Third primary dose recorded in GP system as booster

[RachC2021]

Who should I contact in order to fix this? I’d rather only contact one organisation and get it right first time, rather than contact the wrong organisation(s) first. GP did not administer the vaccine.

@Toddlerteaplease there's not a huge amount of people that fall into it (I do)
See text from GP I got

So booster - "normal" people
3rd dose - severely immunocompromised

Doesn't make much difference unless it's moderna which is half a dose for booster, full dose for 3rd vaccine
But then the people who have had a 3rd dose, will get a 4th which is their booster

The clinic I went to were very up on it and the form had a box for either booster or 3rd dose and said I will be called for a booster

So pleased to hear that some GPs and clinics/hubs are managing to cope with this in some way.

Some are doing better than others, clearly. My GP practice is struggling with this.

@SpindelWhorl

The JCVI advice went out to GPs on the 2nd September 2021. The majority of severely immune suppressed patients (a relatively small group of under 500,000 in the whole country) are according to estimates from leading charities still waiting to be contacted.

This is largely as a result of them not being flagged up by the recording system as it is only flagging up 'it's time for a 6 month booster'.

Some GP staff are still denying that such a thing as a 3rd primary vaccination exists.

So we're back to:

1. Send the JCVI advice to your practice manager

1. If you have a consultant's letter, take it to a vaccination centre.

Keep a record so that when the system is sorted out, you'll be able to ensure your records are updated; and so you'll be called up if you choose to request a 4th jab in 6 months' time.

I got my third primary by taking my consultant’s letter to a walk-in centre. My letter explicitly says that these jabs can’t be booked via the central website nor via phone. (At the present time anyway.)

Prior to getting that letter I had contacted my GP surgery, from mid September onwards (I wanted to give them time to read and digest that September 2nd letter from the government), only to be repeatedly told I needed to wait for a booster. Complete ignorance of the third primary dose, even when I tried to explain it. Then I contacted my local CCG about it, quoting the JCVI guidance and the government’s letter. I had a GP call me within 24 hours — obviously a rocket had been launched.

However that GP refused to accept I qualified for s third primary dose, insisting as my immune system was fine now then I didn’t qualify. He even quoted The Green Book criteria to me but refused to accept that it all applies to the date of dose 1 (or dose 2) of the vaccine and not right now. For the record, I qualify because I had finished chemotherapy in the six months prior to my first dose. (Come October when I was talking to the GP my last chemotherapy was over six months prior, but that’s irrelevant.) It really was like hitting my head against a wall.

I’d also tried my consultant’s secretary, to be told the same rubbish as my GP surgery.

Incidentally, I reached 182 days from my second dose just before I had my third primary dose. The website wouldn’t let me book a booster, saying I wasn’t eligible. So I don’t think I could have gotten a jab via the booster route if my consultant hadn’t finally sent me a letter.

I forgot to mention — I didn’t react as badly to the third one as my first two. My arm hurt much less than before, and I didn’t get the bulls-eye red rash like I did the first two times. I did feel kind of achy and “off” for 24 hours, but that was it. Much easier. All three of mine were Pfizer.

@RachC2021, my best guess is if that the person you're talking to can't see the specific field in the database, and hasn't read the JCVI advice personally themselves, and hasn't been told or trained otherwise, and hasn't seen the Secretary of State for Health wang on about it himself, then they don't believe in the existence of the 3rd primary vaccine.

The only way to pierce the bubble is to keep referencing the JCVI advice, and say you acknowledge the problems with the recording system at present.

I was, like others, not far off the six month mark from 'the booster' anyway, when I finally had my 3rd primary.

My third primary vaccine still hasn't been recorded. My CCG have said they won't record it until they are able to do it correctly. I don't hold much hope of being called in six months for the booster.

I've been recording it as a booster on the system & writing in the clinical notes that it's a third primary. I've apologised to each patient & suggested they try & get it changed when the system allows & told them they might need to push for a booster in 6 months. My husband is one of these people so it will be interesting to see what happens. They changed the system very quickly to allow it to record the booster but it won't allow the third primary to be recorded. I can't for the life of me see why it isn't a quick fix - they also managed to make a screen to cover the Covid & flu vaccinations together fairly quickly.
Presumably this means they have no idea how many are taking up the third primary dose.

@Cookerhood

I've been recording it as a booster on the system & writing in the clinical notes that it's a third primary. I've apologised to each patient & suggested they try & get it changed when the system allows & told them they might need to push for a booster in 6 months. My husband is one of these people so it will be interesting to see what happens. They changed the system very quickly to allow it to record the booster but it won't allow the third primary to be recorded. I can't for the life of me see why it isn't a quick fix - they also managed to make a screen to cover the Covid & flu vaccinations together fairly quickly. Presumably this means they have no idea how many are taking up the third primary dose.

Thanks, @Cookerhood, that matches up with what I've been saying.

It also underpins the fact that Sajid Javid cannot possibly have had any basis to his assertion on the 15th January 2021 that the 'vast, vast majority' of severely immune-compromised people eligible for the 3rd primary dose had had it.

Liar, or being lied to? Or just incompetent and uncaring, while the system struggles?

There's something very wrong here.

I was called for my booster a few weeks ago, and when I got there the vaccinators told that they were recording in the comments that it was my third dose and so will be called for a booster in 6 months time.

