MNHQ here: COVID vaccine Q&A with NHS experts - ask your question here

[RowanMumsnet]

Hello

We're very pleased to say we've managed to secure some time with experts from a range of disciplines to answer all your questions about the COVID vaccine.

Thread now closed for new questions.

This is a non-live Q&A: we’ll be collecting your questions until midday on Thursday March 11, and the answers will be posted up on this thread on Wednesday March 17. [EDIT: Due to new guidance which came out on Wednesday, the questions will be posted later in the week.]

So if you have any questions at all about the vaccine, now's your chance to ask 'em. When are you likely to get the jab? Do you have questions about how pregnancy and breastfeeding affect your eligibility? How were the jabs developed? How has the government and vaccine experts planned out the stages in which the population is vaccinated? What's the best way to encourage reluctant people take up the offer? Are there any common side effects?...

The experts answering your questions will be:

Dr Nikki Kanani, a GP in south-east London and Medical Director of Primary Care for NHS England and NHS Improvement. Nikki has held a range of positions within healthcare and with her sister she co-founded STEMMsisters, a social enterprise supporting young people to study science, technology, engineering, maths and medicine.

Professor Jacqueline Dunkley-Bent, the first Chief Midwifery Officer in England. She has worked as a midwife and a nurse and held senior positions in clinical practice, education, leadership and management.

Professor Lucy Chappell, a consultant obstetrician and spokesperson for the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. She chairs the RCOG vaccine steering group, which is working to co-ordinate messaging for clinicians and women around COVID-19 vaccines, pregnancy and fertility. Lucy is also a National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) Professor in Obstetrics at King’s College London and runs a research programme investigating prediction and prevention of adverse pregnancy outcomes, particularly in women with pre-existing co-morbidities such as chronic hypertension and chronic kidney disease.

Dr Gayatri Amirthalingam currently works as a Consultant Medical Epidemiologist in the Immunisation and Countermeasures Division, Public Health England. Her main areas of responsibility include the national surveillance of vaccine preventable diseases (VPDs) and providing expert clinical advice on vaccine related issues.*

So please do add all your questions here by Thursday March 11 midday and we look forward to posting up the answers next week.

As always, please remember our guidelines - please keep it civil, and if one topic is dominating a thread, we might request that people don't continue to post what's effectively the same question or point. Rest assured we will ALWAYS let the guest know that it's an area of concern to multiple users and will encourage them to engage with those questions.

And with that it’s over to you for your questions.

Thanks
MNHQ

*edited to reflect that Dr Mary Ramsay was not able to partake and was replaced by Dr Gayatri Amirthalingam.

Great idea, thanks!

Is anyone collecting information on differing effects of vaccination on people with various medical conditions/ co-morbidities? (We have quite a handful between us) Given some
conditions are fairly rare, how many people with a condition, would need to be vaccinated before you could see any particular effect other than just randomly occuring generally?

Thank you!

I’m unsure about this because of the advice that has been issued.

About 30 years ago I had an adverse reaction. I was sleeping in an old caravan and took Piriton for hay fever. My throat closed up and I struggled to breath. Due to my mental health at that time I didn’t tell anyone.

Since then I have vaccinations for travel, to Latin America, without any adverse reaction.

I’m 53 and do want to have this vaccine, is likely to be unsafe for me?

Thank you.

I'm TTC and due to my age, I can't afford to take months off to have the vaccine. I work in the NHS, am not patient facing but am eligible for the vaccine. My employer's guidelines are still to take a break if trying to conceive.

Hopefully I will conceive soon so I would like to know what the up to date guidance is on having the vaccine either while TTC or in early pregnancy. Is there a difference between the vaccines for this issue?

Hello, I have heard conflicting advice. Is the vaccine recommended for nursing mothers? What are the risks?
Also if you are TTC what is the advice?
Many thanks.

I had significant side effects after my first dose of the OxAZ vaccine, most of which lasted over two weeks and I've still got a stiff neck and sore jaw, 5 weeks on. Is it likely that I'll have the same reaction to the second dose, might it be better (or worse )? Why do side effects vary so much?

Does the vaccine stop you from catching Covid?
Does it stop you passing Covid on?

What is the advice if you are pregnant? I am eligible for the vaccine and have one booked for when I will be 15 weeks. I am a secondary school teacher and have a history of seizures which is why I think I am eligible. I can’t seem to find any concrete advice in either direction and would welcome some advice.

