Covid and flu jabs for housebound parent - yay or nay?

[Donm999]

Elderly mother (78) has been offered Covid and flu jabs.

She literally does not leave the house. Lives alone and has one regular carer/cleaner a few times a week, plus occasional visits from us, very rarely others.

Shes had the double jab(s) previously and tends to get quite poorly reaction from it lasting up to a week (temperature, feeling unwell etc).

She wants advice from me on whether she should have it or not. I’m torn for reasons above. She also has early stage dementia so struggles with decision making.

Thoughts or experience with this welcome!

If she has been offered them, I would take them. This year they have cut down on people who meet the requirements.

The cleaner/family/other visitors can still give her flu or covid, and if she's that bad she can't leave the house, she's probably vulnerable to infections etc. Just make the decision for her and take her for the jabs.

I’d tell my own mum to take them in that situation. Even if she feels a bit unwell for a few days she could be saving herself far worse.

Is there an option to have them separately?

I would advise my parent to have them both. Feeling unwell as you've described is a common side effect and while unpleasant for a few days is not life threatening.

An older person having flu or covid can be fatal. It can also cause a long hospital admission with all of the resultant risks and poor outcomes associated with that.

Thanks - I was leaning on side of advising to have them, but wondered if I was being overly cautious! Think I’ll go with that.

I’m a doctor. Yes have them. Housebound people often can end up hospital inpatients for other reasons where they would could catch it.

Im housebound and have just had my covid and flu jabs. I sometimes have a bit of a fluey feel for a few days bt its better than getting this superflu or covid which could be fatal to an older person. I was late in getting my jabs because arranging an in home visit is difficult, but worth persisting. The jabs are nothing compared with the illnesses.

Yes have them. If she ends up in hospital for another reason she could catch it there.

I can understand why in your case you would like to minimize the amount of pain and suffering that she experiences short-term (side effects after getting her vaccination) but even if she is housebound, the diseases can still come to her.
Anytime she has a visitor, anytime she has food delivered, anytime she has to go to the doctors or the dentist or the eye doctors, anytime you go to visit, you could be bringing the diseases to her.
Influenza and covid as well as most other communicable diseases have a trojan horse form of traveling in which a carrier can be infected and shedding viruses and they don't even feel sick yet, you could be visiting your mum and giving her care and 12 hours later be sick as a dog, you had no idea that you were infected and you've infected her.
Yes, she should get the jabs for her protection but, if you don't want to, don't do it. She'll suffer a lot more if he happens to catch those diseases. Short-term pain versus long-term insurance against a much more serious problem. You know the pros and cons. My instinct would be to say yes but a lot of people don't want to go through the trouble.

Being housebound, she may be more vulnerable than if she went out and about, as her immune system is rarely exercised by exposure. So she definitely should have the jabs. If she reacts badly to them, then spread them out. Flu first, as flu season is bad this year, and Covid once she has recovered from the flu jab. That’s what I did when I was getting both. One at a time I could cope with, the two together would have me off work for 2-3 days.

My mum, who is 95 caught covid in early September and was very poorly.
She was given the covid jab and flu jab on the same day in mid October. I was very worried how she would cope with the two jabs and wished she had opted to have them separately.
However she had no side effects, and in retrospect I am glad she opted to have the jabs.
Despite her age she has full capacity.
I would advise your mum to have the jabs.
I paid to have the jabs myself after seeing how ill my mum was in September, although I did opt to have them a few weeks apart.

Yes, definitely get them. She is vulnerable.

Just an aside as to how communicable flu and covid are. The day I was supposed to have my home injections no one came. Next day someone rang to apologise that the nurse who was supposed to be doing the jabs had tested positive for covid! So I dodged a bullet there.

I have a weakened immune system because of certain treatment Im having. I do have home deliveries but I leave a couple of bags by the kitchen door. The Tesco driver fills them and then leaves them on the step for me to bring in. Same with packages. I ask the courier to leave them by the door while s I tand back. At present I am observing the kinds of precautions I took during the pandemic. However it is extremely unlikely that anyone can catch flu or covid in this way. Both diseases are passed through respiratory droplets in the air from an infected person