I've been invited for my vaccine but not sure what I want to do

[annabellacomestotea]

Hello everyone

I've been invited for my vaccine much sooner than I expected. I am a 31 year old woman, I do not work in a public facing capacity and have no health concerns (normal BMI, only health concern of note being diagnosed with PCOS and generalised anxiety disorder, which would have no impact on me being offered the vaccine.)

Although I am of course grateful to have been offered the vaccine, I was hoping to be offered it later as I have had concerns about it.

I am not sure if my concerns are legitimate or the result of absorbing so much mixed messaging online, from friends and family and even news outlets. In real life, some of my friends and family support the vaccine and others are 'wait and see', whilst others are vehemently against.

I have had everything else from yellow fever to rabies vaccinations, but I have concerns about this vaccine, especially as it has been linked (whether factually or not I'm unsure) to infertility. As a 31 year old woman with no pre-existing health conditions, I don't like the idea of taking a vaccine for something unlikely to impact me greatly. I also have never taken the flu jab for the same reason.

Anyone of a similar age group, would you take the vaccine? Do you have any concerns? Are these concerns unfounded, or should I be asking more questions? And if I reject the vaccine now, am I able to take it later on, and how would this work?

Thank you.

@Sorehandsandfeet, it’s worth asking your GP if they would provide you with a blood test specifically checking your hormone levels. The report I saw (sorry, I didn’t save the link) stated that the stress of covid can make your body close off less essential functions putting you into a menopausal state whilst resources are directed elsewhere (no conclusion whether this is temporary or not), the upshot being that for women, HRT may be of considerable benefit with regards to recovery.

Obviously there are loads of reasons this might not apply to you but it’s worth being aware of.

@ilovesooty

Thank you. I'm just quite surprised when in my area they're only just beginning to invite over 65s and I know of a 64 year old diabetic (65 in two months) who's recently been treated for cancer who was told only last week they aren't yet eligible. There seem to be marked differences between areas

There is indeed. I'm 52/diabetic/other underlying issues and I had mine Feb6th (as did 2 friends who are medically similar & of a similar age). We all feel very fortunate to have had them as we weren't expecting them until March. (All still doing what we were before, but a little less stressed knowing we'll have some immunity in another fortnight. Not that it'll change our behaviour, just making us a bit less likely to die if we do get it).

But we have family& friends in other places that we feel should have had theirs first, but their Drs/trust/area - whatever, isn't getting them done as fast.

I'm not surprised the OP has been invited to have hers.

It does initially seem 'not right', but it seems even worse, to me, to slow other areas down just because some areas aren't doing as well.

Presuming all areas are getting the amount of vaccine they're requesting of course, but none seem to be saying they're not.

Thank you. I'm just quite surprised when in my area they're only just beginning to invite over 65s and I know of a 64 year old diabetic (65 in two months) who's recently been treated for cancer who was told only last week they aren't yet eligible. There seem to be marked differences between areas

Another difference is within boroughs. DP's mum (late 60s, not vulnerable) has been vaccinated at a mass vaccination centre about a week ago, but her very vulnerable husband (mid/late 70s) is only getting his this week via his GP surgery.

The thing is though: if you get called now but aren't in a risk group it's quite possibly because vaccines are at risk of being binned. If you get a call, go and have it. The fewer vaccines get wasted the sooner we will all be vaccinated.

I'm a clinician and I have had the vaccine. They have done really robust clinical trials that haven't shown any serious side effects in hundreds of thousands of people.

Long term is always unknown but the Oxford is tried and tested technology so minimal risk. Long covid sounds a LOT more troublesome - even for younger people.

Even paracetamol or antibiotics have side effects - all meds do.

All my hospital collegues have been vaccinated - we are certainly not a bunch of weak willed sheep that allow anything to be done to us!

At the end of the day - it's completely your choice. Do t go for the appointment - I'm sure that there are many people that would be happy to take your place.

How can fertility be affected by this vaccine and how can a group of HCPs even entertain and spread this nonsense? Don’t get your vaccine and give it to somebody more deserving like my friends daughter who is CV.

I volunteered for the AZ trial when we really didn't have evidence. I'm still here to tell the tale and proud to have contributed to the 'war effort'

If everyone took the attitude of 'wait and see' then the vaccine strategy will fail, we won't achieve herd immunity and more people will suffer and die of COVID and of non COVID conditions because of the NHS not being able to do both.

