What happens if AZ is paused and you are due your second dose?

[Florelei]

Hi, I’m not trying to be a doom monger but there seems to be a lot in the news about AZ and it potentially being paused whilst things are investigated.

I’ve had my first dose and am due my second in a few weeks. What happens if due to any pause I miss my appointment? Can I have another type of jab?

I suppose nobody knows but I’m starting to worry now. I just really want my second jab.

Apparently there is a news conference with JCVI and MHRA at 3pm. Hopefully we’ll know more after this.

I'm due my second jab in June, and hoping it'll be the az one. Otherwise I will seek and trust medical advice on the best course of action.

[quote mumsneedwine]@Boringlynormal 😂😂🥰 nice rational well thought out response. I think you'll find I posted the stats. 1 in 700,000 for blood clot, 1 in 500,000 for lightening. And about 1 in 10,000 for contraceptive pill.[/quote]
Although, like all stats, the odds are greater depending upon certain factors. It might be 1 in 700,000 for a blood clot but at the moment it’s thought young women are a higher risk and many of the 700,000 quoted there will be male and older.

However, I would like there to be more honest talk about what some women go through with long covid and a whole host of other conditions (also pregnancy) so the public is aware of the true risk.

I’d take the vaccine and I hope enough reassurance is given for most to feel comfortable having it.

I'm just worried this will delay the roadmap, I need it to go as planned or my mental health will be fucked.

Statistically you are more likely to get struck by lightening than get a blood clot after the vaccine.

MHRA will release further data tomorrow regarding uk cases. Sadly I think we have only seen the tip of the iceberg so far, as the data we have seen is not up to date. Millions of people, myself included, were vaccinated with AZ in the last two weeks of March. Blood clots/thrombocytopenia arising in that cohort will only be coming to light over the next couple of weeks. I think we will discover that healthy young women are much safer going out in a thunderstorm than they are having this vaccine. Hope that I am proved wrong.

@IDSNeighbour

Oh, idk. I'd be amazed if she did anything wrong. She's very senior. They have been working very hard not to waste the doses.

Well she has. The fact it was a covid vaccine is irrelevant she can’t just take home any medication she fancies and inject it. Did she even have a sharps bin?

How are you going to obtain your second dose? Did she say?

@lilithxx16

Statistically you are more likely to get struck by lightening than get a blood clot after the vaccine.

MHRA will release further data tomorrow regarding uk cases. Sadly I think we have only seen the tip of the iceberg so far, as the data we have seen is not up to date. Millions of people, myself included, were vaccinated with AZ in the last two weeks of March. Blood clots/thrombocytopenia arising in that cohort will only be coming to light over the next couple of weeks. I think we will discover that healthy young women are much safer going out in a thunderstorm than they are having this vaccine. Hope that I am proved wrong.

I very much hope you are wrong. I really support the vaccine and hope this isn’t the end of it. However, I can also understand pausing the use of AZ for a couple of weeks to get in up to date stats and (hopefully) provide full reassurance. I believe very few first vaccines are planned for April, so perhaps it will give a chance to get this information.

1 in 700,000 for blood clot, 1 in 500,000 for lightening. And about 1 in 10,000 for contraceptive pill.

Where are you getting these stats though and who are they related to?

A man probably has a 1 in a hundred million risk of getting a blood clot after taking the contraceptive pill.

A person who doesn't go outside has a 1 in a hundred million risk of getting struck by lightning.

Norway has the blood clot risk at 1 in 20,000.

Nobody is saying if it's blood clots like DVT, or the rare type suspected to be linked to AZ.

We need to look at the demographics of the people we are actually talking about before making these smug sweeping statements.

Covid is apparently what, 0.1% risk of death? But if you are in your 20s with a healthy BMI and no underlying conditions the risk is actually 0.0004%. Quite a difference. So these stats are rarely very helpful at best and frustrating at worst, and every thread on this is filled with these same type of posts.

Cornet Yes, of course. All totally official with proper paperwork, logged on system with medical records, nhs number etc. Can have 2nd jab at my own gp surgery or hub in 10-12 weeks.

The risk of dying of covid might be very low, especially for those who are younger, but I’ve dealt with many younger patients with long covid whose lives will possibly/probably never been the same. The risk isn’t just about dying.

