have started a little earlier on the annual search.  In part because we hope to go skiing a little earlier but, for the most part, because the GP surgery decided this year, that S qualifies for a flu jab on the NHS.  Not entirely sure why but it seems I don’t, despite being 13 months and 2 weeks older.  When we get the traditional 6 weeks of him going on about being 2 years younger than me he is going to be reminded that he is ‘vulnerable’!  He is booked in for his free jab at the surgery and it is just me that has to roam the County waving my debit card in the search to pay for the luxury treat that is a flu jab.

I started with the 2025 successful option.  Seems it is not my year with them.  They don’t start until the w/c 5 October and either have no spare availability/do not do them on the days on the days I am available for the two weeks after they start.  They then decided they are not booking direct at all and I needed to go through the NHS website and choose their site and a time slot from there.  This is devspite the fact that I am not eligible for a free jab on the NHS.  Nevertheless, I did as I was told by the Co-op and was duly told by the NHS that I was not eligible for a jab or to use their booking service.  

The 2024 pharmacy could not assist so back I go to the Boots website.  I have an appointment though, obviously I have had an appointment before and the computer was rather over optimistic about the actual ability of the store to deliver.

So we shall see.  It really should not be this difficult!