Are we meant to be getting COVID booster jabs?

I had a Covid booster when I went for my over 55s flu jab late last year.

It was all done in a big hall where they were doing Covid and flu vacs and they asked some questions positively encouraging me to answer to be eligible for Covid too - “are you really sure you don’t care for or visit anyone vulnerable?”

I'm a bit confused by this. Where are you living. They offered vaccines to over 5's previously (I'm in England). My DD is currently 8yo and had a COVID vaccine (I think 2 doses), so anyone 12+ had an opportunity to have one.

I doubt they will offer to this age group now. Children were already low risk and most will have had it at least once by now and have some immunity.

No the point of your post was to say that the word selfish in regards to Covid is boring. Calling people selfish who could stay in for a few days but choose not to is valid and whilst some people don’t have the privilege of paid sick leave, others of us of us don’t have the privilege of being bored by covid however much we wish otherwise. You were being sneery and pompous.

The whole point of my post was that some people cannot do that. If you can, great. But calling people selfish who maybe can't afford to take time off work is selfish in itself.

Is that why the majority of the people bragging that they don’t test don’t test though? Or is it simply because they can’t be arsed?

Ive certainly encountered more of the latter, which is who my comment was directed at.

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Cheers for the laugh. You are healthy adults. You have a cold.

You are not vulnerable. Leave the boosters for the people that need them.

I'm on day 9 of testing positive and still feel rubbish!
It's just as bad as when I had it in 2021

I currently am not well enough for work so it wouldn’t make any difference if I wasn’t getting paid, I still couldn’t do it. Wouldn’t it make more sense for people with symptoms who are able to take some time to rest or wfh to limit their interactions with others, benefiting those who would suffer financially from illness and also those more likely to be seriously ill? Rather than an eye roll, yawn and fuck you sort of attitude.

I’m 66 and was invited for a Covid booster and an annual flu jab last November. Some of my friends have had another booster recently as they are over 75 but as people here have confined, younger people are not eligible for free jabs. My sister , aged 54, was not eligible for a Covid jab last November either. I think the boosters were given to a wider population last winter to reduce the load on the NHS in the flu season.

I caught Covid in January even after having the booster, I tested because my other sister who lives in the US had stayed with me over Christmas and the “heavy cold” she’d had turned out to be Covid - she tested when back in the US.

i did have some tests left from when we were testing regularly to visit Mum I’m her care home which were just within date ( 3 years) but they are now well out of date. I read recently that using out of date tests can give false readings so I guess I need to throw my stock away.

Im not sure if I will test again anyway, not much point.

I had it two weeks ago and DH had it just after me. The Amazon tests are exactly the same as the ones from the chemist. We had some left over tests and I felt rotten (not much of a cough mind you just a mild flu like illness). We got a new box at the local pharmacy for £5. My mother is elderly and in poor health, MIL is a hypochondriac with health anxiety and I have colleagues with vulnerable family. I worked from home until I got a negative test. I have seen a lot of people saying they have it so there is a surge in it now. Two colleagues had it a few weeks before I did.

The spring boosters were available to buy privately for those not covered by the very limited NHS offering. They might still be available.

I know at least one NHS trust offering their staff boosters now, so I guess some big wave is on the way. The last big one seemed to be last August/September and wiped out a lot of staff whose NHS vaccinations had been almost a year previously, so I guess they are trying to avoid that again.

The word "selfish" in relation to Covid is so boring now. Not everyone is privileged enough to be able to stay at home for days.

Note that not all pharmacies participating in the Pharmadoctor private booster scheme are offering Novavax because of the issue with needing to use up the 5 dose vials within one day to make it economically viable for the pharmacy to order deliveries.

Some that are doing Novavax have a sliding price structure based on how many in a family or friendship group have made a booking for the same day.

So some people are having to pay more than £45-55 for Novavax if only two, three or four are booking at the same appointment. Some aren't doing single doses at all, and some are reported as have been charging £180 for two people at the same booking.

The pharmacy I booked with was only doing Pfizer.

Morrisons sell them and I imagine other supermarkets do too.

Anyone supporting elderly parents or with clinically vulnerable friends or family members I would have thought.

It's by no means certain yet that under 75s will be offered an autumn NHS booster.

I am early 70s. I received an NHS booster last October but my age group were not eligible for the spring booster, so I paid for a private jab (£75 for Pfizer) as I live with two vulnerable adults for whom I am an unpaid carer. (Unpaid carers of over 75s were also not eligible for the spring booster - so I could not get one as a carer.)

These are the current eligible cohorts for the NHS spring booster:

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/covid-19/covid-19-vaccination/getting-a-covid-19-vaccine/#:~:text=You%20or%20your%20child%20may,care%20home%20for%20older%20adults

I am sure you can get them on Amazon but I don't necessarily think it's a wise place to buy medical testing equipment.

I'm in the supermarket twice a week and Boots probably once a month and I've not seen any covid tests since probably mid 2022. I'm sure they're there if you're asking the pharmacist for them, but it's not like they're on the shelves or readily available.

I'm immunosuppressed, so required to test if I am ill. I have had it for 3 weeks, luckily it has been bad, but not dangerously so. I have all the jabs up to date, so that is probably why it is not worse

I have cancer and I wouldn’t dream of getting a booster jab.

I know! I don't know why they feel the need for the faux surprise. "Gosh covid? I'd forgotten about that hasn't it gone away?"
It's like they feel they are somehow superior because they are in such good health that covid is nothing to them.

I'm not testing again. You can buy tests in chemists, supermarkets, etc. I'm also not paying for any more vaccines as we aren't eligible now anyway

I'm on the border of Liverpool. We have a chain of chemists, Davey's chemists, offering drop in. Any age can get them. There's also been two health centers offering drop in and a health bus at different places. We are a region that has poor health and a lot of obesity, so that could be why.

I still test. My job still says five days off if you test positive, although testing isn't compulsory. I also visit a care home regularly.

I love how people come onto these threads and readily admit that:

1. They and everyone they know would be too selfish to test if they suspected they had covid
2. They can’t work out you can clearly very obviously buy Covid tests in the pharmacy

I find it surprising that all over 50s are getting the spring booster where you are. Are you in the UK?

All over 50s could get the flu jab here, and could get the autumn COVID booster if they had an underlying medical condition, but not the spring one.

There are still drop in centres here too.