Novavax trial thread number 3

[Frazzled2207]

Yet more chat about novavax, (un)blinding, general vaccine passport stress, approval (please please please) and more.
Those involved in other vaccine trials also welcome.

Nothing here, no email, no app niceness.

i'm thinking of calling the GP to see if they can at least put it on the app (though it won't affect the 'covid status' that we need) but not sure I can quite deal with the scratching heads I will inevitably come up against.

Might just turn up with my novavax certificate. Every time I call them (about twice a year!) they seem to be on a mission to get me off the phone asap.

@Frazzled2207 No, the trial doctor was not supportive, and I wouldn't have expected him to be, but neither did he say definitely not to do it. Yes, I did lie to the vaccinator - they have a list of questions on their computer screen, one of which is 'have you taken part in a vaccine trial'. I'm not prone to lying and I felt bad saying 'no' and nearly fessed up, but obviously didn't.
I felt pretty ropey all day yesterday, but feeling lots better now.

Pleased you are ok. Yeah am aware they ask you that and I am a shit liar. I’m sticking with it but I suspect not many will unless they sort the whole vaccine status thing quickly.

@PleaseReferToMeAsBritneySpears

Nothing here, no email, no app niceness.

Same here nothing at all.

And I haven't even heard about my arm since I emailed them yesterday. Getting annoyed about that.

I emailed my site about a few things today. And basically got told the point of the final appt is to wrap things up, no definite booster, no mention of a blood test and no guarantee of unblinding. They said we may be unblinded sooner.

I'm moving and would travel 45 min-1 hour for potentially just a chat. If that's all it is I'd rather do it over the phone.

Am really surprised there is no blood test @torvean. How else would they know that the immunity remains?

I'm not sure @Frazzled2207. I asked the purpose of it . That was a rey sent by one of the study doctors.
She says Novavax have given no instruction on unblinding.

Ppl Scottish apparently our vaccine status will now go on this site. But nothing has started yet.

www.nhsinform.scot/

Feeling really down about this today, have just read in the Guardian that there are plans to allow returning double vaccinated British tourists to skip quarantine on return from Amber list countries. I am not sure we would want to go abroad this year, but DH has had Pfizer and I could have taken my NHS vaccine and been fully protected by now. It doesn’t seem fair to be disadvantaged because we stayed on the trial.

I am very tempted to go and get another vaccine, but I have quite a few health problems and would have to tell the truth about the trial.

www.theguardian.com/travel/2021/jun/16/vaccinated-british-travellers-could-skip-quarantine-on-return-under-new-plans?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

@Torvean

I emailed my site about a few things today. And basically got told the point of the final appt is to wrap things up, no definite booster, no mention of a blood test and no guarantee of unblinding. They said we may be unblinded sooner.

I'm moving and would travel 45 min-1 hour for potentially just a chat. If that's all it is I'd rather do it over the phone.

It will day on the original consent form what tests are to be done at each visit so you should be able to check. If there are no blood tests I would just say that you can't make it but are happy to have a phone call (It will just be recorded as a protocol deviation). If there are blood tests I would go though.

[quote Evenstar]Feeling really down about this today, have just read in the Guardian that there are plans to allow returning double vaccinated British tourists to skip quarantine on return from Amber list countries. I am not sure we would want to go abroad this year, but DH has had Pfizer and I could have taken my NHS vaccine and been fully protected by now. It doesn’t seem fair to be disadvantaged because we stayed on the trial.

I am very tempted to go and get another vaccine, but I have quite a few health problems and would have to tell the truth about the trial.

www.theguardian.com/travel/2021/jun/16/vaccinated-british-travellers-could-skip-quarantine-on-return-under-new-plans?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other[/quote]
well, the government has no say on what other countries can stipulate for entry (though can in theory influence) but surely calls the shots on what counts as 'double vaccinated' on return. The government is very much aware of our plight, as per the letter from JVT, so it would be totally insane if this didn't apply to us. Remember he has actually said that the app issue will be sorted by the end of July (no idea why it will take that long though)

Then again a reminder of who we have in government....

@Frazzled2207 yes I hadn’t thought of going out, so we would be disadvantaged on the outward journey too! Hopefully they can sort this out, I volunteered because I thought I would be making a valuable contribution by taking a trial vaccine. The glow of altruism is fading by the day!

