Has anybody managed to get Pfizer instead of astra zeneca?

[Crovine]

If so, please share strategies.

I have a number of issues including sibling medical history that have led me to not want astra zeneca. None of these are on the list of official reasons to avoid it. But I don't want it. I went to my vaccination appointment today and explained this. They said I could have astra zeneca and that it was safe. They said they would not offer Pfizer (which people six feet away were having) because all the doses were allocated. I was advised to get a letter from my GP. However it was my GP who told me to go to the appointment and discuss at the centre. So I left without being vaccinated.

It seems like an impasse.

Has anybody managed to find a way through this?

@Crovine

I mean I've already paid for this fucking paternalistic shit. I've already funded the health service that left my brother to die, not because of lack of capacity, but because the NHS weren't admitting covid patients unless they needed ventilation. I've paid all my tax money into a system that killed my brother while the broader policies of our government meant that I was catching a bus to work, bereaved, at a point where a disease that was killing 1800 a day was running rampant due to policy failures. I'm more than willing to have a vaccine because I don't want to die. But I'm fucking done with acquiescing to every fucking thing our shitty not fit for purpose government run healthcare system throws at me. Give me that lovely vaccine. The one that I want. I've had a hell of a fucking year.

I think a mental health professional might be useful, rather than a volunteer at a vaccine centre taking the brunt of your issues.

Ok, I have just read that you lost your brother OP. I am sorry for your loss

Your GP sounds sympathetic and has suggested doing what would give you the best chance of getting the one you want. They figure that if you tell your situation to the vaccine centre staff, they will help if they have the stock. Your GP nor the vaccine centre can ensure you get the vaccine of choice because the exclusion criteria for the AZ vaccine in the government’s guidance are strict and you don’t sound as though you fall into that category.

I think the problem here is that many people seen unable to decipher statistics correctly.

@Crovine

Damn, I just tried and it said I've had the vaccine. I haven't though. Fucksakes.

That’s the risk of turning it down. You turned up on today; you didn’t cancel.

@Milkywaystars

Pfizer vaccines are only available in hospitals because it needs specialist fridges as they have a shorter shelf life. If you see a hospital on your booking form then choose that as you'll most like get the Pfizer. Pop up vaccination centres usually offer Astra zeneca vaccines as they're easier to store.

Our local Gp surgery gives Pfizer.

@Poorlykitten

I think the problem here is that many people seen unable to decipher statistics correctly.

Yep

Chief executive of NHS England Sir Simon Stevens said: 'With nine tenths of people aged 45 and over having been jabbed, nearly three quarters of a million new appointments were made in just two days as our booking service opened to people aged 42 to 44.

According to some posters here they know better than the millions of people in their 40s who in these numbers who are AZ. Many of whom will actually understand professionally or just academically the data. It is like some posters think everyone bit them are sheep. I blame the state of education under in some schools during the 70s and 80s. My adult children and my teenager have covered critical analysis of data at school. The teenager in particular is very clued up the virus too. Proud mum here😊

I had AZ yesterday. I’m 43 and feel entirely normal. Arm very mild soreness and sleepy yesterday evening but totally normal now. I only one drop of blood on plaster. The lady did ask me about family history of blood clots so may have sent me for different vaccine if I’d said yes I think.

I’m sorry you’re getting a kicking here OP. I can imagine there are some conditions which would make me not want AZ. I hope you can get an alternative.

Are you seriously proposing to keep booking slots until you randomly hit on a Pfizer jab? That is shocking behaviour. Millions of people are waiting for their jab.

@MRex it's not just about me though is it? If the deaths from side effects get higher as the ages being vaccinated are lower and there ARE alternative vaccines available where is the breaking point? How many deaths per day from the vaccine is acceptable or do we have to wait until it's higher than the daily covid deaths?

[quote AppleJane]@MRex it's not just about me though is it? If the deaths from side effects get higher as the ages being vaccinated are lower and there ARE alternative vaccines available where is the breaking point? How many deaths per day from the vaccine is acceptable or do we have to wait until it's higher than the daily covid deaths? [/quote]
No, it isn't all about you, but I've chosen to help you because apparently you haven't been able to find information you want for yourself.

The figures that you said you wanted were for your 10 year age group age 40-49; there have been 30 cases and 4 deaths in total from clots - bear in mind over half that age group has been vaccinated.
In the week of 16th April there were 122 deaths in that age group alone, and only 6 of them died from covid.

For tiny numbers, you need to look at the full picture to adequately assess risk. Vaccination started in January, so let's look at the risk only for people aged 40-49. There have been 319 deaths of people aged 40-49 just from Covid registered between Jan and 16th April 2021. Which number looks higher; 4 for say 50% of the population, or 319 for perhaps 5% of the population?

You can find all the covid death details in this regular report: www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/datasets/weeklyprovisionalfiguresondeathsregisteredinenglandandwales.

I've followed this thread - it has to be said with some incredulity - and at first didn't believe it was anything other than a wind up.

Of course PPs are right that OP does have a choice: she can choose to take the vaccine she's offered, or not to take it. And if she's adamant she wants a particular vaccine (none of which the law of averages suggests are risk-free, and all of which will have a low number of serious effects), then the option is to wait until it becomes available and, possibly, to bear the costs herself.

OP complains about the way this crisis has been handled. To an extent I agree: but the vaccine rollout is one thing the UK has got entirely right. We are world leaders in this respect. Bad publicity for one particular vaccine is crassly irresponsible scaremongering, and those responsible for doing so should hang their heads in shame.

