Chris Whitty has just said the CEV need 4 covid jabs

[Fluffycloudland77]

I haven’t seen this advertised anywhere though and dh hasn’t been contacted.

Yes my dc was in the group of 500000 who needed a third vaccination and was originally told he'll have a booster after 6 months. He then had a letter stating he needed to book a booster 3 months after third dose.

I got sent a really dickhead letter from my hospital consultant team - the ones who provide the immune suppressants - back in early October that clearly showed they didn't know the difference between the 3rd primary and the booster, and hadn't read the JCVI guidelines. It was really disappointing.

After reading some of the threads on here (the sort that @nether refers to) I kind of took matters into my own hands in the end, and had an interesting to-and-fro with my GP practice who eventually agreed that I was right.

Otherwise I would never have been contaacted for a 3rd primary. I could and should have had it by mid-Sept - I eventually arranged it in late(ish) October.

The clinic was an utter shitshow as well, regarding the lack of recording methodology and staff training, but we all smiled through it as best we could. I did ask what I was being injected with though as they would have 100% given the wrong Moderna dose. Luckily it was Pfizer only available that day.

Must admit the vaccine place I went to was excellent
I filled the form in before, and said as I arrived it was a primary third. They had a form with options for booster or third vaccine and were well up on it and clear they knew the difference

@Thepowerofthelook

Yes my dc was in the group of 500000 who needed a third vaccination and was originally told he'll have a booster after 6 months. He then had a letter stating he needed to book a booster 3 months after third dose.

That advice switching from 6 to 3 months changed relatively recently, I think, once the JCVI had more data from across the board and concerns grew about Omicron.

I'm impressed he's had a letter! I seem to be getting all my knowledge from MN these days and reading JCVI bulletins, not from my hospital or GP.

@NMC2022

Must admit the vaccine place I went to was excellent I filled the form in before, and said as I arrived it was a primary third. They had a form with options for booster or third vaccine and were well up on it and clear they knew the difference

Do you mind saying roughly when that was? i.e. rough date.

I think I'll be finding that info useful to have to hand when I get the latest fob off from my GP practice about 'the system' and 'but you've had your booster already!' etc. (I'm in England.)

@OnAWinterMorningFarAway end of October
I posted the text from my GP further up the thread if that helps too

@frippit

Would any of you know what is the exact difference between the third primary dose and the booster dose contents? I have only been able to find information on a blood cancer website which said the pfizer jab is a full dose for the booster and also the third primary. So exactly the same? Or a half dose of moderna for the booster, and a full dose of moderna for the third primary. All of those who had pfizer as a booster are therefore covered for a third dose? Does anyone know?

Yes.

For Pfizer it's the same.

For Moderna, a third primary is a full dose (like all primaries, whether first, second or third) and for booster it's a half dose

@nether
"Whether it is kind or unkind, it's an important distinction."
But we know that distinction is not relevant to the OP now, because she has clearly stated that she's talking about someone who is immunosuppressed.
So hopefully we can move on from making this point and, indeed, all be kind now, in what is a pretty stressful and confusing situation for many.

They did explain to me the difference between a third jab and a booster when I went because I was confused and said “it’s both” 🤦🏻‍♀️

@nether I didn't mean to imply you hadn't been kind btw! Your info has been really helpful, thank you. But poor OP has had a bit of a bashing for saying CEV as shorthand for immunosuppressed which is easy to fo and understandable when you're both imo!

*do

Thanks, @NMC2022, that's helpful.

Just seen online that my GP practice is now very short-staffed as well. I think when (if) all this is over there needs to be a pretty brutal conversation had about communications between the Dept of Health, the JCVI, secondary care (hospitals) and primary care (GPs) because the crap communication is just making extra work for everyone at a very challenging time.

I would volunteer myself for the patient panel at my GP practice but it doesn't appear to exist any more. Probably can't spare the staff time to run it.

@OnAWinterMorningFarAway I suspect they were very efficient because they fucked up with me at the start. Leaving aside they missed my diagnosis for 8 years, I wasn't on the shielding list. I couldn't get a food delivery or any help and no supermarket slots for 8 weeks so was living off what I had in

My consultant has a nurse who is brutal efficient, she went ballistic and suddenly I had a supermarket slot and a food box. She even organised someone to do an instant food delivery from the council. I was "I don't want to bother you but.."
nurse "RIGHT. This is RIDICULOUS"
Ever since then, they seem slightly terrified

This is the situation I’m in. I now know I should have had a 3rd full dose but had a Moderna booster..!

Oh heck @Bagelsandbrie, so you've only had half the dose you should have had? Have you managed to get any sense out of anyone about what you do next?

It's infuriating given the correct info was all there in the JCVI guidelines distributed electronically - and very widely - back on the 14th September. Now staff who are already under huge pressure have to deal with stuff like this because so many doctors, nurses and managers seem to have missed the memo.

I don't know how it was so comprehensively missed / ignored. I definitely saw it. It was widely reported in the media.