How many people 3+ weeks after having their first vaccine dose have ended up hospitalized with Covid?

I have multiple autoimmune disorders and I am always worried about vaccines triggering yet another one (have always worried my coeliac was triggered by a flu jab as I can’t attribute it to anything else).

Has there been any research into the effect of the vaccine on autoimmune disorders? (I am aware that Covid itself could also be a trigger)

@JulesJules

I had significant side effects after my first dose of the OxAZ vaccine, most of which lasted over two weeks and I've still got a stiff neck and sore jaw, 5 weeks on. Is it likely that I'll have the same reaction to the second dose, might it be better (or worse )? Why do side effects vary so much?

I'd also like to know the answer to this, I was very poorly for the first week to the point of I could not meet my caring responsibilities as I couldn't get out of bed never mind care for a small child, the headache was the worst part of it all, I get migraines so know what a bad one is like and this was unlike any migraine I've ever had.

Second week a bit better, the shivers and muscle cramps mostly stopped but still had a lot of pain in head, jaw and ears with waves of being as intense as week one.

It's four weeks ago now and I still have the same headache but at a less intense level but still impacting my ability to concentrate day to day, my jaw hurts and I've had constant earache since having the jab too.

I'm sorry you had a hard time too and it's hard to ask anyone about it because you either get accused of scaremongering or being an anti vaxxer when that's just not true.

THanks for doing this - when we are called up for a vaccine based on our age (no underlying conditions etc) are we actually going to be allowed to have it? Most of the guidance at the moment is only to have it if underlying conditions or work in high risk environment. Im NHS non-patient facing and 38; i feel like given my work environment and age I am at higher risk given the evidence available. Also ill be in 3rd trimester just when the world will be unlocked and im really concerned about the lack of social distancing etc for pregnant women who are currently deemed "vulnerable" in their 3rd trimester. Is this something i just have to discuss with my GP and they can say I can/can't have it, or if I want to have it having weighed up risks/benefits, will they let me when my turn comes?

Hi I'm medium risk.

I have had covid plus both vaccines am I safe to work with covid patients?
I have been moved to a non covid ward. But I had my second vaccine yesterday.
I just want to go back to my own ward. But they still have covid patients on there.

Surely I am safe now??

Hi, I have an autoimmune condition and take daily steroids and a Biologic. This put me in the CEV group. I had my first dose of the vaccine (Ox/AZ) at my surgery and the nurse who gave the vaccination said I might need a third dose to 'top up' as the medication and my condition might make the vaccine less effective.

Is this a new protocol for people with autoimmune conditions who take certain immunosuppressants? I'd not heard of a third dose booster so wondered if this is something that has been recommended by vaccine developers/medical experts based on the vaccine trials and subsequent research or whether it is just a precautionary measure? I am in Wales. Thanks if you can answer this.

I am interested to know whether there's any way of knowing if the vaccine has worked on an individual. Also would people be better of getting one AZ and the second vaccine a Pfizer, for example, to give more chance of being covered? Is it possible that one vaccine would work and the other not? Hope this makes sense.

It has been reported that the Pfizer vaccine is effective against the South African variant but that the AstraZeneca is only effective against severe disease. I had the AstraZeneca., and am also CEV. Should I worry?

Thank you :)

I am aware that when poorly antibodies pass through breast milk. I've had my first vaccination, is it likely I'm passing the antibodies to my breastfed child? (Nearly 1 so feeding a few times a day now if that makes a difference)

I work for NHS and see covid patients regularly. I am TTC and have had my first vaccine. If I fall pregnant should I have the second dose?

I had measles vaccine, but still got measles as a child. I had rubella vaccine and still got rubella years later. I've had other vaccines that I'm much less likely to have come into contact with the disease, so it's impossible to tell how well they've worked. It is making me wonder how well I might respond to the Covid vaccine (which I've had). I've read that differences between people in terms of vaccine response can sometimes be down to the specific vaccine/disease, and other times be a more general difference in immune response of the individual, genetically based. Has there been any research done on what differentiates those who made good antibody responses to the Covid vaccine and those who didn't? Or was all the information about efficiency obtained just from figures of those who actually ended up testing positive (symptomatically or not), and nothing further followed up?

Is it known whether those who ended up testing positive after the vaccine (in trials and/or in real life) didn't produce as strong an antibody response, or whether the antibodies/other immune responses didn't work as well in those individuals - i.e., where in the chain of events did the failure occur?

