Can't get my third jab

[TheVampiresWife]

Third full dose, as opposed to vaccine.

I started immunosuppressant drugs for my RA a few weeks ago and my rheumatologist wrote to my GP asking them to arrange my flu, pneumonia and third covid jabs. First two have been sorted but nobody seems to be able to help with the covid one. GP says it's nothing to do with them (exact words), can't book online, 119 says there's nothing they can do but wait for a text inviting me for my booster - no matter how many times I told them it's not a booster I need. Rheumatologist says to ask GP again but there's absolutely no point.

How does it work with third doses, how long after the second do they need to be, is that what the issue is? I know boosters are six months after the second, but are third doses 12 weeks like the the initial gap between doses? I had my second at the start of June. Do I need to push for it, and if so, who do I push?

It's doing my head in!

If you're immunosuppressed and don't want a 3rd (I am and I don't)... Do we still count as fully vaxxed for the purposes of travel if we've had thr regular 2?

I only got them so I could travel and not have to isolate if I was a close contact. I've no interest in a 3rd.

@nether

Javid claimed a few weeks ago that the 'majority' of the third primary jabs had taken place/been booked, despite much evidence from charities representing affected patientngrouis to the contrary.

He has never shown on what figures he based that assertion, and there is some scepticism whether decent data even existed, given that there was at that time no way to input third primaries as a category into records. And I believe that even now they are still just going in as third jabs and there is to be a 'clean up' later on to assign third primaries correctly

Yes, my third primary was entered into my records yesterday as a third jab as the vaccine clinic (at a GP health centre) not a third primary, as the staff said (a) there was no other way of doing it, and (b) the 'clean up' of the system, promised by end of last week, hadn't happened.

So where Javid is getting his data from about third primary jabs, goodness knows.

Reddit, MN and local sites are awash with people who are long-term immune-compromised who are unable to book theirs and whose GPs don't know the difference - possibly an artefact of the non-cleaned-up computer recording system.

OP do you have a letter saying you need a 3rd dose? If so, take it to your local walk in centre/pharmacy and appeal to them. They're well aware what a total fucking shitshow the whole thing is, and will hopefully help you. Mine did.

I was due a 3rd dose but couldn't get it. GP said they have nothing to do with vaccines anymore, and NHS 119 and online booking system wouldn't let me book, saying I wasn't eligible, even for the booster! Completely untrue. I was passed from pillar to post.

In the end I went to a walk in centre. I got Pfizer as it's a full dose for the booster and the 3rd jab, whereas moderna is a half dose for booster and full dose for 3rd jab.

They have no way of recording your 3rd dose so it will be recorded as a booster! But the staff in the walk-in centre hoped this would be sorted before I was due my 4th dose in 6 months!

The walk in centre staff also told me that those eligible for a 3rd dose haven't been able to even book a booster online, as the system thinks they're not eligible for a booster (because it's a 3rd dose they need!). So the most vulnerable are completely being let down. It's ridiculous.

I don't think you would qualify as you had to be taking the immunosuppressants at the time of your other vaccines. It has been very badly organised. Sajid Javid seems to think everything has gone well and all those eligible have had theirs. I had to fight for mine.

Sajid Javid seems to think everything has gone well and all those eligible have had theirs

Is he an idiot, or a liar?

@SpindelWhorl

Sajid Javid seems to think everything has gone well and all those eligible have had theirs

Is he an idiot, or a liar?

The kindest explanation is that his brief was unclear

Otherwise he is downright lying (deliberately or by making up something on spot)

Because I just cannot see hiwnthey can have got the figures as evidence to back up what he publicly stated.

@SpindelWhorl @nether I have just emailed him I am that angry about it. I had an immediate auto response saying he can only reply if I am one of his constituents. What a cop out. They are never held to account.

I completely forgot about this thread! Thank you to all who have offered advice.

I don't think you would qualify as you had to be taking the immunosuppressants at the time of your other vaccines

I should've mentioned that although I only started my methotrexate a few weeks ago, I've had a few steroid injections this year too, from March onwards. I understand that they also affect vaccine efficacy. A third vaccination was never mentioned before I started my mtx though.

OP do you have a letter saying you need a 3rd dose?

I have a copy of the letter my consultant sent to my GP requesting that the GP organise my third vaccination as soon as possible - I wonder if that would count? Might be worth asking my consultant to write a separate one that I could show at a vaccination centre. Good advice, thank you.

Even when you get your 3rd primary vaccine (for being eligibly immune suppressed) the computer system has no way of recording it as anything other than a regular 3rd jab

Why doesn't this suprise me? From what I've read here and my own experience the whole thing is a shit show. The initial vaccine rollout was brilliant, no arguments there. But the boosters, and particularly the third jabs, have been a shambles.

When I was at the vaccine centre the vaccinator wrote a note on the computer to record it was my third dose and I would need booster later.

To be fair to Sajid Javid it seems that few have a grasp on the third dose vs. boosters thing. Even my consultant and certainly the GP were clueless. I suppose those actually needing a third dose is a relatively small group. Plus just looking at these threads there is a lot of confusion full stop. People are asking about a booster jab when it hasn't been six months since their last jab and complaining they can't book online.

I would say there's insufficient clarity in the NHS communications department. They need clear adverts saying that you can book after six months. Doctors should have been contacted to explain that some patients would require a third primary dose . This doesn't seem to have happened (or doctors don't read their emails....).

[quote PheasantsNest]**@SpindelWhorl* @nether* I have just emailed him I am that angry about it. I had an immediate auto response saying he can only reply if I am one of his constituents. What a cop out. They are never held to account.[/quote]
You could contact Javid via his website - he has a contact form.

And of course Twitter. He loves Twitter for some reason.

