Booking vaccine appointment online - weird

[Brian-H]

I received a letter from NHS this morning saying that I could book my vaccine appointment online.

So I went to their recommened url

But when I went to "Book or manage your coronavirus vaccination" and then "Book my appointments", I got this message ("NHS UK Unauthorised IP")

So I tried again via a VPN

This time I got to the initial stage of my identity

and was able to continue right the way through to choice of location and then choice of date & time.

Bizarre that it doesn't like the ISP IP address but it works via a VPN. You'd think it would be the other way round.
Note that I re-tried several times without VPN and got same message.

[Brian-H]

Even more weird is that, since trying it this morning, the site now responds properly without having to use a VPN.

In the past, I did a trace-route and discovered that, even to sites in the UK, the route from my house went to somewhere in the UK (can't remember where), then popped out to Holland, then back to UK sites from Holland - but not always that route. I'm not sure whether that would explain or not, maybe i should have done a trace route to the NHS site yesterday - but the BBC iPlayer has always worked and I think that the BBC won't allow iPlayer to work to locations outside the UK. Maybe it depends on the method used by sites to "discover" and "remember" the origin/location of an IP address, but that's just conjecture.

What's even more mysterious that routes in the internet, is the difference in the way the human immune system handles the virus. My brother who is 70, got the virus over Christmas, and had all the symptoms. He and his wife were both tested, the only weird symptom she had was very bad heartburn - she's the same age as he is.

[John Hitchins]

In Somerset they ring you directly when due. It was a highly organised event with many people involved. They were doing over 65s the weekend here. I had the jab and never felt it lol. There are scammers out there so be aware.

[NickDeAth]

My wife and I are in group 5 (65 to 70) and didn't expect to be contacted yet. We both got a text message from our surgery last Wednesday with a link to book an appointment. We got appointments for Sunday morning at 9.00 and 9.50. I took my wife to the local cottage hospital at the appointed time. I was marshalled to a parking space and my wife was shown where to go. I asked a marshall if it was OK for me to wait and was told to go and join the queue but there wasn' t a queue.

We were directed to a treatment room and were both vaccinated and on our way out by 9.05!

The whole thing was well managed and well operated. I send my thanks and compliments to all staff and volunteers concerned.

Nick

[Sydsmith]

Same here in Aberystwyth Nick, the organisation was faultless the volunteers and professionals were cheerful and helpful everything was well organised and we were in and out in half an hour, they did insist we sit for 15 mins after the vaccine.

We both had slight after effects next day but I gather that is a good sign means the system is resisting the infection.

[Brian-H]

I've been having the flu jab every October since 2012. I did have it a few times before then, but I stopped when I felt really ill for several days afterwards. I decided not to have it after that but for some reason I decided to give it another go in 2012 and have continued since then without incident.

One of the cats gets really ill after having the booster jab each year, but last couple of times has had a steroid injection at the same time which seems to help.

[NickDeAth]

Syd, I was told to sit in the car for 10 minutes before leaving. If there was a problem to call one of the marshalls. We both had the common side affects but not intolerable, they soon wore off except the ache at the vaccination site!

Nick

[Brian-H]

Will be going by push-bike as it's only 2 miles away - maybe ought to get a tandem tricycle to sit on

[simonp]

Thinking you will be pleased not to see a payment screen appearing as part of the process and indicating fakery. My appointment at the local GP came the day before a letter inviting to me to book at one of the large vaccine centres.

All went well and no side affects with the AZ vaccine.

SimonP

[Brian-H]

I think that all the scammers use texts or emails as those methods are quicker, easier, and cheaper than sending letters

The letter had my NHS number and the website merely asked for the NHS number (which was on the letter), and it would be extremely worrying if a scammer already had my full name, address, and NHS number. What puzzled me was that the NHS website didn't like my IP address on Monday, but did accept me via a VPN on Monday - and then on Tuesday their site accepted my IP address (which hadn't/doesn't change, though the route probably did).

Next day (Tuesday) I got a call from my GP and, though the earliest they could offer was next week, I went with them as it was 2 miles rather than 8 miles, and went back online and cancelled the NHS appointment (that's when I discovered that their website now accepted my IP address).

With me having the flu-vaccine every year since 2012 I don't understand why anyone would think that this vaccine is any different. I'm also puzzled why some people don't have the flu-vaccine, yet take their cats/dogs to the vet for a yearly booster (I know of at least 2 people who fall into this category).