Did you mix vaccines? If so, the govt considers you unvaccinated.

[PersephoneJames]

Freshly snuck onto the travel pages today.

Many people, like me, were not given the option. There are several studies suggesting a mix to be safer, can anyone think why they’ve done this?

At the moment I can only think it’s a sneaky xenophobic move to keep out the Europeans (where mixing has not been uncommon).

Many people, like me, were not given the option.
Who wasn't given the option unless they were one of the very few who had a bad reaction to their first jab?
I expect it's part of the long process to approve overseas vaccines and will end up only approving specific tested combinations. You can write to your MP to complain, and it is taking ridiculously long to approve vaccines given overseas too.

People overseas @MRex - a LOT of young people who were given Pfizer for the second. All teachers, police, firefighters, dentists etc in my host country for example. All my colleagues are English and all mixed vaccines.

I have written to my MP.

Interesting because if you have 2 different vaccines here in the UK you still get the domestic & travel passes.

Interesting but not entirely unpredictable. So it is just to keep out us foreigners?

I have AstraZeneca and Pfizer.

Ok, makes sense. Like I say, I would expect they'll approve specific vaccine combos but it's just a process.

Mixed vaccines haven’t been fully tested yet have they? My understanding is they are currently being tested but until their is evidence of their effectiveness then I think it’s a fair stance

I’ll see what my MP says, he’s been quite good about the other illogical travel rules, eg my British vaccinated foreign resident 13 y/o en having to quarantine when a British unvaccinated 13 y/o wouldn’t.

My certificate only says pfizer 2/2 so not sure how they know?

@Sirzy they have and with encouraging results according to the university of Oxford. And, as a PP pointed out you would still get the British domestic pass, surely if the efficacy is in doubt then the geography of the jab is irrelevant?

@PersephoneJames

Can you post a link to this please?

@Toria84 it’s here on the govt website if you scroll down to “what counts as vaccinated”, and it definitely wasn’t last week when I booked my flight and they’ve not publicized it at all.

@PersephoneJames

People overseas *@MRex* - a LOT of young people who were given Pfizer for the second. All teachers, police, firefighters, dentists etc in my host country for example. All my colleagues are English and all mixed vaccines.

I have written to my MP.

My dd is 19. She had AZ before they stopped giving it to younger people and still had AZ as her 2nd dose.

The only people given Pfizer as a 2nd dose were those who’d suffered a very bad reaction (plus a few study people).

Once again those in clinical trials are screwed (I've had one dose of AZ & one of Moderna). We were promised we wouldn't be disadvantaged.

Well your daughter is irrelevant to this then comefromaway.

I’m sorry you’re affected @Cookerhood - write to your MP. Mines quite good at replying to these issues.

Thank you, I'll give it ago although ours is hopeless!

This is really sneakily introduced (ie not publicised) and I think will affect lots of people vaccinated in Europe where this has been quite common - my BIL for instance had one of each.

Found this which means ComCov people should be ok

She’s not irrelevant.

She and everyone else vaccinated around the same time illustrates the fact that it was not usual to mix vaccines. It’s already been said that those who took part in the trials are covered.

Your original post stated that it was common for young people to have been given mixed vaccines. This is simply not the case. The UK can’t be responsible for what other countries decided to do.

I mean I can’t think of a word better than “overseas” to describe overseas.

The uk is undermining the EU green pass which it accepts.

The EU green pass considers this vaccinated. The UK accepts both vaccines. The UKs own Oxford university study considers a AZ/Pfizer mix better than a AZ/AZ. Even the president of Germany has the AZ/Pfizer mix.

Remember the outrage when some EU countries were wary about the Indian AZ vaccine which they hadn’t even authorized, but still let Brits with that vaccine in, because common sense prevails.

Except in Britain.

But here is a link to another thread full of British mumsnetters affected.

some EU countries were wary about the Indian AZ vaccine which they hadn’t even authorized
This is different, because it's actually the exact same vaccine as Astrazeneca. Nobody suggests Pfizer manufactured in EU is different than Pfizer manufactured in USA. That said, I also think people in the UK should pipe down with complaining when the UK hasn't approved all the EU options yet either. Admin takes time unfortunately.

I can understand your frustration, because it's all taking a very long time to get these international vaccine approvals in place, but given there have been trials I would expect approval of specific combinations at some stage soon and that will resolve the issue. I don't think it helps the case to draw up irrelevant comparisons, mixed doses have still only been approved for emergency cases under JCVI rules.

It’s not different though - My AstraZeneca vaccine was the same as my sisters and my Pfizer vaccine the same as my brothers. Manufactured in the same place. The exact same vaccines given the the com trial people in the UK who are apparently going to be exempt from this rule (good for them). The only discernible distance was that mine was injected outwith the borders of the United Kingdom.

Angela Merkel, research scientist and leader of Germany has the mix. There is no scientific justification for this, either incompetence or Brexit politics.

The unpublicized sneaky addition to the small print of a website page is just appalling behaviour. The constantly moving goalposts.

And @MRex I would see your point IF the rules last week had not been that my vaccines were perfectly valid.

For the UK to have a starting point of “only nhs vaccines” to then go to “also the EU green pass” and then, to go BACK to “actually only some people with an EU green pass” despite the fact it goes entirely against what their own scientific study has shown” is just ludicrous.

When I booked my flights last week this wasn’t an issue. My MP confirmed it.

@Cookerhood

Once again those in clinical trials are screwed (I've had one dose of AZ & one of Moderna). We were promised we wouldn't be disadvantaged.

Hi from the novavax board. It won’t affect you coming into the UK for any domestic purpose as long as the travel part of the app is showing ok. It would however affect a non resident in this situation. And of course we know that almost nowhere except Greece is accepting novavax atm.

Thanks @Frazzled2207 - I found the exemption on the website as well, which was a relief. What a cock up (again), though.