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

Ok so can I opt out of paying tax into the NHS then? Ffs.

@Crovine

Well I was more likely to get covid and die from it at the point where the NHS was refusing to admit and treat people who had it while I was going to work on the bus every bastard day so I've already been living a high risk life thanks to our country's systemic failure to deal with this thing so I don't want to take on any further risk.

So take the vaccine that's offered to you. Ffs, I'll have it if you don't want it. Some of us would really like that appointment you totally wasted.

Have you ever taken the pill? If so, your risk of a blood clot then was way higher than from the AZ jab.

@Theforest

Israel is investigating heart issues relating to Pfizer. They don't know if related but goes to show possible risks to any vaccine.

I was prepared for any vaccine to get life back. Who knows what risks Pfizer, moderna or any others holds. I bet hardly anyone reads the rare side effects to medication they are normally prescribed.

This is so true, not many would have batted an eyelid at being offered the astrazenneca a few months ago when it had only just been approved (just like the moderna has now) I'm in no way dismissing the blood clot concerns that have since emerged after millions of doses have been administered but its equally plausible that the moderna(or J&J or norovax) could also highlight possible side effects down the line that weren't picked up in the trials just like the heart issues being looked into in Israel re the Pfizer vaccine. The point is NO vaccine or treatment is without potential side effects to think otherwise is very naive.

@HolmeH

You sound just like the poster whinging about wanting Pfizer or Moderna because of her wedding in July 🙄 you don’t get a choice, it’s a global emergency. You are privileged to get one. These threads are making me beyond angry today as I watch family in India suffer appealing horrors. If your GP thought you had clinical reason to get Pfizer, they’d write you a letter. You clearly just don’t want AZ for whatever reason. So don’t get it. But stop pretending it’s anything other than you think other vaccines are superior (they aren’t).

I look at India and the whining makes me feel very cross. What's going on there is damned right upsetting and you get people in this country wanting to choose like they're in a restaurant.

Maybe the media needs to publish the blood clot crap with Pfizer and the rest of them like they did with the AZ so people stop acting so ruddy entitled.

But what’s the outcome op?

You may think you should get the vaccine you want but it doesn’t just happen because you want it this much.

Don’t keep making appointments, it’s a waste of people’s time and resources.

Maybe try GP route.

I've had az I'm 50 it was fine! Not dead yet

I went to a mass vaccination centre on a Friday, I got Pfizer, my twin brother went to the same place four days later and had AstraZenica. Nurse, said they use AstraZenica at the beginning of the week and AstraZenica at the end, no idea why though! I don't think you can choose.

@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.

Ok, move somewhere with private health care. Enjoy paying hundred of dollars for health insurance only to have to pay hundreds more each time you need medical care. You can also face the situation where your employer can decide whether you're allowed contraception (though they don't usually object to viagra)

You can face a bill of $150,000 to give birth as well if you like.

Just saying ...

Wow... just read your last post!? Why are you being picky about a vaccine? Just do it??? You can't afford to be picky

OP, when you use the NHS booking system does it still say you’ve had it? If so, I’d ring the booking number (I think it’s 119 but that be 100% wrong!).

I didn’t want AZ either, so used the National booking system and got in to a mass vaccination centre that I’d read was doing Moderna. I got Moderna.

Whereabouts are you? I know they’re offering Moderna at Reading Madejeski, Islington BDC, Guys Hospital in London...

Oh I forgot to say I'm 51 so not in under 30 bracket for pfizer.

I say this nicely OP. Many people have had a shitty year. What you’ve gone through is awful, but it doesn’t mean the government owes you a specific vaccine. If they did, many, many people would be demanding the same as you. Many people have lost loved ones, many people have been getting on buses to go to work. I think the majority of them would be happy with any vaccine, or with waiting until their preferred one is available.

I'm in Worcestershire and my BIL had Moderna yesterday.

Really though, stop whining and take what you are offered. You're being ridiculous. The chances of blood clot are far less than you dying of COVID.

'Yeah but I don't have a choice.'

Sure you do. Have a vaccine, the one you're offered, or don't have one.

The thing is, you've been told now repeatedly that booking multiple appointments will cause doses to be wasted.Doses that other people could use. In the middle of a fucking PANDEMIC. And you don't seem to give a shit.

So seriously, bore off with the me,me,me crap.

Hi @ThatOtherPoster I'm in Yorkshire. You got any info?

NB I am srsly and not even joking.

OP, please just go away. You're embarrassing yourself.

Managing vaccine stocks in a vaccine centre is more complex than you’d expect. YABU to expect to pick and choose when AZ vaccine isn’t contraindicated for you.

I didn't get a lollipop.

Ignore the bullies, OP. Your body your choice.

Also, I wonder what would happen if you just said you were pregnant?

So now it's ok to lie to get a particular vaccine, fuck whoever else might need it? Jesus wept.

I got Pfizer, DH got AZ a week later. He almost died of Covid & has multiple risk factors so really should have had his earlier. The whole thing is pot luck. I'm just grateful to have one.

@AppleJane do you know what the numbers are for the other jabs ?

Your body, your choice is a fine principle. The OP has the choice not to take the vaccine or take it. At the moment there are no other choices. It would be the decent thing not to waste appointments.

Am sorry to hear about your brother but you know, there are a lot of us taking the Tube daily to work and school because again, we have no choice.

There have been no clear associated cases with the other jabs.