Which vaccine should I choose?

[Serendipity09]

I have just been sent the link for my Covid vaccine, I'm 44 but have underlying health problems and am a carer.
I wasn't expecting to be given the choice about which vaccine to choose before I book!
So now I have no idea....initially I was all for the more natural Oxford vaccine as opposed to the synthetically made Pfizer vaccine, but now studies seem to show that Pfizer is more effective?
I do have allergies, not severe, but moderate I would say - although that doesn't seem to be so much of a worry with Pfizer now?
I really didn't mind which one I was having, just felt pleased to be having it, but now I've been given the choice, I feel anxious about it!!
Any wise words please?

I was given a card with the date for my 2nd jab when I had my first. Date 12 weeks to the day of first, same time same place

It's strange how many different "central" booking systems there seem to be.
My DH got the standard NHS letter yesterday saying he was eligible to book at a hub or he could wait until GP contacted him for local centre. His booking did not offer him the option of choosing which vax he wanted. (England BTW)
He opted to book online and drive to a centre 7 miles away.
He booked his first and second doses online in advance.

He got AZ vaccine this afternoon, but I wonder how they know this centre will be doing AZ on the day he has booked his second dose?
I've done a couple of days as volunteer at a large GP centre near us (800 to. 1000 vax per day) and they have done PFZ on my first session and AZ on the second.

And people coming to my GP centre have not been given their second dose appt, but told they will be contacted later with it.

@StarCat2020

Can I just say NEVER EVER click a link in an email unless you are expecting it and have verified the sender's email address is the one that you would expect.

FFS, can you imagine for just one moment that others can experience a reality that is different to yours. I didn't post on fb as I'd expect this nonsense but MN is full of some of the most critically interesting people I've met. I wanted their thoughts not some troll hunter.

My mum had hers 4 weeks ago and she got to choose. It was either Oxford at one venue (community surgery) or Pfizer at a large hub. It’s strange that people are so disbelieving of things just because it isn’t exactly the same as their experience.
My mum chose Oxford, mainly because the surgery was easier to get to and the available times worked better around her full time job.

@BruceAndNosh The powers that he will know which centre will have what vaccine and when as there are arrangements that will need to be made and frankly, it couldn’t run if they didn’t. So it’s easy enough to get a date for your 2nd when the first is booked. It’s just the staff working there/general population that won’t know

You can pick when you book here. One hospital has Pfizer and one has Oxford/AZ and you can book at either

The only thing I was keen to choose was a venue with decent parking. So I have. Booked in for Saturday - no idea which vaccine I will get. No qualms about either.

FFS, can you imagine for just one moment that others can experience a reality that is different to yours. I didn't post on fb as I'd expect this nonsense but MN is full of some of the most critically interesting people I've met
But you didn't post the OP

Also, email scams are rife (not just to do with Covid) so sorry for trying to help people avoid them.

My second dose was booked at the same time as my first via the link that was in my nhs letter. I'd show the screenshot but it covering up my personal details will make people say it's fake anyway. Sister, bil, uncle and Mum also had their second dose appointments made at the same time as making their first appointment. Sil is having hers tomorrow through work and doesn't have a second appointment yet. Uncle also had a choice of which one to have.

I was sent an hours drive away for mine while other people from the same place were having them at the pharmacy round the corner. So it seems even within the same county and town people are having different experiences when they book.

Sorry if people implying you're lying upset you. I'm pleased your GP has confirmed it's legit and hope you don't get rough side effects.

Pfizer if second dose within 3 weeks which it won't be, so if I had a choice it would be AZ.

I’m not sure anyone was suggesting lying. Some people thought Op had misunderstood, or looked at info for people getting their 2nd jab, or was on a scam website.

Certainly, as having a choice doesn’t seem to be the majority experience, people were doubtful about it, and by chance the first responders were those who had never heard of a choice.

Personally I find it odd and also peculiar that some have a choice and some don’t, especially as most of us are no experts on either, even if we’ve followed the news carefully. A choice of site, I can understand, but in my view no need to add a choice of vaccine too.

If later, it turns out one if far superior to the other (not so likely but possible) then those who had a choice might regret their choice. When there has been no choice there can never be that sense of regret...and that seems better at the moment when both are so new and we can’t give really good reasons for our choices, but only over time might one appear better than the other.

@WombatChocolate

I’m not sure anyone was suggesting lying. Some people thought Op had misunderstood, or looked at info for people getting their 2nd jab, or was on a scam website.

Certainly, as having a choice doesn’t seem to be the majority experience, people were doubtful about it, and by chance the first responders were those who had never heard of a choice.

Personally I find it odd and also peculiar that some have a choice and some don’t, especially as most of us are no experts on either, even if we’ve followed the news carefully. A choice of site, I can understand, but in my view no need to add a choice of vaccine too.

If later, it turns out one if far superior to the other (not so likely but possible) then those who had a choice might regret their choice. When there has been no choice there can never be that sense of regret...and that seems better at the moment when both are so new and we can’t give really good reasons for our choices, but only over time might one appear better than the other.

I completely agree, however I now have a choice (which I wouldn't have chosen) and there appears to be increasing evidence that the Pfizer is more effective.

@Lemonsyellow

It’s valid. Different venues have different vaccines. I also don’t know anyone who was given an appointment for their second dose when they had their first. Every single one has been told to wait to be contacted again.

Well, I realise you don’t actually know me... If you book online through the NHS website you book your first appointment and on the next page of the website are then asked to book your second. I had the first one yesterday and have already got an appointment for the first week in May for the second at the same centre.

@Whichjab Absolutely. For some reason people don’t want to accept that Pfizer appears to be a superior vaccine. Maybe it’s patriotism, or maybe it’s people who along with their loved ones have already received AZ.

[quote doireallyneedaname]@Whichjab Absolutely. For some reason people don’t want to accept that Pfizer appears to be a superior vaccine. Maybe it’s patriotism, or maybe it’s people who along with their loved ones have already received AZ.[/quote]
I've spent all evening looking into it (like I would with anything I have a decision about) and as yet can not find anything that shows the Oxford vaccine to be superior, in fact in continuously looks less favourable.

I got to choose. I went for Oxford.

Given the choice I'd have picked pfizer, but Im completely happy to have had the Oxford one. I didnt know which it was going to be until i turned up at the vaccination centre.