I acknowledging OP's response isn't ideal: the sense of entitlement is sometimes reprehensible and she certainly should not be wasting appointments in this way. But below the aggression in the OP's posts is the emotion that's really driving them: fear. It's also grief. Neither emotion is conducive to rational decision-making, and the whole thing has been blown up into an enormous issue in the mind of someone who's already struggling.

OP - I'm very sorry about the loss of your brother. If you feel amenable to this, you might benefit from some counselling to enable you to separate out the different effects of this awful loss on you. I've been bereaved and know the terrible effects it can have.

Try to stop reacting in panic, as your actions can have real repercussions on others who might be desperate for that vaccine. If it will set your mind at rest, try to attend a vaccination centre you know to be offering an alternative (you will likely not get Pfizer).

FWIW yes, I've already had one dose of AZ.

I wish you the best.

PS. please don't even consider lying about being pregnant. That response was totally morally bankrupt.

I got my first Pfizer vaccine on Wednesday this week. I got it because I have a blood clotting disorder called anti- phospholipid syndrome - www.nhs.uk/conditions/antiphospholipid-syndrome/

Even so, it wasn't easy a I got told "I shouldn't really be doing this" when booking the appointment. They told me to bring proof of my diagnosis, which I was able to do as I was diagnosed at St Thomas' in London (which is a leading centre in the UK and internationally for this condition).

Our local leisure centre has Pfizer on the same one/two days every week. This information was readily available on the local vaccination helpline when I called.

Note - I didn't know this until after my appointment. I was happy to take whichever one they gave me.

@MRex you're mixing apples and carrots and didn't answer the breakpoint question about daily vaccine deaths versus daily covid deaths. The charts in table 4 of this week's yellow card data didn't appear in last week's report but going forward if they continue to appear then it will allow interpretation on sex and age grounds for the new death data. So I'll wait for next Thursday's report.

Pfizer is mostly 2nd dose, those that arnt are allocated to those in the most need.
Pfizer has to be used in a certain time scale, a very short time scale so every single one is allocated to be used in that time scale. Any leftover will be offered last minute to those most in need or waiting 2nd doses. AZ is much more flexible and has a longer shelf life.
To repeat what has been said several times, you can't pick and choose, unless there's a significant clinical reason you are more than likely going to be offered AZ. Please don't waste appointments booking to keep rejecting a vaccine that is perfectly safe and effective because you've decided you don't want it.

[quote AppleJane]@MRex you're mixing apples and carrots and didn't answer the breakpoint question about daily vaccine deaths versus daily covid deaths. The charts in table 4 of this week's yellow card data didn't appear in last week's report but going forward if they continue to appear then it will allow interpretation on sex and age grounds for the new death data. So I'll wait for next Thursday's report. [/quote]
Are people less dead from covid or from other death causes? Trying to spot the carrot of why you can't compare deaths from one age group with the same age group.

Sibling medical history?

I have a major allergic reaction to penicillin
Should my siblings not take pencillian?

The best vaccine is ‘The first one you can take’

If you are ‘at risk’ you would of been given the vaccine a long time ago, so medically, You arent.

Its things you ‘think’ you are at risk from

Your worried about the clots, and low platelets its something like 1 in a million people

The pill has higher risks from blood clotting and paracetamol has side effects of low platelets

The risk of actually having blood clots if you catch Covid are alot higher than the very small chance of having a blood clot with the AZ vaccine

Here we go again with the one in a million nonsense. Will people stop quoting outdated stats!

@babychange12

Pretend you are pregnant ?

Vaccine fraud could cost someone their life

As the very rare effects occur with all the vaccines it is most likely they are an immune response. Something may still need to be tweaked with some of the vaccines though e.g. elderly get only 3 flu strains in there vaccine because there were too many issues with the 4 that the rest of us get; younger people may need to be given a weaker vaccine if immune systems of some respond too strongly.

This is another important point. Some people seem affronted that not every single fact about the vaccines was known before the mass vaccination programme even started. Obviously it is an evolving situation and more and more is being learned as we go along. People keep saying stuff like “there is no long term data” - when was there ever long term data with a new vaccine (or indeed any other drug)?

Why not? Pfizer is there, so am I, arm ready to go. This is just stupid.

Because it's a limited resource and therefore reserved for those who really need it. Not just those who've decided their special. What's stupid is you wasting valuable NHS time during a pandemic based on your own feelings that you're somehow better than everyone else so can insist on having a limited resource which other people NEED.

And the 'clinical reason' for having a jab is to not get Covid, you're correct about that. But the clinical reason for having Pfizer specifically is if you're at too high a risk from AZ, which you're not. You are being offered a jab for clinical reasons, you turning it down based on your own special requirements is on you. That's what's stupid.

[quote AppleJane]@MRex you're mixing apples and carrots and didn't answer the breakpoint question about daily vaccine deaths versus daily covid deaths. The charts in table 4 of this week's yellow card data didn't appear in last week's report but going forward if they continue to appear then it will allow interpretation on sex and age grounds for the new death data. So I'll wait for next Thursday's report. [/quote]
Sorry, I just saw I only gave covid and total deaths for a 5 year age band.
England & Wales Deaths age 40-49 from Jan 4 - Apr 16 = 4,895 and in the last reporting week that's 295.
Of which, the covid deaths = 973 and in the last reporting week that's 16. This is from about 5% of this age group having an active infection in this period.
And the thromboembolic deaths with thrombocytopenia possibly linked to vaccine response = 4 (some could be Scotland / NI, but let's not complicate matters). Roughly half this age group vaccinated.

8.2m in this age group for England and Wales. So, your chance of death from covid this year so far has been 1 in 8,427 overall and despite ten times as many having the vaccine as having covid, it's 1 in 2,050,000 from these thromboembolic events.