To feel envious toward my friends getting their vaccines

[lifeisbutadreamer]

I’m 37 and had my first vaccine 7 weeks ago, unpaid carer.

Since the news of the blood clots I feel totally put off by having my second jab.

What’s even more frustrating is now seeing my friends all getting texts to have their jabs and they’re booked in for Pfizer.

I was so happy when I got my vaccine, it took a huge weight off of my shoulders and relieved the constant worry of having severe Covid.

Now I feel a huge weight from the decision of having a second vaccine.

All of my friends are so happy to be getting their vaccine and none of them have this added worry of a potential serious side effect.

I know people will compare the risk of being on the pill, driving to the vaccination centre, or flying etc.. but I feel those comparisons just aren’t relevant here.

It would be like saying your friends can go on an aeroplane that has no known risk of crashing but you can go on one that we know does crash and we’ve told your friends not to go on it because it’s too much of a risk to them...

I feel really really envious of people I know right now and I could kick myself for being so willing to take up the offer of my vaccine.

So you need to rethink your analogy then OP. You rescued yourself and your Ds from a life threatening situation by getting on that aeroplane. If you had waited for the later aeroplane, you might not have survived.

I did not know you could register as a carer for your child.My brothers eldest has autism and he wasn’t invited to have have vaccine earlier.

I wonder if he should try?

In not sure if your comment Is snidey...

I am registered as a carer for my step son (husbands son, of whom we have full custody, but that’s another story)
Of course you can be a registered carer for you child who has additional needs!!

I wasn’t trying to be unpleasant, I was trying (unsuccessfully!) to say that the OP might have actually saved herself and her DS by getting the vaccine early.

I had my first AZ a month ago and will have the second in July. No side-effects apart from feeling under the weather for 36 hours. A friend had Pfizer and developed Bell's Palsy (a known, but rare, side effect). Nothing is risk free. At my age (48) the risks of any vaccine are lower than the risks of Covid, and I wasn't personally worried about Covid.

If it helps you - I’m in my 20s, got AZ early through volunteering and I’m having my second dose this week. Can’t wait. I realise there are risks, but appreciate that there are risks with everything we do.

It's perfectly understandable to be a bit envious of people whose jabs don't come with four weeks of having to watch out for a side effect with a 20% fatality rate. It's rare, yes, but not so rare we're being told we don't need to watch out for it - on the contrary, we've been given a list of signs to look for. Of course that adds a bit of stress and uncertainty.

It's possible to feel like that and know that having the jab was the right thing to do and be grateful for the chance to be vaccinated in the first place. They're not mutually exclusive.

Thank you to the poster above who was at least honest about being relieved to have had Pfizer and so to have avoided that particular worry.

Maybe think about this a bit. And how lucky you are.

I feel envious of people having had the vaccine at all - especially those who don't have anybody in their life who is vulnerable.

I'm 32, still waiting (understandably, there's a process and an order) and I can't see my elderly clinically vulnerable parents properly until I'm fully vaccinated. I've seen them once in the past year and I miss them terribly.

And what I mean is, I would have jumped at the chance of AZ 4 weeks ago. So yes, it's not perfect, but they're juggling millions of people. I'm sure it will be fine - be grateful you already have one.

They're also considered mixed vaccination boosters later down the line I think as it might improve efficacy... not sure if just for older people though.

Presumably you'd also say to people in the countries that have to wait the longest that they should be grateful there's a vaccine at all, because there easily might not have been, and they shouldn't whine about having to wait?

No, of course you wouldn't. But the logic is the same - you can always point to how things could be worse as a way of sneering at someone's worries about whatever their immediate situation is. It never removes those worries though because that's not how human beings work.

@RightYesButNo

From the very same document you included, *@Rainbowsandstorms, I’ll include this screenshot: a Yellow Card means may have nothing at all to do with the vaccine. It’s a report, put in by anyone. It specifically says that it’s important to not assume these are side effects of the vaccine, which is exactly what people appear to be doing with Yellow Cards. Please don’t use these numbers as some kind of medical proof, @oldtableleg*. There’s a reason that the links I included said there had only been 79 incidents, when there would already have been over 100 or 200 Yellow Cards related to clots by that time: because Yellow Cards by themselves aren’t medically-reviewed and aren’t considered side effects.