I understand that different types of antibody tests can distinguish between antibodies produced by having had Covid, and antibodies produced by having the vaccine. What research is ongoing to determine strength of antibody response to vaccines? Are such tests available to general public in any way, or are they likely to be in the future, so that someone can be aware of their antibody status in the way that this can be tested for rubella, chicken pox etc?

What sort of research is currently being undertaken to measure responses beyond 3 weeks in those individuals who had the Pfizer response, as I understand most of the countries who have used it to date still used the 3 week interval? (More countries have extended the interval now, but the UK is ahead of all these, so presumably the research needs to be undertaken here - what is happening, and when might there be some preliminary results?)

As someone who is CEV because of bronchiectasis & complications, I'm aware that there is evidence that a past history of pneumonia can lead to a high level of risk with covid, second only to age as a risk factor.

I am wondering what is the current knowledge about which particular groups might have a poorer outcome even with the vaccine, especially respiratory related.

I have just received a call for the first one but have not decided yet. I would like to know as far as we can tell:-

How long are the effects of the vaccination likely to last?

Eg I think some people are immune after having had covid 19 for 4 - 6 months. Would the vaccination be longer than that? I have seen a doctor for 7 minutes in 15 years and do not seem to catch things and do not socialise much. I feel the luckiest person for health in the UK for a woman in her 50s. I am grateful every day I wake up.

So I am weighing up likely side effects as both my siblings (a doctor etc) had very nasty side effects and chances of catching covid 19 this summer. I have had all the childhood vaccinations and even paid £400 so my youngest 2 children could have the BCG, but am not so sure about this one and have never had the flu vaccination either. I tend to avoid things unless I need them. I have limbs because my mother refused thalidomide in 1961 when offered it when pregnant with me. I have never even taken the contraceptive pill and take a headache pill about once every 10 years. I don't drink or smoke and am pretty careful what I put into my body.

I suspect with this vaccination programme every winter like with flu we will offer the old and vulnerable one and not bother with the summer as it is in winter NHS hospitals get full. If the vax will wear off on me by the Autumn given the chances I catch covid this summer are so slim it seems a bit pointless. My neighbour is similar - nearly 90 nd never ie absolutely never ever leaves the house and I think has decided not to have it as she sees no one. (She is also cleaning down food on arrival )

I had an appointment for my COVID vaccine today at my GP’s surgery but as I am breastfeeding I was informed by the nurse, who was just about to do my vaccine, that I could not have the it and was told to come back when I had stopped breastfeeding. I explained that I thought breastfeeding mothers could now have the vaccine but the nurse informed me that there was not enough research and so I could not have the it. Please can you clarify whether breastfeeding mothers are able to have vaccine as the government guidelines now state they can.

Two adult asthmatic children. They live in different locations.

One called for vaccine and the other not. Why the difference?

I had an antibody test 5 weeks after my vaccine (AZ). The test was conducted as part of a research study and tested for both covid induced antibodies and vaccine induced antibodies.
My test came back negative for all antibodies.
Does that mean the vaccine doesn't work on me and I have no immunity or is there a chance some T cell immunity is there that doesn't show up in an antibody test?
Is it possible I will still make antibodies after more than 5 weeks?
Is it likely the second dose will have no effect?
I have RA and other conditions and was classed as CEV.

Hello! I have a question regarding priority for those who has history of gestational
Diabetes. I was not initially included into the shielding list when everybody with GD were being sent a letter to shield and to book their vaccine. The reason for it is that I had gave birth abroad and therefore NHS did not have data about my GD. I have had quiet a severe case only controlled with insulin injections with both of my pregnancies. Also I have diagnosed insulin resistance prior to my pregnancies.

Since I've heard that people with the history of gestational
Diabetes are getting invitation letters I contacted my GP and asked them to put the data about gestational diabetes on my medical records, which they did. I've also read the information on the NHS website that people like me (who don't have any other underlying conditions) should not shield however they still will be prioritised for the vaccine. My GP told me to wait for my age group though. I just feel that I somehow missed out on the vaccine simply because my data was not recorded at the time.. I suffer from anxiety since March last year, following all the rules and trying my best not to get ill. I was really hopeful that I can get my vaccine soon, when I read the clarification on the NHS website about people like me. But it really upsets me that I can't get the vaccine now and have to wait quite a while for my age group.

Can you please clarify - was my GP right saying that I am not eligible for the vaccine at the moment? Thank you for you time