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Original poster

Are you NHS staff? Will you or won't you be getting the vaccination?

211 replies

CovidStoleTheRainbow · 25/10/2020 06:49

My apologies if there's already a thread. I did have a look and couldn't see one.

If you're NHS staff in a hospital will you get the covid vaccine?

If you will, what reassures you that it's safe?

If you won't get it, why not?

I work in a hospital but come Jan, I will be a community nurse so I'm not sure whether I will be very high up on the list (compared to A&E or HDU staff).

OP posts:
lunar1 · 25/10/2020 09:11

My husband is an NHS consultant and will have it as soon as available, the rest of my family will as soon as we can.

Don't get me wrong, I'm nervous about it. I'm nervous about my flu jab every year.

I want our lives back, I want to hug my friends, go to concerts, be packed in the school hall for plays and watch my children play the piano as the Christmas carol concert.

I want to be allowed to visit my grandma in her care home.

I'd like to get rid of the tight feeling in my chest every day at 4pm when they are updating the daily infections and deaths, and in the mornings when DH gets the daily updates on the trust bed state.

TheAdventuresoftheWishingChair · 25/10/2020 09:13

I do understand peoples' fears but the vaccine is a very significant step towards society getting back to a more normal life. The fewer people who have it, the worse the damage the virus will do including economic damage. It absolutely boggles my mind that a sizeable number of people would refuse. The potential risks from the vaccine are minimal compared to the virus including for younger age groups where most aren't likely to die from Covid. I don't trust Boris and his pals, I do very much trust Sarah Gilbert and the other scientists working on this.

At the moment I have a huge amount of sympathy for NHS staff who have endured so much trauma and stress this year. I think so much has been asked of them and we still have the winter to go. I think there will be a very large shift in opinion towards the NHS if a majority say no to what is most likely a very safe vaccine.

I want next year to involve holidays, theatre trips, schools not being disrupted, people being able to hug vulnerable loved ones. I could go on and on. How can that happen if the population isn't vaccinated?

TheAdventuresoftheWishingChair · 25/10/2020 09:17

I guess I would say the balance to that is that modern science/medicine has improved and saved billions of lives with its advances.

It's not just that, even. The UK stands to gain a very considerable amount of soft power if we are one of the first to produce a vaccine. And likewise, should our vaccination programme lead to serious health consequences in any way, the Russians, Chinese, heck even the Americans would go to town over that. We would suffer serious reputational damage. There is a lot to lose if things go wrong with this. I highly doubt the Oxford team are prepared to take any chances.

Just remember, by the time this vaccine does start getting rolled out, many thousands of people have had the vaccine already. And those participants are being watched like a hawk for any issues.

Audreyseyebrows · 25/10/2020 09:19

@hettie nice to read some common sense.

Yes I will be having it.

CarrieBlue · 25/10/2020 09:23

@OpheliasCrayon

Well I'm a teacher and I would definitely not want it. No chance !!
Well, I’m a teacher too and I’ve already got my sleeve rolled up ready - though I doubt it’ll be deemed necessary for me to have any vaccine any time soon. But hell yes I’ll have it so we can start getting back to normal.
GreatBigBeautifulTommorow · 25/10/2020 09:23

NHS and yes I will have it because it’s not all about me and my risks.
I don’t want to spread it to my elderly loved ones or my patients

The vaccine won’t be given until it’s safe, who would take the risk of wiping out the NHS work force by giving us it first if it was unsafe?

Those who won’t have it are you happy to continue with restrictions long term and the effects on NHS?

onlyfortonight · 25/10/2020 09:25

NHS Clinician. I will definitely have the vaccine and will look to have my husband and children vaccinated at the first opportunity too. Alongside clean drinking water and the advent of antibiotics, in my opinion, vaccinations have made one of the greatest contributions to worldwide health of any medical advance.

OpheliasCrayon · 25/10/2020 09:26

I would have it for sure but so far in life I have had an unknown reaction to every drug pretty much that I've taken. Like - to the point that I have had to have them all reported to the drug companies and some have been added onto the patient information sheets. They've included psychosis, suicide attempts, reactions that have meant I've been hospitalized etc.
So just to be clear (since someone's said hope this isn't representative of the population) that's why I won't. I've had covid and it was extremely mild and so I would rather not take my chances with a vaccine until more is known about it. I'd like it to have been rolled out for a while so that I would know the most serious side effects that 'nornal" people have had (me not being normal in the way I react).

I have had all my vaccinations, and indeed some I have reacted to absolutely horribly (again in not usual ways ) and I have had my children fully vaccinated. So I'm not anti-vax by any means.
I'm now looking at multiple major surgeries because I can't tolerate the majority of medications needed for my conditions.
So since I've had covid and it was milder than the cold I currently am in bed with.... That's my reason.

I know no one was asking for explanations but someone mentioned they didn't want this to be the nation wide response so I just felt I'd say that I wasn't just saying no because I didn't fancy it....

WiseUpJanetWeiss · 25/10/2020 09:31

@OpheliasCrayon

I would have it for sure but so far in life I have had an unknown reaction to every drug pretty much that I've taken. Like - to the point that I have had to have them all reported to the drug companies and some have been added onto the patient information sheets. They've included psychosis, suicide attempts, reactions that have meant I've been hospitalized etc. So just to be clear (since someone's said hope this isn't representative of the population) that's why I won't. I've had covid and it was extremely mild and so I would rather not take my chances with a vaccine until more is known about it. I'd like it to have been rolled out for a while so that I would know the most serious side effects that 'nornal" people have had (me not being normal in the way I react). I have had all my vaccinations, and indeed some I have reacted to absolutely horribly (again in not usual ways ) and I have had my children fully vaccinated. So I'm not anti-vax by any means. I'm now looking at multiple major surgeries because I can't tolerate the majority of medications needed for my conditions. So since I've had covid and it was milder than the cold I currently am in bed with.... That's my reason.

