# Aviva vaccination centre - why the long queues?



## Salvadore (16 May 2021)

Delighted to have received my first jab on Friday in the Aviva. However, I was shocked at the extent of the queues for what were pre-bookings.
I arrived 10 minutes before my appointment but I was queuing for an hour and 20 minutes outside the stadium just to confirm I’d arrived. Once inside, I queued for over an hour for registration and eventually the jab. Total time - 2 and a half hours.

I don’t wish to appear ungrateful. All of the staff and volunteers were professional and friendly, but something’s gone wrong.

it’s not an isolated experience. Anyone I know who’s been vaccinated in the Aviva has had the same experience. Apart from the inconvenience, it can’t be good to have so many unvaccinated people in such close proximity for so long.

Other centres seem to operate much more quickly. Friends of mine who used the helix and puchestown were in and out in far less time - 45 minutes in the case of the helix, 20 mins in punchestown.


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## almostthere (16 May 2021)

Two hours for me. One hour for my wife. A half hour for my friend. All at Aviva.

I would have thought that they might have sorted out this by now.  But then again you are dealing with the HSE....


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## Prosper (16 May 2021)

almostthere said:


> But then again you are dealing with the HSE....


I don't think it's the HSE's fault directly. I was jabbed Sunday two weeks ago in the Aviva 30 minutes after entering the building at my appointment time. The following day a friend waited about two hours before receiving the jab. The problem appears to have been that lots of people that were scheduled to be jabbed over the bank holiday weekend turned up on Monday and subsequent days because they had gone away for the weekend.


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## Paul O Mahoney (16 May 2021)

It's better than being dead lads?


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## Salvadore (16 May 2021)

Paul O Mahoney said:


> It's better than being dead lads?


Of course it is but that’s not the point.


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## Powderfinger (16 May 2021)

I got my first jab in Carlow yesterday. Including the wait afterwards, I was in and out in 30 mins.


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## Paul O Mahoney (16 May 2021)

Salvadore said:


> Of course it is but that’s not the point.


What is the point then because I'm clearly either mitigating it or don't think it's a valid reason to be talking about it.

The vaccine is free of charge,  we have administered 2m with a majority in the last 3 months despite the ongoing issues.

I genuinely fail to see why being in a queue for 2hrs or 1hour or 45mins is important or a cause of concern/agnst.

There are millions if not billions who would be grateful to be waiting 2 hrs.


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## odyssey06 (16 May 2021)

Paul O Mahoney said:


> What is the point then because I'm clearly either mitigating it or don't think it's a valid reason to be talking about it.
> 
> The vaccine is free of charge,  we have administered 2m with a majority in the last 3 months despite the ongoing issues.
> 
> ...


It's basic organisational (in)comptence. People shouldn't be left queuing outside for 2 hours in the elements, full stop.
It's not teenagers queuing for a gig or a once off event.
When they first opened, teething problems could be forgiven, it's gone on so long now either they are just inept or don't care.

That it is for an essential vaccine is neither here not there.  It's needless.


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## Paul O Mahoney (16 May 2021)

odyssey06 said:


> It's basic organisational (in)comptence. People shouldn't be left queuing outside for 2 hours in the elements, full stop.
> It's not teenagers queuing for a gig or a once off event.
> When they first opened, teething problems could be forgiven, it's gone on so long now either they are just inept or don't care.
> 
> That it is for an essential vaccine is neither here not there.  It's needless.


Ah come on Odyssey we are hearing about Dublin and Dublin 4 in particular.

I know many even out here in Kildare wondering how quiet the centres " appear " to be" again just what I heard.

Of course one could say " isn't great that the population is actually getting vaccinated and the hesitancy that some were worried about isn't evident ". or a pragmatic appraisal of the situation.

One or two people's experiences certainly doesn't say the whole system is falling apart. And the weather isn't something that even the HSE can control or Met Eireann forecast accurately.  Bringing and umbrella would solve the latter.

The "kids going to a gig " analogy has me bemused/befuddled to be honest.


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## Salvadore (16 May 2021)

Paul O Mahoney said:


> There are millions if not billions who would be grateful to be waiting 2 hrs.