@RightYesButNo it is widely accepted by the experts that the very unusual combination of low platelet levels accompanied by clots being discussed on this thread are caused by the vaccination, as far as I’m aware this is no longer being debated. It is also referred to as Vaccine Induced Thrombocytopenia with Thrombosis by many haematologists. It would be different if people were referring to other events that have been yellow carded after the vaccination in that case the point you made would be relevant.

I get that you're concerned but I think you're forgetting how envious your friends and everyone in 40/30s down have been of you for a while.

FWIW - I'm heavily pregnant. 32. Due to have surgery to deliver baby in 2 weeks. Completely unvaccinated. In an "area of concern" due to Indian variant. DC at school (unvaccinated obvs) DH teaching kids in school (unvaccinated).

I would rip the nurses arm off to get hold of AZ tomorrow if they offered me one. Genuinely. My risks of COVID at the moment far, far outweigh any clot risk. But sadly I'm sat waiting for 32s to be called up (likely after baby at this rate).

@GarnishSmith

It's perfectly understandable to be a bit envious of people whose jabs don't come with four weeks of having to watch out for a side effect with a 20% fatality rate. It's rare, yes, but not so rare we're being told we don't need to watch out for it - on the contrary, we've been given a list of signs to look for. Of course that adds a bit of stress and uncertainty.

It's possible to feel like that and know that having the jab was the right thing to do and be grateful for the chance to be vaccinated in the first place. They're not mutually exclusive.

Thank you to the poster above who was at least honest about being relieved to have had Pfizer and so to have avoided that particular worry.

This! I’m hugely grateful to have the protection of a vaccination however I’m also worried about my second dose as publicised the risks changed significantly after my first dose and I found the four week wait after my first dose hellish.

I get where you’re coming from, but you really do have to put it into perspective and remember all the other people right around you that are also in less than perfect positions with regards to the vaccine.

There’s all the school staff and police officers that have been at higher risk throughout that are still waiting to be offered a vaccine. Until very recently, all of them had to watch while parent carers and people who were able to work from home be vaccinated while they carried on.

There are all the people in their early forties that didn’t get protected as easily as you and who have no choice about whether to have the AZ vaccine.

And there are people like me, very close to your age feeling thankful to have just had the Pfizer, but also realistic in knowing that there’s still plenty of time for long term side effects to show themselves from this vaccine.

I kind of get what you are saying.

However, this is exactly what was always going to happen. The people who had it earlier will have had less choice and knowledge than ones getting it later.

Thats progress. A year ago we had no vaccine, then one, then two and three. The more people that have it, they more they know.

Try and look on the brightside, the odds are you will fine. You have had some protection far longer than most others.

I just had my first vaccine. I had to tell myself I was lucky that I didn't fall into the categories that meant I got it quicker. I would have preferred to have it months ago.

But that's not how the roll out worked. My colleague just got her 2nd. I not envious, we both have had it at different times and are in different situations.

@Rainbowsandstorms And I’m absolutely not debating that (sorry if I wasn’t clear). I’m not arguing there isn’t a higher risk of clot issue with AZ; I agree that shouldn’t be up for debate at all at this point. What I am debating is the eight cases after the second dose. I can’t find those have been medically reviewed, or reported anywhere EXCEPT as Yellow Cards. We have something from 19 April that says there have been no clot events after the second jab (the BBC article I linked to) and then the latest Yellow Card as of 5 May, which they point out do not qualify as vaccine side effects without review (obviously many reports have now been reviewed and counted), that says there have been eight. I wouldn’t want to assume that all eight of those out of 23 million possibles occurred between 19 April and 5 May, so at least some of them might have been reviewed and discounted?

The media have made a huge amount of money reporting on the clot issue because obviously, everyone is going to read about it, and read several sources about it and updates, etc. and rightly so. People need to be able to make an informed decision - if they want to forgo the AZ, they can and should. But as a result, I would think if we had reliable medical reviews that there were clots occurring after the second jab, that would be all over the media because it would lead to millions of clicks.

