COVID-19 vaccines

Booked my jabs for early June and early Aug. There was no provision for telling them about my clotting stuff but it says they do some kind of medical history review at the time of the jab. I don't know if that means they just log it and jab you with whatever they have or if they have a choice and jab you with the most effective for your situation. Second jab right after 12hr and before Transiberica so if first makes me sick I might push the second one back after the race.

The one I went to had 4 queues one after another, to get through the different levels of "who are you and should you be here?". One of those queues was for the clinical screening check. They asked about allergies and clotting stuff there. Some folks did get sent home, but not many. And at mine they only had Pfizer.

ms_com now 48hrs post Pfizer #1 and thankfully same as me, only a sore arm. I would say tiredness, but she's always bloody tired.

For me the jab process included the following stages/screenings:-

Outside: Just checking booking reference/time (they typed the booking reference nos into a tablet) and asking questions about any symptoms

Just inside the door: Second check about symptoms, temperature check, provided with a new mask

Properly inside: Non-medical screening confirming name/address/DOB, also asked for details about ethnicity (voluntary to answer)

Properly inside: Confirm name/address/DOB again. Medical screening by a nurse (in scrubs with local hospital ID). Asked about medication being taken, any conditions, etc. There were doctors on hand to deal with trickier questions. Told which vaccine they were giving.

Actual jab: Confirm name/address/DOB again.

Very little privacy, I could hear all about the medication that the person next to me was on. (This idn't bother me as I'm boringly healthy.)

I'd guess you'd mention it to the nurse and they'd call over a doctor if they needed backup.

(The name/address/DOB confirmation is just standard practice, I have to do it about 5 times during the different stages of blood donation.)

Very little privacy

I noticed that too. Similarly, I am boringly healthy so didn't bother me. But then I noticed a more secluded area with a number on the outside like one of the open desks so assumed you request your conversation in there instead of out in the open. But this wasn't sign posted.

There was also one male presenting and one female presenting tech(? not sure if nurse, doctor, practitioner or whatever) administering the vaccine. And a couple of people ahead of me asked to switch queues.

I’m now two days shy of three weeks post jab no 1 in the trial where I got either AZ or Valneva and I’ve developed a very painful left arm which is the one I got the jab in.

I really suspect it’s too long since I got the jab to be related but a bit worried as I can barely lift my arm.

I used a floor buffer at work two days ago which was quite physical so hope it’s just from that.

I was due my second jab on 7th June, cancelled and re-booked for Thursday (27th May) so bringing that second slot forwards is possible... I could have had a slot this morning but there's big stuff going down with work today

The one I went to (St Thomas 2) we had to wait several minutes after they’d put my answers into the computer for “the doctor”* to ok the jab.

(* Not that one. ** )
( ** Ok, possibly that one.)

My wife was thinking of trying this for August to get some space between having it and travelling, but was a bit wary of having to properly cancel and losing out on that slot altogether and them telling her there was nothing available anyway. She was hoping to just do it at a walk-in centre a week before leaving but I see now that they're first dose only.

i had my first (az) jab 6 weeks ago, but wasn't given an appointment for the second - should i just book one online or wait for a txt?

Check online, if you're not eligible it won't let you book.

Let me book online, am 30

got a message from le GP asking us to pop in for zap #2 next week - a full 4 weeks earlier than previously advised. they must have spares kicking about.

didnt the advice go down to 8 weeks from 12 weeks recently?

did it? i must have missed that. i am not complaining.

Yup. The NHS central booking site currently says "get the 2nd dose 8 to 12 weeks after getting your 1st dose". It used to be "get the 2nd dose 11 to 12 weeks after getting your 1st dose".

There was something mentioned about a bigger gap between doses being more effective.

"The study found vaccine efficacy reached 82.4% after a second dose in those with a dosing interval of 12 weeks or more (95% confidence interval 62.7% to 91.7%). If the two doses were given less than six weeks apart the efficacy was only 54.9% (CI 32.7% to 69.7%)."

https://www.bmj.com/content/372/bmj.n326

That's for AZ. Other studies are available.

A longer gap is better but not having had your second jab when the next wave hits is worse, so it’s all about guessing when that will be.

But you can avoid getting it with isolation, etc. Whereas if you have to move about, you want the most effective preventative methods.

I could push my second dose to get better protection (maybe) but then I'd not have a second dose heading to Spain so that's probably even less effective.

The 50s and over were advised to get their second jab after 8 weeks.

I think it's still 12 weeks for the under 50s.

It's a numbers game, dropping the over 50s down to 8 weeks will reduce the number of deaths overall by boosting the protection earlier, but it may lead to an increase the number of incidents of Covid-19 in that cohort although they should be less severe.

Again, remember that vaccination isn't binary, it doesn't prevent infection, it's about lessening the severity of the symptoms when you do get infected and, ideally, giving the body the ability to fight off the infection straight away before any symptoms present and before the host becomes anywhere near infectious.

Tried cancelling and rebooking my second dose but still got the same timeframe (same slot was still the earliest available).

How does that work if you've already booked your 12 week jab? You can't reschedule without cancelling your booking so I'd be wary of doing that

I think it's still 12 weeks for the under 50s.

Theres my answer, cheers

I had already made an appointment for dose 2 at 12 weeks, at the local ‘big vaccination place’ but was subsequently invited via the GP Practice for one sooner (which was pretty immediate but ended up being a 10-week gap).
I’m 45 so didn’t fit the over-50 threshold but in the Southwest we are well on with the cohorts - the text was right after that policy change to 8-weeks was announced so mustve been associated.
I had the GP surgery dose on Sat then went in to cancel the subsequent, original, booking like a good citizen would, and it’d disappeared. so the system seemed intelligent enough to know I no longer needed another jab.
Or.. it’d cancelled when I rebooked.
TLdR : I didn’t have to cancel in order to re-book.

This vaccination process really has been brilliantly operated hasn't it?