Hopefully you will but it won't be because of what is recorded in the system because it's only in the notes so won't get flagged up. You may need to follow it up.

The vaccine clinic had no idea what a third primary even was. I didn’t complain because I know they’re doing a hard job under pressure. It’s the way the govt has poorly communicated it, not the fault of someone on the front line.
I think it’s be a bit chaotic for immunocompromised people to get the actual booster.

Yes - I'm going to put a marker on my calendar to chase it up in 6 months, if a 4th jab after 6 months is still recommended for our cohort.

We can all meet back here again in late April 2022 saying we haven't heard anything and the GP practice doesn't know what we're talking about and the latest new Secretary of State for Health denies all knowledge of a 4th jab ever being mentioned by anyone, ever.

Personally I'd be ok with a 4th jab being held off till Autumn 2022 i.e. August/September if clinically indicated, but I'm sick of the institutional gaslighting.

I’ve commented on the poor handling of this on another thread. It is absolutely ridiculous how the third primary dose has been handled. My GP had never heard of it and claimed I was mistaken and most mean the booster 🙄 I have contacted my hospital consultant and they have confirmed that I do qualify, but don’t seem to have done anything about sorting it out for me as they said they don’t know how I go about getting it! I have done my own research and have found that if you have a letter then in my area you can go to a walk in centre and get it. There is no way of booking it on the central system. I am still waiting to get hold of my letter though, so can’t do this yet!! It is a complete and utter shambles and appalling that those who are the most vulnerable are finding it so difficult to get the much needed third dose! Rant over!

DH's consultant wrote to him & told him to make sure it was recorded as a third primary, not a booster. If she'd like to let me know how....

I think we are definitely going to have to sort out our own boosters in six months time, as if the third dose is only being recorded in the notes how on earth are these going to be amended going forward?

@Lily999888

I think we are definitely going to have to sort out our own boosters in six months time, as if the third dose is only being recorded in the notes how on earth are these going to be amended going forward?

When I spoke to vaccine centre manager she said that 'the system' was due to be amended a couple of weeks ago but it hasn't happened yet.

Like I said earlier, it's a very easy job to add an additional field (like adding a cell to an Excel spreadsheet).

One can only presume that the Dept for Health is avoiding this because they wish to avoid some sort of perceived responsibility? As in, being required to identify and call up those patients? And carrying a liability when they fail to so?

Otherwise it doesn't make sense. I could carry out those software updates myself. It's to do with 'carrying the can'.

They dont currently have the third primary vaccine option on the system. This will be sorted out sometime soon though. For my mum and partner they put a note on the system.

I think a lot of vaccine hubs are finally getting the hang of how to try to fudge the recording of this. However the number of people who have had their 3rd primary jab recorded as 'the booster' without a note being placed on their records, and the number of patients who haven't yet been called at all because 'the system' is waiting for them to be 6 months+ past their 2nd jab, is huge.

Actually it could be hundreds of thousands.

Of the most vulnerable.

At the start of the pandemic I was impressed when Leo Varadkar in Ireland called such patients, particularly older people, 'our most most vulnerable and our most precious'. Now in the UK it's more, our most vulnerable and disposable.

I’m a hospital consultant. We were asked to provide a list of our eligible patients to our hospital hub. I did that day( c 3000 patients) They replied and said they were expecting about 20 so couldn’t do them and to wait for the National system to add the filter. I think the 500,000 is a massive underestimate as our middle sized DGH department alone had several thousand.

I have a letter from my consultant telling me to wait for my GP surgery to contact me to arrange for me to have the third primary dose, followed by booster in six months.

I'm not holding my breath frankly. This surgery has not provided me with any medical care for years, but is allegedly one of the better ones in the area.

Consultant told me that only my first dose would be minorly affected by immunosuppressant drugs that I have now been off for seven months, and I have actually had COVID, so I'm not unduly concerned.

@NaToth

I have a letter from my consultant telling me to wait for my GP surgery to contact me to arrange for me to have the third primary dose, followed by booster in six months.

I'm not holding my breath frankly. This surgery has not provided me with any medical care for years, but is allegedly one of the better ones in the area.

Consultant told me that only my first dose would be minorly affected by immunosuppressant drugs that I have now been off for seven months, and I have actually had COVID, so I'm not unduly concerned.

Try taking that letter from your consultant to a walk-in centre. It makes it obvious you qualify. You shouldn’t need to wait for your GP, unless you’re household etc. Hood luck!

• Good luck, even!

Yes, I have just received a letter from the hospital today saying that I am eligible for a third primary dose, but should wait to be contacted. So I should take the letter to a walk in centre then?
I had no idea I was eligible, but I was probably on high dose steroids before either first or second dose (take them a lot for an eye condition so have lost track), which I guess must be the reason.

@TheSpanishApartment

Yes, I have just received a letter from the hospital today saying that I am eligible for a third primary dose, but should wait to be contacted. So I should take the letter to a walk in centre then? I had no idea I was eligible, but I was probably on high dose steroids before either first or second dose (take them a lot for an eye condition so have lost track), which I guess must be the reason.

I would try a walk-in centre, yes. Keep hold of the letter afterwards in case you need to argue for a booster in six months from now.

Definitely where I am the advice is to take the letter to a walk in centre and you will be given the third dose.