Refused a booster vaccne - anaphylatic shock

[bluebells34]

HELP! I have had 2 vaccines of astra zeneca. I was refused a booster (Pfizer) as I had a reaction to the contraceptive injection 20 years ago and it has the same ingrediant in pfizer PEG. They advised me to go to my GP and request a referral to the allergy clinic who will decide the risks of giving me phizer or a third dose - which will have to be in a clinical setting incase I have an anaphylactic shock.
The GP was useless and said it was nothing to do with them and to contact 119 - 119 referred me back to the GP. I could not get past the receptionist who advised to just go to a vaccination site and ask for astra zeneca - I reiterated that I can not do this as astra zeneca is not being used as a booster and it needs to be a medical professional to recommend this. In the end I got to speak tothe GP who told me he has never heard of anyone being referred to an allergy clinic and that the waiting list is over a year. He reluctantly wrote a brief letter stating I had a reaction to the contraceptive injection and there was no incidents with the astra zeneca. I have made a booking at a site but 119 were doubtful they will give me astra zeneca -My last vaccine was over 6 months ago so I have no protection at all.

Hiya, I'm in the same situation. For my original jab I spoke to my local hospital - the GP had to make a referral.

It was a farce to be honest and I'm dreading doing the same for a booster.

For clinical reasons you can have az as a booster but your gp needs to refer you. Does the moderna have that ingredient too?

I can have the booster however it's not recommended due to a cascade of issues I've experienced since my second vaccine shot in January. You are not alone

Thank you for your replies - the moderna also has this PEG ingediant in it.
@gogohm where does the GP refer to? they seem clueless as to what to do - would this letter be sufficent that he has given me stating he recommends AZ due to past medical issue

@InMincePieRehabBackSoon
It is so stressful - I am having sleepless nights - and you see all of these adverts 'protect yourself and your loved ones' Surely there are many more in this position. I have had so much conflicting information. My GP said AZ has peg ingredient in it - but a simple search on google advises it doesn’t. I booked a an appointment but 119 said I must phone before to see if they can give me AZ – there is no number on the web site and she gave me a number for a local foot ball club! It is a complete shambles.

Contact your practice manager and explain the situation, misinformation etc and ask them to advise you on how to get the referral you need. You could copy in PALS too.

I will escalate this to the practice manager although she was liaising with the GP as he did not know what to do. I have also emailed my MP

I would mention how detrimentally this is affecting your MH and sleep

@bluebells34

I will escalate this to the practice manager although she was liaising with the GP as he did not know what to do. I have also emailed my MP

Oh. Then do also contact your local PALS.

You can Google your local contact details.

You can go to the nearest big mass vaccination centre as they have a pathway to refer you to the hospital and have the booster done near a crash team !
This is what happened to a friend of mine, and he is now boosted.

I had a different issue getting covid vaccinations and was passed from 119 to GP, nobody would make a decision.
In the end I rang the ccg and was given a dedicated email address which deals with vaccination issues. They were brilliant and liased directly with a vaccination centre and we got the vaccination the next day. Could you try ringing your ccg (I just rang the ccg switch board and explained the issue I was having they seemed very used to these problems).

Can't speak to the allergy but AFAIK Astra has incredibly poor results in preliminary studies of omicron so if it can be done at all you'd be much better off with a RNA vaccine.

Have you given any thought to trying to contact the actual developer - that is, not Pfizer but directly Biontech - and see if they can help out with any info? Twitter, company fb page, etc.

Someone I work with has several anaphylactic attacks every year. She had a reaction to AZ. Then had Pzifer for her second dose, had it in hospital with a crash cart by the side of her. She was ok, so they can do stuff out the box if they need to.

The Green book gives information regarding previous anaphylaxis. Your GP should be familiar with all of this (scroll down to page 30/31)
www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-the-green-book-chapter-14a

Can't speak to the allergy but AFAIK Astra has incredibly poor results in preliminary studies of omicron so if it can be done at all you'd be much better off with a RNA vaccine.
Could you link to this information? AZ may well give better long term protection & didn't hold up quite as well as a booster (although it was pretty good) but I haven't seen any specific information about omicron.

GP needs to refer you to Allergy clinic at hospital where they will do vaccine. This is what happened to me after going round vaccine centers/119/GP receptionists etc.

@BonneMaman15
GP said the waiting list for the allergy clinic is over a year and said by which time covid will be a thing of the past- his attitude was beyond awful

Hi, I am only allowed to astra Zeneca due to an unexplained anaphylactic shock 15 years ago. I had to have the 1st jab at my doctors as was orginally turned away by mass vaccination centre (who said I needed a crash team in hospital). 2nd one was in a village hall. Both all fine so turned up for booster in a different centre. They said they weren't allowed to give Pfizer or Moderna to me or anyone who has a history of severe allergic reactions. However they said they keep an emergency stock of AZ in a locked away cupboard for cases like mine but there are limited amounts available. I was then given AZ for my booster (and fine).

Basically if I were you I would book into a vaccination centre anyway as they should have some AZ stored for people who aren't allowed Pfizer or Moderna.

I got a third AZ booster, I had to travel a long way to get it, pre booked in a vaccination centre in the next county.
But it is possible.

And no, it wasn't arranged by my GP, it was arranged by my very local vaccination centre manager after I turned up for my original booked booster. When I talked to the on site Dr, who was concerned about giving me Pfizer or Moderna due to PEG worries (all they had on offer) he said I needed AZ. Hence the long journey to another centre that actually offered AZ.

And yes, I was advised to get allergy tested for PEG asap.

Whereabouts are you?

Locally, the NHS runs COVID vaccine allergy clinics which are totally separate from any normal allergy clinic. All GPs have been given information about how to refer to these. Our local CCG PALS would be the right people

I live in Nottinghamshire - so far spoken to two GP's at the practice and they are not aware of referring anyone to the allergy clinics in this scenario and said it was totally unnecessary
I have booked an appointment at a large vaccination site on Monday and going to go to a walk in at a hospital on Sunday to see if they have any AZ stored

My Mum has the same issue. Her GP did some kind of referral letter then she went along to a specific vaccination centre on a day when they were offering AstraZeneca to those in the same position.

Thank you for all taking the time to relpy - more reasurring than the GPone could say!

Honestly. I wouldn't risk it and get the booster. What happens if you get another shock? Whether you go to an allergy clinic, see a doctor to carry out some times, there would always be a probability of getting a shock or not.

The process for vaccinating people with anaphylaxis to initial vaccines is different in every area, which is part of the problem. It is not necessarily true that the OP's GP needs to make a referral - it will depend on the local system. However, there must be some process for this in the OP's area, whether it's a referral system or a walk in service at a hospital.

You could also try contacting your local Clinical Commissioning Group, OP.