Covid-19 vaccination experiences

I'm still waiting to hear about getting my booster, even though it's now 7 months since I had my second dose and I've had the NHS letter telling me to book it 3 weeks ago.

My GP told me when I spoke to her on the phone last week that in this area they have taken all Covid vaccination out of the hands of the GP's who last time organised it very well as a group of GP practices, including home visits for those of us who are housebound.

I phoned the helpline, and was told they are not doing any home visits, and my nearest vaccination centre with wheelchair access (but no accessible loos), is more than a half hour drive away. Since I can't sit up in a car for that long, get very travel sick, and need to lie down after vaccinations, that's out of the question.

I then found on my GP practice website that they will contact housebound patients some time in November. So I wait. As does my daughter...
 
Lack of confidence in the ability of organisations to organise an excess of drinks in a brewery is why I decided to take matters into my own hands, given the performance for the first 2 jabs here (at home - the nearest place to get jabs then was about a mile way, nowhere near a bus stop - policy seems to have been to have them away from places people would normally go), and having heard nothing about the booster, and having spotted a sign saying 'we now do vaccines' yards away from the bus stop in town when I picked up my new specs...

I had my booster last Tuesday.

Went out when I could barely stand (excess cognitive load in the morning, affecting me physically, for those interested in such things), mainly movement, and crutches, that kept me upright.

Buses worked, for a change, and I arrived in town 25 minutes early, so sat, on a bench outside the pharmacy, until 10 minutes before my 'appointment'.

I was then directed to sit inside, on a seat allocated for post jab waiting, while new arrivals were directed into the pre jab seating queue. This was stressful, as I was sat, in the wrong place, for around 30 minutes before being allowed to get in the queued pre jab seating.

Eventually I got to get jabbed (pfizer), which was over a minute injecting, with a much bigger gauge needle than for the az jabs I'd had before, so I am 'unsure' about exactly how much I was given (the AZ jabs took 2-3 seconds).

I was refused a flu jab, despite having paperwork which said I was entitled, and having checked that that location did them, on the spurious basis that I was not over 65. So it's unlikely I will get one as I have no reason to go into town before...well....next June?

Side effects;

Shoulder pain/sensation of lump, movement reaction caused by it, much worse than from the AZ jabs. More abdo muscle pain and gastric symptoms than I would have expected from that trip (although my recent experience is 'limited'). Low grade fever, quite noticeable but not concerning enough to make me find a thermometer. Feel 'sick', viral sick, but this is combined with PEM so saying what's a side effect, and what's PEM, isn't really that possible - only that as well as PEM there are aspects which I associate with having a virus.

PEM, really quite noticeable, on top of typical PEM things like muscle pain (of several types), sore throat, headache, vertigo (mild), shoot me now syndrome, cognitive issues, etc. despite making progress in several areas over the last couple/few weeks last Tuesday everything stopped. I've had one meal since, the rest of my diet has been junk that's easy to prepare and requires no/little thought/effort (e.g. stuff from airfryer, frozen pizzas, just eat, etc. - not food food). Various routines that I use to tell me how I am are not being completed e.g. straightening the bed, kitchen cleanup etc.

i.e. PEM.

all 'minor' but 'irritating', as I was, finally, making progress with things that have needed doing, and things have now stopped again.

ETA - forgot, last Tuesday night I went to bed around 11.30PM (normally it would be 4am) and slept like the dead, other than a few bathroom breaks. What's confusing is I have an air purifier in the bedroom, set to run at full speed between 12 and 1am, it's quite loud at full speed, and it didn't wake/disturb me. Gradually sleep has returned to a more normal pattern over the last week, which is annoying.
 
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Mij said:
There is a revised recommendation here that states that it's not necessary to update every 10 years, but now revised to 30 years. I read another study (which I can't find atm) that states we are protected up to 40 years. I'm at the 30 year mark to update my tetanus and will consider it later.
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Ah, thanks. When I had my last tetanus jab - when I was at uni - whoever administered it told me that I'd had enough to last me the rest of my life. I'd better bear in mind that things have changed.
 
Mij said:
second Hep B jab 2 months later that I could hardly walk 2 blocks.
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Hep B is known to be a big issue in ME. There was a small clinical trial with Hep B in ME in the 90s in the UK I think, and 19/20 had their ME get worse. Measles is the most important to have with ME in my opinion, though I am not up to date on the science, but Hep B is the most important to avoid if the risk of actual Hep B is not high, again only in my opinion.
 
alex3619 said:
Hep B is known to be a big issue in ME. There was a small clinical trial with Hep B in ME in the 90s in the UK I think, and 19/20 had their ME get worse. Measles is the most important to have with ME in my opinion, though I am not up to date on the science, but Hep B is the most important to avoid if the risk of actual Hep B is not high, again only in my opinion.
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In the early 90's Canada received Hep B vaccines from the UK that were later determined by Dr. Byron Hyde to be contaminated. The Canadian government were aware of this and rolled them out anyways.

Did I received a contaminated vaccine?
 