My attitude was, and still is, that we know the harms of getting COVID. They are statistically not so bad for younger people (I've had COVID too because my trial vaccine turned out to be placebo!) but for a few unlucky people could be hospital and even ICU. The unknown harms of having a vaccine, even an untrialled one at the point I accepted that risk, were still likely to be far less than the known harm of COVID. Now these vaccines have been given to millions of people around the world under huge press scrutiny and they still haven't managed to find anyone being harmed.

The AZ vaccine technology is very well used for other diseases and the chances of any harm befalling me vs the good I could do for potentially myself but definitely for wider society including my loved ones and friends and my patients was huge. No brainier for me and I felt lucky to be offered the chance to participate.

Obviously it's your personal choice if you get vaccinated or not but I do wish people in this society were a bit less self centered and more community minded and realised that your personal decision not to be vaccinated imposes more hardship and risk for others.

Those who are unable to be vaccinated (I'm thinking of a poster on another thread whose elderly father has dementia and refuses the vaccine because he cannot understand and my friend with severe allergies) can only be safe by herd immunity being given by the rest of us being vaccinated. I am happy to be vaccinated for them if nothing else.

Wonderful post CovoidOfAllHumanity.

Agree, fantastic post CovidOfAllHumanity

I think that if you feel unsure, you need to read the scientific evidence, not the opinions of people on SM - unless they are experts, of course.
Far too many armchair epidemiologists out there.

I guess the question is why as a very very low risk 31 year old woman you have been invited for a vaccine. Is it because of your job that you come into contact with high risk people such as working in a hospital?

In which case you have to factor in that the vaccine is basically not for your benefit but for those you come into contact with. At which point it becomes a question of whether your employer is insisting on you taking the vaccine or whether it is morally the right thing to do for others.

If none of these then I would be tempted to take an antibody test to see if you've already and unknowingly had Covid. If it is positive then given your concerns I would probably delay on a wait and see.

If negative then you have to weigh up your concerns on the vaccine against your concerns you have (and demonstrated by following the restrictions) about passing it to more vulnerable people in society.

@CovoidOfAllHumanity

I volunteered for the AZ trial when we really didn't have evidence. I'm still here to tell the tale and proud to have contributed to the 'war effort'

If everyone took the attitude of 'wait and see' then the vaccine strategy will fail, we won't achieve herd immunity and more people will suffer and die of COVID and of non COVID conditions because of the NHS not being able to do both.

My attitude was, and still is, that we know the harms of getting COVID. They are statistically not so bad for younger people (I've had COVID too because my trial vaccine turned out to be placebo!) but for a few unlucky people could be hospital and even ICU. The unknown harms of having a vaccine, even an untrialled one at the point I accepted that risk, were still likely to be far less than the known harm of COVID. Now these vaccines have been given to millions of people around the world under huge press scrutiny and they still haven't managed to find anyone being harmed.

The AZ vaccine technology is very well used for other diseases and the chances of any harm befalling me vs the good I could do for potentially myself but definitely for wider society including my loved ones and friends and my patients was huge. No brainier for me and I felt lucky to be offered the chance to participate.

Obviously it's your personal choice if you get vaccinated or not but I do wish people in this society were a bit less self centered and more community minded and realised that your personal decision not to be vaccinated imposes more hardship and risk for others.

Those who are unable to be vaccinated (I'm thinking of a poster on another thread whose elderly father has dementia and refuses the vaccine because he cannot understand and my friend with severe allergies) can only be safe by herd immunity being given by the rest of us being vaccinated. I am happy to be vaccinated for them if nothing else.

Great post

OP: read this article to the end.past the bit about the phone number analogy, past the but where it explains how many people who took part in the vaccine trials got pregnant following the vaccine. Past the bit where even the Dr who raised a question about the protein says there is no evidence of any infertility.

It explains how the scare spread, and why it isn’t an issue.

www.webmd.com/vaccines/covid-19-vaccine/news/20210112/why-covid-vaccines-are-falsely-linked-to-infertility

Link. Sorry!

Grannycurls Sincerely I hope that you do not regret that decision in future. Age is the major risk factor and that you cannot escape from. Being otherwise healthy is good, vit D might help a little but these will offer nowhere near as good protection as being vaccinated.

