Is it possible I haven't actually been vaccinated?

[thelongwayhome]

Just been for my first Covid vaccination. I didn't feel it at all, but a fair amount of liquid was running down my arm. I asked the man if I could mop it up with a cotton ball and he said yes so didn't seem alarmed that it had happened. Have since gone home and asked my mum if this happened to her and she said no, which has made me wonder.
There's no sign of an injection site. Now, my arm isn't sore at all, it has been with every other vaccine I've had. Is this normal or have I not actually been vaccinated?

My first one I felt. Felt like it went half way in my muscle. The second one I didn’t feel anything. In fact I joked with dh that he didn’t actually do it. My arm did get achy later on though...

I thought they hadn’t done mine either when I went in, no pain, didn’t feel the needle, until the next morning when I felt like my arm weighed 10X more than usual to lift made me feel more confident and only sore for a day or 2.

My arm didn't start hurting until 12 hours post vaccine but the liquid is concerning.

As with others, I only know I had my vaccine because I was watching. I didn’t feel it at the time, but my arm killed afterwards.

The liquid does sound strange though, I hope you get it sorted.

Pharmacy have said they're sure some of it went in at least and my arm is aching today, she said it's possible some did come out as there is always room for human error but there's no way of telling if I recieved a sufficient dose, just have to hope for the best really.

@thelongwayhome

Pharmacy have said they're sure some of it went in at least and my arm is aching today, she said it's possible some did come out as there is always room for human error but there's no way of telling if I recieved a sufficient dose, just have to hope for the best really.

What would make them sure?! The aching arm is a positive thing, though (ironically).

There is an antibody test you can buy to see if you have made antibodies in reponse.

I am anxious and haven't got it yet as iI was worried I was fuelling my fear and not sure what I would do if I wasnt making any in response..

Might be an expensive way to find out though!

Sound a bit weird

The Pharmacy should be managing this as an incident. See p24 of this. assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1001274/PHE_vaccine_incident_guidance_July2021.pdf. Also see p34 of this assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/999527/COVID-19_vaccination_programme_guidance_for_healthcare_workers_6July2021_v3.9.pdf#page34

Personally I wouldn’t let this go until I was assured that the pharmacy has really treated this as an incident and has reported and investigated it correctly. At face value, revaccination should have been considered.

On the plus side, it does sound as though you received some of the dose at least. Don’t take this the wrong way when I say I hope your arm really feels like lead this morning!

You've not been vaccinated. That happened to me - a problem with the needle - and they re-did it.

The issue here is that you saw liquid. You certainly didn't get a full dose - if you got any dose at all.

This happened to me last week, a lot of cold liquid ran down my arm, not just a little bit, there was a big glob of it all trickled down. It was a sort of milky clear fluid. I asked the nurse and she said it was fine, sometimes it happens. I was not convinced so went to check with someone else, a couple of other nurses said they hadn’t heard of that happening and went to get the doctor on duty who questioned the nurse, who said it was fine and just a little bit, the Dr was happy that the nurse was happy with it. I still was worried so called my gp who said if the nurse who did it was happy then they are happy I’ve been vaccinated correctly . I really don’t think I have but there seems to be no way of getting it re-done. My arm was aching afterwards and the next day but I’ve since read that’s due to being physically jabbed in a muscle. If anyone knows who I can contact to listen to me and arrange another dose it’s be much appreciated, I dont feel protected and am more than a little worried that I’m not properly vaccinated when the restrictions are lifted today. Can’t sleep for worrying about it 😩

Did you have your top rolled up over the injection site when you had it done? This can sometimes act as a tourniquet. Can happen if wrong needle length is used (aka small needle for very overweight patient). Most likely however is that it was just a small amount of vaccine and looked worse than it was.

The point is this should not be able to happen at all. The vaccine can’t come back out of the puncture would. It must have come out of a gap between the syringe and needle that should not have been there i.e. the needle was not properly attached to the syringe tip. This is not normal and it is not OK.

I don’t know how you should escalate this if the vaccination centre isn’t interested but I will try to find out.

Wtaf. I wouldn’t worry about it not hurting but I would about the liquid. That’s really not right.

Sometimes this happens, if it was a little then I wouldn't be concerned but if there was a lot then I would speak to the vaccination centre for further advice.

I’m a vaccinator - the liquid is probably the moisture from the alcohol swap.

Im not a vaccinator but when I was a, nurse, I gave I M injections, occasionally a little bit of the liquid would come out at the injection site, but if it seemed like a lot I would speak to the vaccination center