There are billions who would be grateful to live in Ireland but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t give out about the weather, the government, public transport etc.

Having people wait 2 and a half hours isn’t a good thing no matter how virtuous the reason.


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## Salvadore (16 May 2021)

It was the experience of the couple of hundred of the people I shared a queue with on Friday and the hundreds who were in the queues of the people I know of who were vaccinated at the Aviva.
Overall the vaccination programme seems to be working very well but there seems to be a problem with the Aviva.


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## Paul O Mahoney (16 May 2021)

Salvadore said:


> There are billions who would be grateful to live in Ireland but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t give out about the weather, the government, public transport etc.
> 
> Having people wait 2 and a half hours isn’t a good thing no matter how virtuous the reason.


Well I disagree


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## Salvadore (16 May 2021)

Clearly


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## odyssey06 (16 May 2021)

Paul O Mahoney said:


> Ah come on Odyssey we are hearing about Dublin and Dublin 4 in particular.
> 
> I know many even out here in Kildare wondering how quiet the centres " appear " to be" again just what I heard.
> 
> ...


Its not one or two people. It is being reported across social media from multiple dates by multiple people.
I expect the ones posting are just tip of the iceberg.
There is something dysfunctional going on persistently at specific MVCs which should not be tolerated. It is not a hiccup.

Precisely because they cant control the weather it should be factored onto the queuing system. First AZ vaccine places enough strain on the system without having people face it as a drowned rat.

I mentioned gigs because this is not a voluntary thing people can take or leave.

If you have stats showing aviva waiting times contradict the evidence of posters then please share. Otherwise their evidence stands.


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## Paul O Mahoney (16 May 2021)

Salvadore said:


> It was the experience of the couple of hundred of the people I shared a queue with on Friday and the hundreds who were in the queues of the people I know of who were vaccinated at the Aviva.
> Overall the vaccination programme seems to be working very well but there seems to be a problem with the Aviva.


In fairness you can't speak for all those hundreds unless you spoke to each of them. 
Of course its an annoyance but lets be honest here everyone was there to get a vaccine that will protect them and hiccups will be expected. 

I'm signing off now as I'm not get into a rabbit hole argument on something that Joe Duffy will probably cover tomorrow or whenever


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## Paul O Mahoney (16 May 2021)

odyssey06 said:


> Its not one or two people. It is being reported across social media from multiple dates by multiple people.
> I expect the ones posting are just tip of the iceberg.
> There is something dysfunctional going on persistently at specific MVCs which should not be tolerated.
> 
> ...


Post the "social media " of the complaining then.

Where would I get that data on waiting times? And as sure as ..... social media wouldn't be the place I'd look for it.


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## odyssey06 (16 May 2021)

Paul O Mahoney said:


> Post the "social media " of the complaining then.
> 
> Where would I get that data on waiting times? And as sure as ..... social media wouldn't be the place I'd look for it.


Not sure what evidence would convince you then or why you are so quick to dismiss the reports.
We have no reason to doubt the bona fides of the people raising this.

I have seen multiple similar issues raised on other social media channels I follow.
Where do you expect such reports to emerge???

You are shooting the messenger in the absence of any other message.
By your own admission you have no idea of the waiting times.
So why are you shooting down genuine reports?
I just dont get it.


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## Salvadore (16 May 2021)

Paul O Mahoney said:


> In fairness you can't speak for all those hundreds unless you spoke to each of them.


I can actually. They may not have cared but they were all definitely waiting at least two hours.

Whether you think that’s reasonable or not is a different matter.


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## Paul O Mahoney (16 May 2021)

odyssey06 said:


> Not sure what evidence would convince you then or why you are so quick to dismiss the reports.
> We have no reason to doubt the bona fides of the people raising this.
> Zero.
> 
> ...


I'm not shooting anything I'm simply questioning the importance of standing in a queue is more of a cause of angst when the reason is more important.

Are we now expecting the rollout of the vaccine to be tailored to ones expectations or for the good of the country as a whole? Or indeed ensure good weather?

