To decline Covid Booster?

I'm type 2 diabetic and don't have either after reacting badly to the last set of vaccines 2 years ago.

My Dad ended up with rheumatoid arthritis after getting both together as well as the shingles vaccine - they said his immune system was overstimulated. So I'm taking my chances.

You don't have to do either at your doctor's surgery. Just book in at a local pharmacy and do them separately if you'd prefer. I had flu jab at maternity appt then booked my Covid in a pharmacy for another day.
Google book a Covid vaccine or book a flu vaccine and it comes up.

OP obviously you can separate the doses if you are concerned , also I would discuss the adverse reaction to the flu vaccine with your GP.
And work on back up childcare / emergency help with the baby for peace of mind , my DH had an unpredictable job and we had no family in this country so I had extremely reliable helpful babysitters locally who knew my kids well and would help me
Out if I was poorly

Probably just computer records not differentiating then when they sent automated messages.

Had both on the 6th October and no issues except one sore arm for a couple of days (other arm didn't ache at all). My friend always feels ill after her flu jab. I have never experienced that when having the flu jab or covid jab and just feel normal.

@magneticpeasant I had seen the tables, and I don’t think I am eligible by that criteria - my asthma is not poorly-controlled.

It's in tables 3 and 4 of the COVID chapter of the green book:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-the-green-book-chapter-14a

Previous boosters (certainly in the spring) were more narrowly focused. This autumn's covid booster eligibility is more in line with the flu vaccine eligibility.

Sorry to hijack, but I am wondering why I have had a text inviting me for a covid booster. I have asthma and was not eligible for the boosters previously as mine is well-controlled and the booster was only for asthmatics who have uncontrolled asthma.

Have the eligibility criteria changed recently?

(I had my flu jab at a pharmacy last week with zero side effects)

Exactly the sane for me. No.problems at all and I have asthma (most of the time not problematic).

You don't have to have the covid if you don't want to, or you could ask to have it separately. Our GP run's clinics every weekend for several weeks.

I had both jabs 2 weeks ago. I had sore arms for a few days and one got hot and swollen but went down again.

I know several people who have had both and nobody has been affected like you say your friends/family were.

Not a dumb question at all.
Antibodies have been found in breast milk.

So is my daughter, and she's had the boosters with no effect at all, just like millions of other people. Unfortunately, like your case, the few with adverse effects are the ones all over the media, and not all the others.
I'm sorry you've been affected this way.

Incidentally my dd's asthma and lung damage was been caused directly by the nasty dose of covid she had a couple of years ago, and she now has long covid. The last thing she needs is to catch it again.

I've had both at the same time and it's fine.

Always have the flu jab as I'm also asthmatic.

I wasn't offered the covid jab last year (then got covid for the first time). I've been offered it this year but the travel involved to get it is prohibitive cost wise. And I'm two weeks in from recovering from it and a chest infection so too late anyway!

Yes of course you can refuse if you want. Although the fact your elderly grandparents reacted badly doesn’t mean you will. If you get ill you’d just have to cope so I’d just have the vaccines and take some paracetamol if need be. As there’s no general vaccination programme for flu and Covid across the U.K. I am guessing you must have health issues which mean the Covid jab is advisable?

also if your GP and friend had them both at the same time how do you or they know it was the Covid jab that made them feel ill?

Have been getting both together and no issues at all. Just had mine yesterday (moderna & flu) and arm is sore, but expected that. It's already better than it was over night.

Same.

I've just had Covid- I would get the vaccine!

I have mine separetly - it’s easier to have the Covid on Nov 4 and flu another time because more chemists do walk in flu then walk in Covid

You should be able to book them separately. I had both jabs recently and separately, about a week apart. In my case, I have a weak left arm, so preferred to avoid a possible sore right arm. You can have them at the same time, and for many people that's the most convenient, but it's not compulsory.

BTW I didn't have significant side effects from either jab.

The only people who can tell you whether you can reschedule either or both jabs is wherever you're booked in to have them. Surgeries differ hugely. The one I am registered with now is hugely flexible and obliging. The surgery I was with during the worst of COVID times was completely inflexible and whatever the opposite of obliging is. Of course you can say you don't want one or the other or both. It's an offer, not a compulsory summons. For what it's worth, I think you would be foolish to risk getting either Covid or flu, particularly as you are asthmatic, if you have sole responsibility for a baby, but the decision is, of course, yours to make. Similarly, no one else can tell you how badly you might react. My husband has just had his and had no reaction at all (same day, same arm). I didn't have mine because I had a bad cold and the nurse advised me not to because I am asthmatic and prone to chest problems. I will have them next week now though. I'm not assuming I won't have a reaction just because he didn't.

Unfortunately this happens and people see it as "rare" or tin foil hat if you say this, I hope whatever your effects were are recoverable

Me too. I had both mine on Monday. Felt slightly under the weather that night and my arm was sore, but I was absolutely fine the next day.

I got my flu jab two weeks ago but declined the Covid jab. I was foolish enough to get the Covid jab in 2022 due to the insane and draconian rules that were in Ireland at the time. I haemorrhaged for two days after the Covid jab and got diagnosed with uterine cancer in 2023. I will regret it for the rest of my life.

We’ve both had them together. Apart from sore arms we were fine.

So am I but pfizer injured me. Asthma is actually high serotonin from mast cell activation syndrome (mças). Turns out having mcas is a risk factor for both long covid and vaccine injury.