Are we meant to be getting COVID booster jabs?

[Blondiebeachbabe]

Posting here for traffic. Have googled, but it's unclear.

Me & DH both have covid right now. I feel okayish, but DH feels awful. Are we meant to be getting booster jabs? I'm sure it's been over a year since we had one, but the NHS App doesn't work any more, so I can't check.

We are 54 & 51, with no health conditions.

Thanks

That isn't the case we're I am. All over 50's have been offered boosters and we still have drop in centers.
The wards at my local hospitals that are going on lockdown because of Covid are mainly full of care home residents and the very elderly.

They still happen for those who are more vulnerable.
There is generally a spring and autumn booster for that group, in the same way that the]is group a]can also get a free autumn flu booster.

How do you know you've got covid?

I don't know anyone who still does Covid tests and without researching how I don't think I could even find a Covid test. They're not even free anymore are they?

Those who are more vulnerable can also get free testing kits via the NHS website.

Otherwise Covid tests are available in pretty much every supermarket or pharmacy.

The OP's already answered this.
She has tested.
She tested because they had contacts who had previously tested positive and told them. They had some old tests so used them.

My DH has Covid at the mo and so does my cleaner. Both tested when they lost their taste and smell. I’ve been offered a booster loads of times as I am Immuno suppressed but I’m not interested. DS and I both had it in 2021 and were both fine. Neither of us has caught it this time. DS was too young for the vax and hasn’t had the vax at all. DS and I have both had the flu jab this year though.

Ds still gets them because he's CV. He's had more jabs than the rest of us by far. Interestingly he's also the only one to have avoided covid (and yes he does test) despite being at school with his friends having it multiple times, and round us when we had it.

I got pleurisy after covid when I got it earlier this year, which I don't recommend to anyone. I still get pain from time to time.

My mid 80s mother has been offered and accepted a booster every spring and autumn. In our extended family we all test if we have any symptoms, that's all ages from 20s to 60s, because we are considerate and don't want to potentially infect our mother/grandmother or other people. We also stay home if we catch it until we test negative.
Unfortunately most people don't give a shit which means they travel on trains and planes, coughing and sneezing over others who are unfortunate enough to sit next to them. That's how my sister and son have caught it in recent weeks.
It's not innocuous for everyone and there's no way of telling if you'll be one of the people who gets long COVID, like a family member who was extremely fit and healthy, but after COVID has all sorts of debilitating problems including heart issues which doctors think are likely related to having had COVID.

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.

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

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 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.

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

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

Morrisons sell them and I imagine other supermarkets do too.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.