Sometimes it's necessary to " suck up and plough on"


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## Paul O Mahoney (16 May 2021)

Salvadore said:


> I can actually. They may not have been cared but they were all definitely waiting at least two hours.


And each of them told you verbatim what you are now saying online.......thats curious and highly implausible. 

Look I'll apologise if my "empathy " for this seems to be lacking, but deep down?


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## odyssey06 (16 May 2021)

Paul O Mahoney said:


> I'm not shooting anything I'm simply questioning the importance of standing in a queue is more is a cause of angst when the reason is more important.
> 
> Are we now expecting the rollout of the vaccine to be tailored to ones expectations or for the good of the country as a whole?
> 
> Sometimes it's necessary to " suck up and plough on"


There is zero evidence of its necessity.

Expecting the MVCs to operate with a basic level of queue management isnt tailoring expectations. Its basic competence. Its not day one of their operation.

The good of the country doesnt require avica MVC to ignore the basics of dealing with a queue.
Other MVCs can do this.

You have done more than question its necessity. You have challenged the reports of ppl who had to queue in a kneejerk shoot the messenger with zero grounds to do so. I have no idea why.


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## Paul O Mahoney (16 May 2021)

odyssey06 said:


> There is zero evidence of its necessity.
> 
> Expecting the MVCs to operate with a basic level of queue management isnt tailoring expectations. Its basic competence. Its not day one.
> 
> The good of the country doesnt require avica MVC to ignore the basics of dealing with a queue.


Maybe your expectations are too high, there were and will continue to be little inconvenience's but by all means be outraged.

But try and not lose sight of the goal here its to get people vaccinated,  and queue or weather shouldn't be a reason to undermine the work getting done.


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## Salvadore (16 May 2021)

Paul O Mahoney said:


> And each of them told you verbatim what you are now saying online.


No. I saw them. They were in the same queue as I was for all of the time. And the queues were just as long outdoors when I left.


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## Paul O Mahoney (16 May 2021)

Salvadore said:


> No. I saw them. They were in the same queue as I was for all of the time. And the queues were just as long outdoors when I left.


Good evidence of uptake of the vaccine and the Government doesn't need to worry about hesitancy.  Its all positive if you want it to be.


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## almostthere (17 May 2021)

Paul O Mahoney said:


> Good evidence of uptake of the vaccine and the Government doesn't need to worry about hesitancy. Its all positive if you want it to be.


I think the post is about two hour delays in a queue.....and not about the good news story of people being vaccinated. Two different topics.


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## Leo (17 May 2021)

Is this an ongoing issue or has it gotten worse since the HSE had to shut down almost the entirety of their IT system and anything that was connected to it?


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## Purple (17 May 2021)

Leo said:


> Is this an ongoing issue or has it gotten worse since the HSE had to shut down almost the entirety of their IT system and anything that was connected to it?


I thought the vaccination program was unaffected by that.


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## Leo (17 May 2021)

Purple said:


> I thought the vaccination program was unaffected by that.


The appointments are going ahead, but I'm guessing the systems they are using to confirm identities, etc. have been impacted.


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## Salvadore (17 May 2021)

This isn’t a consequence of the hack. This has been a feature of Aviva vaccinations from the start. Neighbour of mine who’s 70 had a 2 hour wait.


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## Leo (17 May 2021)

Salvadore said:


> This isn’t a consequence of the hack. This has been a feature of Aviva vaccinations from the start. Neighbour of mine who’s 70 had a 2 hour wait.



Well that's just not true.


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## Salvadore (17 May 2021)

So you’re saying I’m making it all up???


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## Prosper (17 May 2021)

Salvadore said:


> This has been a feature of Aviva vaccinations from the start. Neighbour of mine who’s 70 had a 2 hour wait.


I walk past the Aviva every day since I was vaccinated (30 minutes after arriving) just to monitor the queues. On the bank holiday Monday the queue stretched from the entrance right back to the Dart line. A friend waited two hours that day and I believe it was because people who had gone away for the bank holiday weekend turned up on the Monday. There has been only one other day where I noticed any queue and it was nowhere near as long as it was on the bank holiday Monday.