@DottyHarmer someone on another thread got quite shirty with me yesterday, basically telling me that the third dose is the booster and implying that I was making it all up. Like so many things in the pandemic there's a lot of misinformation and confusion. Even among HCPs it would seem!

[quote TheVampiresWife]@DottyHarmer someone on another thread got quite shirty with me yesterday, basically telling me that the third dose is the booster and implying that I was making it all up. Like so many things in the pandemic there's a lot of misinformation and confusion. Even among HCPs it would seem![/quote]
Yeah I had that too. Not like I got a text from the GP telling me different... oh

Doctors should have been contacted to explain that some patients would require a third primary dose . This doesn't seem to have happened (or doctors don't read their emails....).

The JCVI sent this advice to GPs electronically on the 2nd September 2021. I think it's possible that as far as Javid is concerned, at that point a 3rd primary jab programme was set in train, went swimmingly, and has now all been done - based on no data or evidence whatsoever.

This is a really interesting discussion btw. It's clarifying a lot of things for me.

@NotMyCat yep, the opinion of my consultant rheumatologist is no match for some randomer on the internet whose medical knowledge is equal to that of the average woodlouse, clearly

I work in a vaccination centre. We've been advised that if someone like yourself attends with their letter, we vaccinate and record it on the national system as a booster, until the system catches up for third primary doses. Your consultant letter is your route for access.
Bear in mind though that if you had AZ as your initial course, you almost certainly won't get it as your third dose. DD had a third primary dose and it was Pfizer having had AZ originally. I'm pretty sure she wasn't actually eligible for it but her GP was adamant!!

As I’ve said here and on another thread I think, the GP’s receptionist suggested I had had a scam letter!

The vaccination centre was great - everyone so kind and helpful. The consultant was pleasant but unhelpful. The GP - couldn’t have made me feel stupider or more of a silly time waster….

Interesting about GPS having been informed about this on 2nd September

www.england.nhs.uk/coronavirus/wp-content/uploads/sites/52/2021/09/C1399-Updated-JCVI-guidance-for-vaccinating-immunosuppressed-individuals-with-third-primary-dose.pdf

This is the 2nd September letter.

@SpindelWhorl

www.england.nhs.uk/coronavirus/wp-content/uploads/sites/52/2021/09/C1399-Updated-JCVI-guidance-for-vaccinating-immunosuppressed-individuals-with-third-primary-dose.pdf

This is the 2nd September letter.

There was a second letter sent out a few weeks later too. I can’t find it on the Gov website now though.

This is the second letter (30 September)

www.england.nhs.uk/coronavirus/wp-content/uploads/sites/52/2021/09/C1427-covid-19-vacc-assuring-implementation-of-jcvi-guidance-vaccinating-severely-immunosuppressed-individuals.pdf

[quote nether]This is the second letter (30 September)

www.england.nhs.uk/coronavirus/wp-content/uploads/sites/52/2021/09/C1427-covid-19-vacc-assuring-implementation-of-jcvi-guidance-vaccinating-severely-immunosuppressed-individuals.pdf[/quote]
Thank you, I don’t know how I missed it!

On the basis of this thread, I emailed my consultant and he sent me a letter saying I was eligible for a third dose and also a booster in 6 months time. I managed to get an appointment this afternoon so just waiting now. They didn't even need the letter, just wrote that it was a third jab rather than a booster on a piece of paper when I mentioned it 🤷🏻‍♀️

@choirmumoftwo

I work in a vaccination centre. We've been advised that if someone like yourself attends with their letter, we vaccinate and record it on the national system as a booster, until the system catches up for third primary doses. Your consultant letter is your route for access. Bear in mind though that if you had AZ as your initial course, you almost certainly won't get it as your third dose. DD had a third primary dose and it was Pfizer having had AZ originally. I'm pretty sure she wasn't actually eligible for it but her GP was adamant!!

Just to add to this, I was told it was recorded in my NHS records and on the app as a booster but they'd keep the little bit of paper on which '3rd dose' was written in a separate pile and somebody would collect those bits of paper at some point and update the systems. I think the very nice doctor doing my jab was trying not to laugh as he said it because we both knew that the likelihood of that actually happening was slim to none.

@Squidlydoo

So glad I found this thread… got called for a third jab - by letter and text… booked appointment abs showed up and was questioned by the nurse about why I was “severely immune compromised”… said “I’m not sure to be honest”. (I have a number of ailments including asthma but she was questioning if I was a transplant or cancer survivor. As a result, she refused to jab me and I as told to contact my Gp to find out on what grounds I was immunocompromisied.

Called the GP and they have said they had nothing to do with the process and it was all determined by the vaccination team!

Dragged from pillar to post and a total shambles.

It doesn't matter if you are immunocompromised now it's whether you were when you had your first two doses. That could include treatment you had had in the preceding year.

In my case it's only since looking at the criteria I realise just how immunocompromised I was. I was on a low dose of oral steroids, a high dose of steroid inhalers, Had taken even more steroids in the previous year, had radiotherapy, had chemotherapy. There's no wonder I got covid!

I think the very nice doctor doing my jab was trying not to laugh as he said it because we both knew that the likelihood of that actually happening was slim to none

Agree - and see you all in April when we/our family members are trying to get our 6 month boosters!!

@nether

I think the very nice doctor doing my jab was trying not to laugh as he said it because we both knew that the likelihood of that actually happening was slim to none

Agree - and see you all in April when we/our family members are trying to get our 6 month boosters!!

I think this absolutely going to happen!

Although I was just boring the arse off talking to DP about this and I said that if the evidence base shows a decent immune response in our cohort from this 3rd primary, then I'd perhaps want to postpone my 4th jab ('the booster') until September 2022 as the autumn & winter seasons approach.

He said it would take me from April to September to get anyone to listen anyway.