Carer 'delighted' he was given Covid jab with elderly father
18 January 2021, 14:00
Chris cares for his father with dementia and was 'delighted' to be offered the Covid jab on Sunday evening, calling LBC to celebrate the 'fantastic' vaccination process.
Caller Chris took his father to get a vaccination last night and was offered the Pfizer jab after telling the medical staff he is his father's primary carer.
His father has dementia so Chris had to take him in to the clinic, along with any medication and the vaccine letter.
"The whole process was fantastic," he told Shelagh, "they said are you his carer? And I said yes I look after my dad for five or six days a week.
"They said okay, are you his paid carer or a voluntary carer? I said I'm a voluntary carer."
He told Shelagh that the clinician came back and asked whether he would have the jab as well if he were offered, to which he "obviously" accepted.
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"We went in and we both sat by each other... they gave Dad his jab first then gave me my jab," Chris said.
Shelagh asked why he thought he was offered the jab that day, positing that the centre might have known how many people were left to come and how many vaccines they had in excess - hence offering it to Chris, a man in his fifties.
"When I was offered it I was quite shocked," Chris said, "my age profile under Welsh NHS is that I'm going to get it in April/May.
"When they offered it to me I hope nobody thinks I'm bad for taking it, because at the end of the day if you're offered the jab, you've got to take it."
He continued: "I was quite heartened really because if there are people missing appointments, instead of wasting the jab at least they gave it to me."
"I was just delighted. The one thing I cannot stress enough is how brilliant the process was."
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