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## Salvadore (17 May 2021)

Well when I arrived Friday the queue snaked along in six rows between the stadium and elverys shop before going the whole way down the side of the stadium alongside the training pitch.


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## Purple (17 May 2021)

Prosper said:


> I walk past the Aviva every day since I was vaccinated (30 minutes after arriving) just to monitor the queues.


You've got too much time on your hands, so you have.


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## Leo (17 May 2021)

Salvadore said:


> So you’re saying I’m making it all up???


No, I'm saying your assertion that everyone going to the Aviva for vaccination spends hours in a queue is false.


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## Salvadore (17 May 2021)

Leo said:


> No, I'm saying your assertion that everyone going to the Aviva for vaccination spends hours in a queue is false.


I didn’t make that assertion. I said that anyone I know who’s been vaccinated in the Aviva has experienced significant waiting time. This remains the case.


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## Sunny (17 May 2021)

Leo said:


> Is this an ongoing issue or has it gotten worse since the HSE had to shut down almost the entirety of their IT system and anything that was connected to it?



Think it is an ongoing issue. I don't think it is every day but there are frequent reports of long delays at that location.


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## Leo (17 May 2021)

Salvadore said:


> I didn’t make that assertion. I said that anyone I know who’s been vaccinated in the Aviva has experienced significant waiting time. This remains the case.


So the other poster is making it up then!


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## Salvadore (17 May 2021)

Leo said:


> So the other poster is making it up then!


No. I said that anyone _*I*_ know who’s been vaccinated in the Aviva has had the same experience.


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## Prosper (17 May 2021)

Aviva today around 2:30pm. No queue.


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## Leo (17 May 2021)

Salvadore said:


> No. I said that anyone _*I*_ know who’s been vaccinated in the Aviva has had the same experience.


So it's been a feature of yours and your acquaintance's and some other people's experience. Many others have faced no such issue.


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## Sunny (17 May 2021)

Why is there a rush whenever someone complains to basically accuse them of making something up or treating them like they have committed treason? I am not aware of anyone who said there were two hour delays at the Aviva every day but there have constant complaints about that venue that you haven't seen alsewhere.

The attitude that people should be grateful just to get vaccine is pretty pathetic if it means accepting that an elderly person should just accept two hours standing in the elements. People can be grateful for getting the vaccine while at the same time not expect to be treated like cattle even if it only happens infrequently.  They are not mutually exclusive.

The OP made a very balanced post and yet one or two people have reacted like he has a hidden agenda....bizarre


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## Shirazman (17 May 2021)

Sunny said:


> The attitude that people should be grateful just to get vaccine is pretty pathetic if it means accepting that an elderly person should just accept two hours standing in the elements.



As a (reasonably) elderly person myself, I find that we're much more phlegmatic and philosophial about such minor things.     In my experience it's the youngsters who tend to moan about everything that goes wrong.     

That said, I was in a short queue (approx. 15 people), aged between 60 and 70 for my Covid jab last week and one of our number couldn't keep her mouth shut - constantly moaning about the delay (about 15 minutes from entry to being processed) and commenting on the advanced age of some of the older people in our little queue!  So far as was possible, given the queueing constraints, everyone else completely ignored her and tried to give her as wide a berth as possible.    It's such a shame that she wasn't assigned to the Aviva where she'd have been in her element with loads to complain about!


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## Prosper (17 May 2021)

Attached is another photo taken just before 7pm this evening to add to the one I posted earlier. Again no long queue. This is what I've seen every day for the last two weeks since I was vaccinated except for two days when the queue was longer.


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## peemac (17 May 2021)

Knowing someone who is working in the Punchestown centre, a noticeable number of people pay no heed to their appointed time and just assume that they can turn up anytime after their allotted time.

This causes delays at certain times.

Maybe there should be and "incentive" to turn up within an hour of your schedule time. For example a separate queue that takes up to 2 hours to get you jabbed, thus ensuring all others are seen within 30 min of their allotted time.


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## Prosper (17 May 2021)

I haven't read every post in this thread but I'm sure nobody thinks your telling porkies. You said that it took 2.5 hours and I'm sure it did, just as it did for a friend of mine. But I'd say that's the exception rather than the rule.