Mij said:
There is a revised recommendation here that states that it's not necessary to update every 10 years, but now revised to 30 years. I read another study (which I can't find atm) that states we are protected up to 40 years. I'm at the 30 year mark to update my tetanus and will consider it later. I want my shingles vacc first.
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The PDF link I posted seems to have 'timed out', so here is what is says:

Background. Many adult immunization schedules recommend that tetanus and diphtheria vaccination be performed every 10 years. In light of current epidemiological trends of disease incidence and rates of vaccine-associated adverse events, the 10-year revaccination schedule has come into question.

Methods. We performed cross-sectional analysis of serum antibody titers in 546 adult subjects stratified by age or sex. All serological results were converted to international units after calibration with international serum standards.
Results. Approximately 97% of the population was seropositive to tetanus and diphtheria as defined by a protective serum antibody titer of ≥0.01 IU/mL. Mean antibody titers were 3.6 and 0.35 IU/mL against tetanus and diphtheria, respectively. Antibody responses to tetanus declined with an estimated half-life of 14 years (95% confidence interval, 11–17 years), whereas antibody responses to diphtheria were more long-lived and declined with an estimated half-life of 27 years (18–51 years). Mathematical models combining antibody magnitude and duration predict that 95% of the population will remain protected against tetanus and diphtheria for ≥30 years without requiring further booster vaccination.

Conclusions. These studies demonstrate that durable levels of protective antitoxin immunity exist in the majority of vaccinated individuals. Together, this suggests that it may no longer be necessary to administer booster vaccinations every 10 years and that the current adult vaccination schedule for tetanus and diphtheria should be revisited.

You can follow the PDF link here:
https://news.ohsu.edu/2016/03/22/study-shows-tetanus-shots-needed-every-30-years-not-every-10
 
Wonko said:
Eventually I got to get jabbed (pfizer), which was over a minute injecting, with a much bigger gauge needle than for the az jabs I'd had before, so I am 'unsure' about exactly how much I was given (the AZ jabs took 2-3 seconds).
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According to health Canada guidelines:

Residents of long-term care homes, retirement homes or seniors in other congregate living settings, adults 70 years of age and older, and all eligible immunocompromised individuals are recommended to receive the full dose (100 mcg) if being offered Moderna for a third or booster dose.

For all other individuals less than 70 years of age, if offering Moderna as a booster dose, a half dose (50 mcg) is recommended.

If offering Pfizer-BioNTech for a third or booster dose, the full dose (30 mcg) is recommended.

My 2 Pfizer jabs took less than 4 seconds.

I'm assuming that those who received 2 AZ jabs were given a larger dose of Pfizer? One minute is kind of a long time for the booster jab @Wonko.
 
Samuel said:
what would you have changed if you had waited? e.g. what kind of information would you have seen that would make you decide not to get vaccinated, or protocol that you would have used, or different vaccine, etc.?'

[ETA: or would you still be waiting? also in case it clarifies this is not a rhetorical or idle question. sounded like you had specific reasons.]
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Let me think a moment.
Umm, thinking thing is broken. Lessee here.

Had I simply bothered to call Derek Enlander’s office, I would have reconsidered and probably bailed on it. He’s retired but still shares info and so forth. But I tend to fail at making and maintaining lines of communication without conscious thought, and thought is more broken than I perceive.
Oh, the point: DE had a practice of only M.E/Fibromyalgia patients, and thus has a critical mass of information. What I heard _after_ is that there was large number of patients who had reactions. They had the data early, since with 100% M.E/Fm pts, a non-trivial number had the shot before I did.

A little later, I could have asked my G.P, but the one person in the office (that I knew of) who had a clue about M.E was out. With Covid. He had one covid-aggravating pre-condition (that I know of) and had a rough time with the virus.

Net: I talked to no one in medicine about it, and was left to the internet for info. Total up the internet and it’s gossip in better clothes.

With a) more info and b) less defective thought process on my part, I would have chosen one of the following:
A: Wait for a different and older tech vaccine, not the one of the mRNAs. I don’t have any fears about the technology, but it is relatively new to medicine.
But what if it’s not the type of vaccine, but something else? Then it would be wise to
B: Wait for a vaccine that has good results with us, or a lower dose of one of the existing vaccines. There will be no official, gov’t sponsored study for that purpose, so I’d have to wait for some practice with many ME/Fb patients to gather enough anecdotal data.

While I had some concern that I wouldn’t do well with the covid/Wuhan virus, I also figured I had a small positive going on. Living in a crowded, filthy city and a 200-unit building, I must have been exposed to small doses of the virus a few times. That does provide some level of immunity and a better outcome with other virus, no reason it shouldn’t work for this one. Recently, a least one study has shown that exposure to similar coronavirus confers some immunity to SARS-2. For example, people exposed to SARS-1 fare pretty well with SARS-2, even though Original SARS was a decade back.

Net: The other decision was to wait for something with some form of evidence for safety with us, and if none existed get a half dose, or one dose. At this point it looks like _none_ would have been a better choice.
 