There are a lot of people probably in a very anxious limbo, like OP, who got their first AZ jab without having enough info about clots, and now have to make the decision to get the second. The question is do we have any medically reviewed and accepted cases of clots after the second jab?

I'd consider myself very lucky to be 37 and having had the first vaccine 7 weeks ago. There are people across the world who have little hope of getting any vaccine. There are also many people 50+ in the UK who hadn't had their 1st vaccine until much more recently. As per other comments above there are plenty of things out there with a far higher risk than blood clots from an AZ vaccine.

@RightYesButNo apologies I’d misunderstood you. It sounds like we are on a similar page. I’m in exactly the same position as the OP, I’m also in my 30s and had my first dose of AZ when we were still being told the risk was one in a million and I’m feeling anxious about my second dose as I don’t have any risk factors for covid. You make a good point and I saw a haematologist the other day saying that he hoped that the cases after a second dose were being studied very closely to ensure they are related to the vaccination. I can’t tell you how relieved I would be if it turned out that they aren’t. My concern is that the combination of low platelet levels plus clots is so rare that I question if there were likely to be cases picked up within the at risk period after a second dose that are just a coincidence. It would be be the very best news if it were just an unfortunate coincidence. I suppose my feeling re the media is that the story re second doses isn’t huge news with the current numbers and it would be less than ideal to cause huge worry for a group of people who have already had one dose and no alternative options for the second dose. I’m really hoping the data re second doses becomes clearer very soon and that the risk is at least shown to be significantly reduced for second doses. As grateful as I am to have been vaccinated I’m pretty risk adverse generally in life and I’m really worried about my second dose and dreading having another four week wait after to see if I’m ok. The news about the increased risk broke three days after my first dose and I found the subsequent weeks really difficult.

Have you ever taken the contraceptive pill OP? There is more of a blood clot risk with that. There is also a blood clot risk with Pfizer. I had my 2nd AZ dose last week and feel grateful I am now fully vaxxed. If you've had your first dose with no bad side effects you'd be foolish not to get the second.

There have been 8 cases reported after the second dose so far.

According to researchers at the University of Oxford there is no guarantee that you will not get a clot from Pfizer or Moderna vaccine, either, although for clots in the brain the risk is very slightly lower following those than AZ.

The risk of a clot from any of the 3 vaccines used in the UK is tiny, however, and far, far smaller than from Covid itself.

It is likely that cases will go up very substantially over the coming weeks, with opening up and the indian variant.

As this happens, the balance of risks will tip again so that even (perhaps especially, given the ages who seem to be affected by the Indian variant) for younger people the balance of risks will favour having the AZ vaccine if that is available fastest.

So I do think there is a real benefit in being fully vaccinated sooner, with ANY vaccine, especially if, as seems to be the case, the new variant is more vaccine resistant.

I'm 37 and had my second 18 days ago. It briefly crossed my mind about the clots but my brain went
I'm CEV so covid is not a great option for me!
Loads of people have had the vaccine and been fine
My other medication has a million and one possible side effects that are much more likely to happen (one has to have monitoring for 2hrs after as such a high risk of anaphylactic shock)
I had a spinal surgery that had a risk of going blind but still signed to have it done because the balance was more likely I would be paralysed without the op
I know the symptoms to look out for and to seek medical advice if I get them, and they gave me a leaflet with the second jab

@Rainbowsandstorms Honestly, that’s so difficult (you being in the same position as OP) - I’m sorry. I think we both agree about the heart of the issue, which is whether the cases after the second doses are absolutely for sure related. I’m in the same boat as your haematologist, in that I agree not only should they be examined closely but also urgently, because knowing with certainty is important. Either they aren’t, and it would be a huge source of comfort to those like you and OP getting their second AZ jabs, or they are, and people should know the rate of risk, which is hopefully much lower than after the first dose, but still. And I do feel badly that there are people who have to get their second dose without having that information. I think only the science would really comfort me. Some of the things other posters have put I don’t think will be very helpful, like about how OP should be grateful, etc. That’s not going to stop anxiety; it’s just going to make you feel terribly guilty on top of your anxiety. I do hope everything goes well for you. Have this after Or before!

@WaterBottle123, precisely.