Salvadore said:


> Anyone I know who’s been vaccinated in the Aviva has had the same experience


This I find harder to believe if by "same" you mean a 2 or 2.5 hour process. As I said before, over the last two weeks I've been walking past the Aviva every day and what I've seen would suggest that everyone you spoke to were just as unlucky as you.



Salvadore said:


> This has been a feature of Aviva vaccinations from the start


@Leo said that this is not true and I agree with him.


Salvadore said:


> Well when I arrived Friday the queue snaked along in six rows between the stadium and elverys shop


At least they had some shelter from the rain and weren't queueing out in the open down Lansdowne Road.


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## Ceist Beag (18 May 2021)

Sunny said:


> Why is there a rush whenever someone complains to basically accuse them of making something up or treating them like they have committed treason? I am not aware of anyone who said there were two hour delays at the Aviva every day but there have constant complaints about that venue that you haven't seen alsewhere.
> 
> The attitude that people should be grateful just to get vaccine is pretty pathetic if it means accepting that an elderly person should just accept two hours standing in the elements. People can be grateful for getting the vaccine while at the same time not expect to be treated like cattle even if it only happens infrequently.  They are not mutually exclusive.
> 
> The OP made a very balanced post and yet one or two people have reacted like he has a hidden agenda....bizarre


The irony that you're attacking posters for being, in your opinion, extreme in their views, by then posting this extreme view of their posts! Committed treason? Treated like cattle? Come on Sunny, are we so touchy to any criticism now? 
We're talking about a vaccine that has been developed in record breaking time to fight a virus that is a 1 in 100 year pandemic and people are complaining about a 2 hour wait? I've had to wait over an hour in my GP for a scheduled appointment for goodness sake!
This is a first world problem if ever I heard one. I know it's a human condition that we complain no matter how good life is but try and keep some perspective on things please.


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## Sunny (18 May 2021)

Ceist Beag said:


> The irony that you're attacking posters for being, in your opinion, extreme in their views, by then posting this extreme view of their posts! Committed treason? Treated like cattle? Come on Sunny, are we so touchy to any criticism now?
> We're talking about a vaccine that has been developed in record breaking time to fight a virus that is a 1 in 100 year pandemic and people are complaining about a 2 hour wait? I've had to wait over an hour in my GP for a scheduled appointment for goodness sake!
> This is a first world problem if ever I heard one. I know it's a human condition that we complain no matter how good life is but try and keep some perspective on things please.



What has the development of the vaccine got to do with basic logistical skills around giving the vaccine. This is complete nonsense. The HSE didn't create the vaccine yet you seem to be peddling a narrative that they deserve great credit for that.

Read the original post. It was not someone blasting the HSE or anyone involved but yet look at the response he got. There have been constant complaints about the Aviva Stadium that haven't been seen at other venues like the Helix. Nobody claimed it was every day but this idea that we should all stay quiet and  just be grateful that we have a vaccine is ridiculous. Why is the OP not entitled to ask the question why he was expected to queue outside for over two hours and if there is something wrong at that venue that could be approved? After all, we have been hearing about NPHET that if anywhere is too busy, we should just leave. Yet we seem think crowds gathering at vaccination centres is ok. 
Nobody is comparing the issue of queueing for over two hours with world hunger or what is going on in Gaza but I am getting tired of people believing that the HSE and anything to do with Coronavirus is above criticism.


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## Ceist Beag (18 May 2021)

I don't see anything wrong with the response he got - nobody attacked the OP? One poster (Paul O'M) disagrees with the view of the OP, which he is perfectly entitled to do. Another poster (Leo) pointed out that not everyone had the same delays, again there was no personal attack there. I don't see what exactly you are objecting to here Sunny. There are different views on the matter, isn't that allowed? I haven't see anything personal in there. Of course the OP is entitled to ask the question - are others not allowed to answer it in a manner that doesn't agree with the view of the OP?


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## Leo (18 May 2021)

Note it is not acceptable tp post pictures where members of the public are clearly identifiable.


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