I just got a letter via email confirming my “fully vaccinated status” for all domestic purposes. But also the email accompanying it says it is not for international travel, so I don’t quite know what the implications of that are - people without the app can get a letter for travel when it’s needed in the future, as I understand it, so not sure why our letter can’t fulfil the same role. But it feels like progress of a sort.

@WhyIsMyKitchenSoCold that's good - definitely feels like progress. My guess is not for travel as not internationally recognised. Did it come from your trial centre?

It was from the NIHR and the trial centre jointly - the title in very big bold capitals says "CONFIRMATION OF FULLY VACCINATED STATUS", and says it should give me "equivalent status to someone who can demonstrate their full vaccination status through the COVID-19 status certification service for any future domestic use including pilot events".

So this really is progress, as I would have thought getting that approval over the line is the tricky bit. Getting it onto the app should be the easy bit in terms of the technical fix. I suspect they have an eye on international travel though and are nervous about displaying something on the app that implies full vaccination if it isn't accepted for travel by other countries at a point in the future. I have a horrible feeling that Brexit is going to bite on this one - if we were still part of the EU I'd think that it would be easier to at least get agreement on EU-wide travel than it will be now.

Nothing yet from valneva trial.

Message from the Janssen trial team yesterday saying that we would get a letter “in the coming days”

Just had to submit my vaccination certificate to Disney Cruise Line. If I'm objective then it doesn't fit the criteria - no batch number, and no fixed date of vaccination. Fingers crossed though. If it's rejected I'll follow up with JVT's letter plus anything I might get in the post in the meantime!

Good luck 🤞🏻

ComCov 2 participants have received a letter stating that they are considered to be fully vaccinated & that the app shoukd show this "in Jult". The email states:
"The process for providing a ‘Green Tick’ in the NHS App for all COVID-19 study participants is expected to be complete before the end of July. In the meantime, we have attached a formal letter being used to all UK COVID-19 vaccine trial participants, stating that they should be considered as immunised against COVID-19.

We are aware that the situation for international travel is less certain.

At present we do not plan to ‘mass unblind’ all COMCOV2 participants, in part because this may not help those participants who have received the Novavax vaccine when it comes to crossing international borders. However, we have applied for approval to unblind individual participants if there is a genuine urgent need and expect this to be available within the week."

@WhyIsMyKitchenSoCold
Yes you are correct I’m sure brexit won’t help, that said I presume there must be EU citizens in a similar boat and they should be motivated to sort out trial participants.

@Cookerhood
“Aware the situation for international travel is less certain” doesn’t fill me with confidence.

Just wish they’d make it easier for us to have an approved vaccine if they have any doubts about it

I emailed a photo of my A4 certificate to my GP but it doesn't show up in either myGP or the NHS app.
I'm now seriously considering getting an NHS vaccine - I'm cross that we've been effectively penalised for taking part.

I think I may never get a vaccination record through Novavax. I'm moving to England before my last appt.
My medical notes are not accessible South of the border.

This is becoming a bit of a joke now. I initially thought everyone was making a mountain out of a molehill worrying about our status not being certified, but this is disgraceful. I just don’t understand what Novavax are playing at with the regulatory submission either. Now they’re talking about fully vaccinated people being able to do daily tests instead of self isolating, and it feels a bit like a kick in the teeth, to be honest.

I’m now seriously thinking about going along for another jab and just lying to them to get it. I don’t think I owe Novavax anything at this point

@QueenOfThorns

This is becoming a bit of a joke now. I initially thought everyone was making a mountain out of a molehill worrying about our status not being certified, but this is disgraceful. I just don’t understand what Novavax are playing at with the regulatory submission either. Now they’re talking about fully vaccinated people being able to do daily tests instead of self isolating, and it feels a bit like a kick in the teeth, to be honest.

I’m now seriously thinking about going along for another jab and just lying to them to get it. I don’t think I owe Novavax anything at this point

I agree the lack of info is really worrying.

Regarding the being allowed to not do self isolation and/or quarantine thing- perhaps I’m very naive but at the point that we are on the app (or even when we get these individual letters promised in the next few days) then tbh we should consider ourselves officially fully vaccinated and at least for domestic matters that should - I’d hope- be enough. What does everyone else think?