Is it too much to ask to be vaccinated by someone who’s already had the jab?

We’re told that about a third of people with the coronavirus have no symptoms. How do I know if my vaccinator has been tested negative, and when?

Am I being unreasonable to want to be vaccinated by someone who, er, has themselves actually been vaccinated against Covid-19?

As I approach the jab and eventual liberation from effective house arrest, I am becoming a little nervous. Not about the inoculation itself. I have examined and rejected the argument that Bill Gates wants to take control of my mind. I’m not sure he’d find a use for it, to be honest. I don’t think either that it will alter my DNA or my sexuality – ideas, I believe, that form the “substance” of other conspiracy theories.

The Covid vaccine is perfectly safe, there’s no doubt about that, and even if it wasn’t it’s still worth it; but what about the vaccinator? How do I know that they haven’t got Covid? After all, we’re told that about a third of people with Covid, and can spread it, have no symptoms. How do I know if my vaccinator has been tested negative, and when?

Unreasonable or not, I don’t suppose I’m going to be given the choice of a vaccinated vaccinator, which would be very difficult to verify in any case. The idea of people being able to prove they’ve been vaccinated, by the way, is surely a good one, making for safer work and travel, but that’s another battle. Yet I’m not demanding anything, only expressing a choice. If there are no vaccinated staff available, then I am happy to linger in my self-isolation until there is one who can help. My personal triumphant return to the King Power Stadium will have to be delayed, and I’ll just have to order another bottle of Asda value Barolo to sedate me. I can wait.

I’d even be prepared to pay to be placed further back in the queue, for being so fussy.

I’d like the additional sense of security from the option of a vaccinated, Covid-negative nurse, like you’d order extra toppings on a pizza, and appreciate it’s more difficult to arrange. But the NHS doesn’t really do consumer choice – one of the reasons it is so efficient and able to deliver a world-beating vaccination programme.

So I suppose it’s the old NHS story, with its good and less good aspects. Even if I’m fortunate enough to be able to pay a premium for the jab I want, at the time I want, in the way I want, that’s not such a good thing for health care for the community as a whole (including me). But I do still wonder how sensible it is to allow non-vaccinated staff to work in hospitals or care homes (or schools, airlines and many other places for that matter). It may be inevitable, but it doesn’t feel quite right.