Vaccine shortly after birth UK

[Whiteandblue94]

Okay, so I’ve heard that some women who have given birth within the last 8 weeks are being offered a vaccine in the UK without the wait. Perfectly healthy & no complications, not falling into any priority or age group currently being vaccinated. Can someone confirm that this is true?

Haven't heard this

I haven't heard that, but possibly they would be group 4 or group 6, so got an invite that way.

I don't know if there is a restriction on how long to wait after birth before it's wise to have a vaccine. I'd think it may be best to wait until after 8 weeks due to increased general medical risks post-partum including clotting risks; I'd certainly check if it were me. Perhaps someone else knows.

I was offered the vaccine a few weeks after giving birth because I had gestational al diabetes. Are you sure there were no such issues for these people during their pregnancy?

My SIL got her vaccine yesterday and apparently her GP contacted her. She’s given birth 5 weeks ago- no complications not even pain relief, beautiful baby just flew out! she’s healthy and basically already has her pre-pregnancy body back.. I had a baby end of Aug last year, tons of complications, haemorrhage, sepsis and ICU stay yet I don’t qualify.... I just find it bizarre and really think she’s lied to get her vaccine.. just doesn’t seem very fair if that was in fact the case & wanted to know if anyone had it before I go on ringing my GP asking about it and making a fool out of myself.. research shows that people who had sepsis are more likely to die within 4 years if contracted any type of infection within that time...

Not that i would agree with this but i could see vaxxing new mums whi have sole possibly care of a newborn might make sense in a way.
Also a % get pg within the first 8w pp so that would protect the next pregnancy.

I’m not disagreeing but surely all women who given birth during pandemic then should get their vaccine or the ones who are on mat leave not just the brand new mums? Just why gov or nhs website doesn’t say anything about their priority?

I’m sorry, you must be quite stressed about this with your background. Though objectively the risks are still far less than you might be imagining.

There seems to be a lot of variation about how the vaccination programme is being run, as is very clear from this board. GPs seem to have a lot more freedom (compared to the National programme that you book into yourself) and are contacting people that don’t appear to fit into relevant categories. I guess there is different supplies depending on demographics and refusal rate. It’s quite likely that the GP would have offered without your SiL needing to lie to get it.

I suspect you have other reasons to suspect your SiL to have this strength of feeling - try to let it go as it will do no good for your own stress levels. Good idea to ring your GP and see what they say. My DH 43 has just rung our local GP and got an vaccination appointment without any risk factors and without having to lie.

UmbilicusProfundus - thank you! That’s fair enough! Her partner did in fact lie/bend the truth to get it so you see I’m not completely paranoid thinking she wouldn’t do the same... just thinking to be in the last group who get it and taht being first does end of summer and second end of the year meaning we would have no chance going on holiday etc which is not the end of the world btw but I really feel like if people do lie to get it sooner so they can travel is a bit selfish.. we all want it after all?

@Whiteandblue94

My SIL got her vaccine yesterday and apparently her GP contacted her. She’s given birth 5 weeks ago- no complications not even pain relief, beautiful baby just flew out! she’s healthy and basically already has her pre-pregnancy body back.. I had a baby end of Aug last year, tons of complications, haemorrhage, sepsis and ICU stay yet I don’t qualify.... I just find it bizarre and really think she’s lied to get her vaccine.. just doesn’t seem very fair if that was in fact the case & wanted to know if anyone had it before I go on ringing my GP asking about it and making a fool out of myself.. research shows that people who had sepsis are more likely to die within 4 years if contracted any type of infection within that time...

It might be that women who have given birth in the last so many weeks are being flagged up, but not women who gave birth a few months ago. The NHS probably doesn't consider 8 months to be a recent birth. I think it's quite unfair to jump to conclusions about your sister in law based on this, and it's also an odd conclusion to jump to unless there is a backstory here.

Nevertheless, with the history of sepsis, you might still qualify but perhaps your name just didn't make into the right list, so I would suggest contacting your GP to ask. Some people have been missed just through human error so it's always worth checking.

Ok, I see from your latest post that there is a backstory, but still, I wouldn't assume it's just because she lied. Check with your GP.

phodopus Thanks :) I do feel bad for jumping into that conclusion thus I wanted to find out before making a fool out of myself. Just read & heard so many stories of people claiming theirs careers etc just to get the vaccine sooner. Also, our GP surgery is very disorganised. Our babies immunisation were cancelled and rescheduled within hours notice few times and she’s been given them late/longer intervals than recommended each time. Unless like pp said her surgery is amazing and efficient which I agree is possible to be just called on a day when they have leftover doses needing to be administered but with actual appointment made no sense to me. Wish nhs cared about pregnant and new mums as much last year like they do now. That being said I’m happy that now no mummy has to go through birthing process all by herself..

I don’t know if this is true but I gave birth in January and was unexpectedly offered the jab in late February so it could be? I’m not in group 6 or anything, was a bit confused but I did read somewhere that women who have had pregnancy complications like diabetes, hypertension etc have the conditions written in their medical notes so it flags up and their GP bumps them into group 6. I had lots of blood pressure issue and BMI over 30 was probably written in there a million times so perhaps this happened to me. I guess it could be that the right keywords didn’t appear in your notes, but I do get where you’re coming from, I would be anxious too. I suppose a lot of the vaccine group allocation is a kind of blanket thing to save time but it’s stressful if your own situation has a bit more nuance.

I totally sympathise with the baby immunisation issues as well, dd got hers 3 weeks late and cancelled when we arrived because of the surgery’s error 🤦

Did SIL have gestational diabetes? Lots were flagged up because of this.

No she didn’t. I guess she’s just lucky! I have a colleague who gave birth few weeks ago and is also in late 30s but havnt been offered the vaccine, she did ask and was told there’s no special priority for her- she lives in central London so perhaps it is to do with where you live thank you everyone for replying I was just feeling upset and so struggle with the unfairness of pandemic atm 😅