It's fine for you to weigh up your own risks and make your own decision but every person not vaccinated does increase risk to others and for me that is important. For you it may not be but you should at least take it into account.

Also how is it 'not really a vaccine'? AZ is a very classic adenovirus vector vaccine which has been used for other vaccines in the past as are many of the ones yet to come online. Pfizer and Moderna do have a newer mechanism but it is ignorant to suggest they are all the same when clearly they are not.
I assume therefore that your son in law has researched ALL the vaccines.

What are these 'unknown effects' that people worry about. Other vaccines that have caused any issues did so very soon after starting to be used. I think it would be very hard to prove that some ill effect 5 or 10 years down the track was actually due to the vaccine. This really isn't an approach that we usually take to medicine development to wait for many many years

Actually I believe vitamin D is better. I can't believe that the results of so many studies on its effectivity against covid have been ignored.
Anyway -- I've made my decision, and I don't really want to discuss it or argue or be called names as the OP was.

It's not even really a vaccine, is it? I won't be having it.

What is it then?

If you don't want a discussion I can highly recommend not posting on a discussion forum.

I have been polite and not called anyone any names but I think it's my duty to public health as a professional to call out misinformation if I see it and vitamin D is in no way going to give you the same level of protection against Covid as a vaccination.
That is not my personal opinion it's the opinion of NICE who looked into this specifically and found that there was insufficient evidence to recommend it.

There's likely no harm in taking it especially at normal doses and many people are deficient and can benefit but for COVID protection it does not make scientific sense to rely on it.

I am relying on a high dosage of Vitamin D and an otherwise healthy lifestyle (over many decades) and a very strong immune system, and healthy mental health.

GrannyCurls I have Long Covid, which has absolutely done me in for more than 10 months, with extreme pain and fatigue, and which I expect will shorten my lifespan. I wish you could read the Long Covid forums, where people a lot younger and a hell of a lot fitter than me talk about how they used to go for a run every morning, and now can't carry a cup of coffee.

(Also citing "healthy mental health" is just bizarre. Are you saying a robust attitude somehow prevents you getting seriously ill?)

@annabellacomestotea

Should also add I only got my invite today, hence why I have posted now. I spoke to my partner and he has said he is unsure about having it (he hasn't been invited yet) but that I should think carefully before I do, so that has fed into it a bit too.

When I've had yellow fever, rabies, all my other vaccines, there's never been a chorus of , 'oh really think about that and be careful.' It's quite frightening in a way I haven't felt before in taking other vaccines.

Annabella most people haven't had rabies vaccines, or yellow fever vaccines, so discussion about them isn't really a thing - so of course there wouldn't be lots of people raising concerns about them. It's not something most people have to think about at all.

For what it's worth, I am a fervent pro-vaxxer, but when I went to get my own jab at the weekend, I found myself unaccountably nervous. And yet, after it was done (so quickly!) I have been so relieved since. (And not even a sore arm.) I am looking forward to the second one now.

There's been so much disinformation on social media about vaccines and the Coronavirus. The science says the vaccine won't affect fertility, it doesn't have that capability. A bad dose of Covid, on the other hand, could affect your major organs and fertility or worse.

@Sirzy

It's not even really a vaccine, is it? I won't be having it.

What is it then?

A vaccine would imply immunity from the disease like say the small pox vaccine.

For Covid it doesn't offer immunity but creates a resistance ability in your immune system that better enables you to fight Covid if you were to contract it and hopefully (this bit is not proven) should reduce the probability of passing the virus to someone else should you get infected. Your body also creatures a resistance to Covid if you contract (and survive of course!).

Or in short it's pretty much like the annual flu jab (which also gets called a vaccine even though it isn't a vaccine either).

Are you on medication for the anxiety? I think it does count as a serious psychiatric disorder in some cases

I had my vaccine yesterday I am sore and sweaty but I'm ok. I'm 28. I do have 2 children. I am worried in a way about fertility in the future. However I think it's unlikely that it would damage long term fertility. This would be a major consideration for the pharmaceutical companies.

It's prudent to have the injection if you have anxiety isn't it because I think it would
Make it worse for you if you did have Covid?

I have anxiety problems and I wonder if that's why I got the vaccine, thinking about it.