Likewise, the risk of a blood clot also isn’t just dying.

The German data indicated that a woman under 60 has a 1 in 61,000 chance of developing this clotting disorder. For Norway it's 1 in 20,000.

Far, far more likely than being hit by lightening.

@mumsneedwine

Statistically you are more likely to get struck by lightening than get a blood clot after the vaccine.

Don’t think it’s that simple. That may be the figure for everyone who has had AZ. But what if all the clots were in women, under 30 who had an autoimmune condition? We don’t know the risk stats for that group. It’s possible that in this group the chances of having a clot may be higher than the chances of dying from covid. Or indeed being struck by lightning.

Well that’s something at least.

I struggle to believe there is an official okay on staff taking vaccines home to administer.

@Cornettoninja

Well that’s something at least.

I struggle to believe there is an official okay on staff taking vaccines home to administer.

I’d imagine the official take on that would be dismissal for gross misconduct.

Is the mhra and jcvi conference on TV?

@Cornettoninja

a left over AZ jab my cousin brought home from work last night

If you’re telling the truth that is absolutely not ok and your cousin should be fired

I wondered this! I understand no one wants vaccine to go to waste but this can’t be acceptable practice...

@IDSNeighbour - Does your cousin often bring home medication from work?

I don't work in the medical profession but this astonishes me.

@IDSNeighbour

Oh, idk. I'd be amazed if she did anything wrong. She's very senior. They have been working very hard not to waste the doses.

Did she give you any paperwork?

@Dementedswan

Is the mhra and jcvi conference on TV?

Yes I believe so, at 3.

I'm a bit torn over my second dose. I will admit I have been having lots of headaches since my first dose (every day for the first 3 weeks although not severe). Nothing bad enough to worry GP over, and no other symptoms of anything dodgy, I get a lot of headaches anyway and I feel its just made this a bit worse. But it is a niggle in the back of my mind, even though my logical brain says I definitely haven't had a clot problem. And I am questioning the second dose now, which I'm due to have beginning of May.

@Sakura7

The German data indicated that a woman under 60 has a 1 in 61,000 chance of developing this clotting disorder. For Norway it's 1 in 20,000.

Far, far more likely than being hit by lightening.

Not neccessarily. The statistic for the likelihood of being struck by lightning covers the whole population when it's being calculated before it's rationalised. The stats for the likelihood of getting a clot are calculated on those who have had the jab and then scaled up which means it's not neccessarily apples for pears.

@MoiraNotRuby

I think the second doses will just be delayed but still happen. Pfizer and AZ work in 2 different ways so I would not want to mix them.

I was on the pill for over a decade, there was always a blood clot risk and never any news headlines... its almost like things that affect women don't matter unless they also affect men....

This was my first thought too. Also that any problems with things that are massively convenient for men (having women temporarily sterilised for a couple of decades so men don't have to think about contraception) are swept under the carpet.

These women in their early 30s who have suffered blood clots ... do we know how many are also on the pill?

@Sulusu

I'm a bit torn over my second dose. I will admit I have been having lots of headaches since my first dose (every day for the first 3 weeks although not severe). Nothing bad enough to worry GP over, and no other symptoms of anything dodgy, I get a lot of headaches anyway and I feel its just made this a bit worse. But it is a niggle in the back of my mind, even though my logical brain says I definitely haven't had a clot problem. And I am questioning the second dose now, which I'm due to have beginning of May.

I think there will be more advice and more info to make an informed decision by the start of May. Although I get the worry, I would try not to feel too anxious about it now and see what unfolds.

I was on the pill for over a decade, there was always a blood clot risk and never any news headlines... its almost like things that affect women don't matter unless they also affect men....

I agree. Me and my friends were saying about this last night, none of us when going onto the pill or for check ups were told much about the risk in order to make an informed decision. It was just ah might slightly elevate the risk, if even that, and nothing about what symptoms to look out for. It will be interesting to know what the demographic have it common that are most affected, besides just females under 30 (coincidentally probably the same group that are more likely to take the pill).

1 in 2.5 million, I'm just not that unlucky. (That's even assuming that that rate is similar for those who have already had the first Vax with no issues). My next dose is in three weeks and I don't think it'll be shelved anytime.