Housebound Glasgow pensioner, 71, STILL waiting on first Covid jag after six months

Kenneth Harper, 71, has been left unable to move past his front door or see his family for over a year now due to fears of the deadly virus.

In line with everyone else his own age, he should have received his first Covid jag in February as the Scottish Government rolled out the vaccination programme among those over the age of 70.

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Now - after the Glasgow Times stepped in – an appointment has been secured for Mr Harper to receive his first jag at the start of August.  

But, for five months, Mr Harper’s exasperated partner, Carol Wallace, had been desperately trying to secure the date.

She said: “Ken’s medical problems mean he has been housebound for years now and because of the virus, he does not want to go to a vaccination centre. He is scared in case he catches it, so we had to cancel his first appointment in Easterhouse.

“We were hoping that a district nurse would come to the house to vaccinate Ken, but we got nowhere with it.

“Every second day I was on the phone to the NHS and they said that there was nothing that they could do. This went on for months and months and still, nothing came of it.”

After a breakthrough, an appointment was eventually secured in April. The nurse, however, did not appear at the couple’s Tollcross address.

After Carol raised the issue with the NHS, a second date was then set in July for Kenneth to receive his first jag. To the couple’s shock, the nurse failed to show up again.

“We didn’t get a cancellation or a notification to say they weren’t coming”, said Carol.

“They just didn’t turn up.

“It hasn’t been easy, it has been a constant routine of phoning and phoning and phoning. Even my grandson who is 21 has had his jag but Ken hasn’t and he is 71.”

Throughout the pandemic, Carol has also been caring for her daughter twice-a-week as she recovers from a spinal operation.

The fear of bringing the virus home to Kenneth has caused the 71-year-old “constant worry.”

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She said: “I only see my daughter twice a week because she needs assistance after two operations and I go to the shops and that is my life.

“I am constantly worried because I am the one who is in and out of the flat. I don’t have much of a life because I need to be so careful in case I take it home, it has been a constant worry since the start of the outbreak.

“I have done everything I can to avoid spreading the virus – I adhere to the rules, don’t see my friends and only go out when it is absolutely essential.

“Ken hasn’t seen his daughter or grandchildren for so long, not since last March I don’t think. They don’t want to spread it to him, either.”

And due to the stress of the situation, Carol and Kenneth’s relative, Lorraine Kenny, decided to take the matter into her own hands.

She said: “I took the case on myself to alleviate Carol’s stress and to try to push for his jags and I phoned and phoned but again, nothing happened.

“I was given two different numbers to call and one of them isn’t actually being manned at the moment due to Covid-19, it is completely out of service.”

Although Mr Harper has now received his appointment – after two attempts – his family feel as though he had been “forgotten about” and hope that nobody else goes through the same situation.

Lorraine added: “We just didn’t know what to do or who else we could contact. It is as though he had been forgotten about, we didn’t know what more we could do. We hope nobody else goes through this.

“He was been let down badly by society and by the NHS. He should have been among those who received the very first doses.”

NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde has since apologised to Mr Harper for allowing him to fall through the cracks.

A spokesman said: “We are very sorry to hear that Mr Harper has not yet received his vaccination and apologise for any distress this has caused.

“We have made contact with Mr Harper and a new date is in place for his vaccination appointment.”