I know no one was asking for explanations but someone mentioned they didn't want this to be the nation wide response so I just felt I'd say that I wasn't just saying no because I didn't fancy it....

It was me Ophelia There are always going to be people who genuinely can’t be vaccinated. If enough of us who can, do, we create herd immunity for those who can’t. That’s what herd immunity is about.
OpheliasCrayon · 25/10/2020 09:35

Yes. Which is why I've always valued vaccinations - one of my DCs was born immunosuppressed because of drugs I take so at that point we obviously relied on herd immunity for sure.
Im not saying I'll never have it, but a whole host of seriously rare and unheard of things have happened to me, including the way I ended up having a late stillbirth (the odds of it happening were so small it was basically next to impossible that it should have happened ) so... In my mind I just couldn't have something so new.
I will as I said likely end up having major surgery because I wouldn't take (and my doctors wouldn't let me take ) new drugs for my conditions because of how I've reacted previously.

Anyway. I just wanted to explain as someone else had picked up on it too and I realised that when I replied I just sounded like I didn't quite fancy it and couldn't care less about the world getting back to normal which isn't the case at all!

Parkandride · 25/10/2020 09:38

God I hope all these refusers work in entry level none clinical roles. I can't imagine those with science based degrees and who've had a hideous front line working year due to covid would misunderstand science and the routes medicines take to get to market to this extent.

Cinderellashoes · 25/10/2020 09:39

I used to work as a research nurse trialling new drugs. I can’t tell you the depth that stuff is researched. If a drug is liscensed it’s generally considered VERY SAFE - we even had to report if those being tested developed conjunctivitis or a fungal toe nail infection!

Coffeeandaride · 25/10/2020 09:42

Yes I’m NHS and would take it, I’m not high risk but scared of accidentally killing a patient by transmitting covid. I’ve enrolled for vaccine trial.

Chickenandrice · 25/10/2020 09:50

I just had a thought - hopefully the vaccine will also stop spreading and not just stop people getting sick. Otherwise we will have lots of asymptomatic healthcare workers going around infecting patients.

TheAdventuresoftheWishingChair · 25/10/2020 09:53

So just to be clear (since someone's said hope this isn't representative of the population) that's why I won't

I think your reasoning is absolutely logical and no one in your position should feel pressured. I'm sorry you've had such awful reactions in the past, that must have been so frightening. There are definitely all sorts of instances where people are right to put themselves first and refuse.

TheAdventuresoftheWishingChair · 25/10/2020 09:55

I just had a thought - hopefully the vaccine will also stop spreading and not just stop people getting sick

No, I think in all honesty what is going to be achieved with this first vaccine is 'just' a reduction in the severity of the illness. That's what I read anyway, I could be wrong. That's why they're saying it's not a magic bullet. But if you can even reduce the severity of the disease by 50%, that is so many lives saved. Combined with better treatment options, it will still make a massive difference.

Rudolphian · 25/10/2020 10:08

@Cinderellashoes

I used to work as a research nurse trialling new drugs. I can’t tell you the depth that stuff is researched. If a drug is liscensed it’s generally considered VERY SAFE - we even had to report if those being tested developed conjunctivitis or a fungal toe nail infection!
It's not licensed though. They are going to bring it out before it gets licensed.
opmamatrist · 25/10/2020 10:12

@Parkandride

God I hope all these refusers work in entry level none clinical roles. I can't imagine those with science based degrees and who've had a hideous front line working year due to covid would misunderstand science and the routes medicines take to get to market to this extent.
It's not misunderstanding. This virus didn't exist a year ago, majority of people survive.
WiseUpJanetWeiss · 25/10/2020 10:16

It's not licensed though.
They are going to bring it out before it gets licensed.

The vaccines are still being scrutinised by the MHRA in the normal way. They just won’t have been through the final EMA hoops (which of course won’t exist anyway after 1 January).

Original poster
CovidStoleTheRainbow · 25/10/2020 10:29

@OpheliasCrayon I wonder if there is a common ingredient in the vaccinations and/or medications that you have an adverse reaction to.
Could be like finding a needled in a haystack though.

It isn't the same (at ALL) but my son has a reaction to many many eczema creams. I tried figuring out whether there was a common ingredient amongst them but the amount of stuff in them and the long spellings, it was a bloody headache to go through them.
Let alone drugs and vaccines.

OP posts:
hettie · 25/10/2020 10:30

@Rudolphian Where have you got the idea that it will be released before going through the usual regulatory processes and being licensed?

MobLife · 25/10/2020 10:38

@Oaktree55 nice short read there that breaks it down for the layman.....😂

MrsHSW · 25/10/2020 10:39

Do we think this will be a yearly vaccine? As seems like you can have covid twice? Pretty sure DH (front line) had it early on (can't be sure as was before testing) and he's just had a test back from work (they test weekly) saying he's covid positive (no symptoms).

Generally I will have vaccinations, think they are great and that we are very lucky to even be given the opportunity of a free vaccine.

If it's licenced and shown to decrease the risk of catching it or developing more serious complications then I will trust the science and have it. Like a PP said if successfully trialled the vaccine will be sold to other countries which will have their own licencing to get it though? I think the manufacturer will really need to prove it's safe and effective for people to feel comfortable having it.

hopefulhalf · 25/10/2020 10:40

NHS doctor here. I will be as close to tbe front of the queue as social distancing allows. The trust where I work is completely disabled by this thing, we need to try to restart as much as we can as soon as we can.

Racoonworld · 25/10/2020 10:41

I really think it should be mandatory for healthcare staff. It will save a lot of lives!