Trish said:
I'm still waiting to hear about getting my booster, even though it's now 7 months since I had my second dose and I've had the NHS letter telling me to book it 3 weeks ago.

My GP told me when I spoke to her on the phone last week that in this area they have taken all Covid vaccination out of the hands of the GP's who last time organised it very well as a group of GP practices, including home visits for those of us who are housebound.

I phoned the helpline, and was told they are not doing any home visits, and my nearest vaccination centre with wheelchair access (but no accessible loos), is more than a half hour drive away. Since I can't sit up in a car for that long, get very travel sick, and need to lie down after vaccinations, that's out of the question.

I then found on my GP practice website that they will contact housebound patients some time in November. So I wait. As does my daughter...
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Always trust and bow to your Benevolent Government, it knows what’s best for
Itself.
 
Wonko said:
I know, that's why it was noted.
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The pharmacist at our Tesco does very slow 'flu jabs, as he thinks people get less soreness. Doesn't make any difference to me, but could it have been someone with their own theories about it being less painful?

My Pfizer was done at a vaccination centre by a med student, and got stabbed in in two seconds like any other intramuscular injection. Still didn't have any soreness until I absent-mindedly rubbed moisturiser vigorously into the area after swimming, when it felt like a bit of a bruise.

If the stars ever line up to make it convenient, you can pay for a 'flu jab at a pharmacy. Everyone over 50 gets it free this year anyway, but when I first saw 'flu vaccinations being offered at Tesco, I decided that nine quid was an absolute bargain if it saved me sitting in an overheated doctor's waiting room full of bored children and adults on interminable phone calls, and waiting at least 40 minutes beyond my actual appointment time. But when I got there (no queue, pharmacist ready and waiting), he insisted that I was on an immunosuppressant medication and therefore qualified for a free one anyway. It's a bit of a stretch to describe sulfasalazine as immunosuppressive, but I wasn't going to argue. They've given it to me free ever since.
 
@Sisyphus

I actually keep changing my mind. Dr Weir and Dr Jaeger seem to not be recommending vaccination for ME and LC patients for different reasons. I haven't even recovered fully from the flu vaccine yet but almost there. I don't think 3 colds in 8 weeks have helped much. But when the colds are gone I feel much stronger.

Anyway the new variant might utterly derail the entire vaccination schedule. I guess this was my greatest fear.

What I'd really LOVE is some data on double vaccination and how less likely you are to be hospitalised, get long covid, end up on oxygen, etc. That would make it so much easier to make a decision about the booster.

But I really don't want a 3 to 4 month relapse again on the back of this booster and I'm very concerned about long term injury. Check c19vaxreactions.com the mRNAs seem much worse making over 80% of reactions.

I'd prefer a moderna half dose. But I have not had much luck finding anywhere that will give me one in the west midlands.
 
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strategist said:
https://maryannedemasi.com/publicat...nts-in-covid-19-vaccine-trials-under-reported

As to how that relates to ME/CFS I don't know. ME/CFS patients are not like the average person and their responses to the vaccines haven't been studied.
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> If all Covid-19 vaccine trials are funded, designed, conducted, and analysed by the manufacturers - which is known to distort the results to favour the sponsor’s aims - then more should be done to gain access to the data to allow for independent scrutiny.

that sounds familiar, and so does the hysteria diagnosis and the statistical fudging and the questionnaire biasing. pace etc. idk if this particular fact [data not available] is correct, but the facts in general do seem like they can be verified.

but i am not so much concened about normal people here as i am ignorant of that topic; i want studies on those who have diseases that are not being studied. and low doses available if that makes sense. unless teh normal people stuff really is dodgy.

idk if the normal person stuff is being investigated by scientists and others [equivalent of dt etc.] who are not anti-vax. if they are not, it seems like they should be also. i am not feeling like we are anywhere exept at the bottom of the garbage dump. no means of deciding.
 
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Trish said:
I'm still waiting to hear about getting my booster, even though it's now 7 months since I had my second dose and I've had the NHS letter telling me to book it 3 weeks ago.

My GP told me when I spoke to her on the phone last week that in this area they have taken all Covid vaccination out of the hands of the GP's who last time organised it very well as a group of GP practices, including home visits for those of us who are housebound.

I phoned the helpline, and was told they are not doing any home visits, and my nearest vaccination centre with wheelchair access (but no accessible loos), is more than a half hour drive away. Since I can't sit up in a car for that long, get very travel sick, and need to lie down after vaccinations, that's out of the question.

I then found on my GP practice website that they will contact housebound patients some time in November. So I wait. As does my daughter...
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Well, I now know the answer to my question. Knock on the door a hour ago. Paramedic come to give me by booster. Pfizer this time. And I managed to persuade him to do my daughter's booster too while he was here. No advance warning - as before with the 2 AZ doses, he just turned up.

With the AZ I had only a very slight reaction to the first dose and none with the second. Daughter had some symptoms for a week or so, but nothing too awful.

I'll let you know in a day or 2 whether we have any reaction to the Pfizer booster.
 
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