4th covid vaccine

[Titch1908]

Has anyone had their letter about getting thr 4th covid vaccine? I got mine today, just wondering people's thoughts on having it? I've had my previous 3 but feeling quite anxious about the 4th, keep putting stuff in my body I have no idea what the long term affects are. I will likely have it just needing to educate myself a bit on it!

[Troilus]

I haven’t heard anything, but when/if I do, I will have no hesitation in getting it done. My thinking at the moment is that that consequences of not having might just prove too much. As to long term problems (that probably won’t arise) I’ll take my chances. If there are such consequences I will be one amongst several millions and the political fallout will be so great that billions will be spent to put us right.

[madonbrew]

I had mine a couple of days ago. I just had a sore arm but otherwise feel fine.

I was on Rituximab for other stuff hence needing a 4th dose (I’m not sure if you’re meaning a booster dose after needing 3 primary vaccine doses because of being immune compromised…as is my case)….or generally another booster after having had a booster (3rd vaccine) I’m glad to feel safer with it because they said the first ones might not have given the protection we needed. I feel as much protected now as I’m going to be!

[Spikedog66]

I've not received a letter yet but like you unsure what to do about 4th vaccine. I have many questions too. I just wonder how many do we need to have? This for me will 4 in a year.. why? I've waited nearly a year for a hospital appointment for my chest but that's ok have another vaccine? No masks now but have another vaccine? Is it heard immunity now? Many questions? I really haven't answered you but like you so unsure. Like million so tired of it all.

[Leigh2305]

I imagine that it will become an annual booster or six monthly for those who need it. With so many people being vaccinated they will be able to see how long immunity lasts in the general population.

When I require a fourth I will happily go for it. Asthmatics and women are in the at risk of long covid. I haven’t had covid yet but perhaps it’s because I’ve had my vaccinations.

As a society the things we consume either intentionally or unintentionally (plastics in water, air pollution) the vaccine is one of the lesser evils.

Young lass in my office had covid a few weeks ago and is still struggling with her recovery. She was vaccinated so if she hadn’t had vaccines she likely would have had a much more severe illness.

[Jimmy-Lyden]

I'd suggest the reason we'll be getting a 4th or more jabs is much the same as why we get the flu vaccine every year (not comparing Covid 19 to the flu in ANY other way, just the fact we get vaccines). Every year the flu adapts & mutates. With the flu, it generally takes a year to get around the planet, transferring from host to host and mutating. Covid 19 is far more infectious , therefore making it's journey faster and the fact that people have chosen not to take the vaccine (to slow down the infection and to lessen it's effects) is a large part of the reason it mutates, starts it's journey again and is still with us. I wouldn't worry about it, keep calm and think ourselves lucky we're getting the jab when many nations aren't.

[Poobah]

This is an excellent article and hopefully will explain better than me about the period in which side effects are most likely to occur.

nationalgeographic.com/scie...

I'll be happy to have my 4th vaccine when I get my invite.

[Logo132]

It's a personal choice and everyone must make the choice that they feel is right for them and their own personal circumstances. Personally for me I wont be having a 4th booster at this time but never say never.

I'm not anti vax in any way and am fully vaxxed so far for both flu and covid and have also had my pneumonia jab. However, I recently had covid and feel that I can trust my own natural immunity which should offer as much protection, if not more, than a jab.

My family is an interesting example. When we recently had covid, my son, who is unvaccinated had by far the mildest case of all of us, only losing his sense of taste for 1 day and testing negative on day 5. My daughter who is close in age to my son but TRIPLE vaccinated had it the worst of all of us, vomiting and diarrhoea with a cough that wont go away weeks later. It really made me sceptical about how much protection the vax is giving us.

[Gareth57 in reply to Logo132]

This may be a very simplistic approach, but different people will have different reactions to viruses whether it be flue or covid and which strain, your daughter may have had a bad reaction to the strain she caught and the opposite for your son, but how much worse might your daughter have been if unvaccinated?

[Logo132 in reply to Gareth57]

Seeing as we all came down with covid at the exact same time it’s extremely likely that we all had the same strain! I’m fed up of hearing this soundbite “how much worse it would be if they were unvaccinated,” which is clearly a line we are all being fed. The fact is, my daughter is triple jabbed and the vax did not protect her at all. The triple jabbed over 30s now have the highest rates of covid! If I had the polio vax and still got polio, I’d be pretty upset! In fact, since she’s been vaccinated she’s also had terrible issues with heavy periods, which is something a lot of young women are experiencing.

We are living in a climate of fear where we are all desperate to get our next dose of the vaccine, which clearly doesn’t work! People are starting to wake up to the fact this this is a ridiculous situation. How many boosters are we going to take before we realise we’ve done irreversible damage to our bodies?

[Pipsqueak77 in reply to Logo132]

Oh dear….! No one has ever said the vaccine will prevent you from getting covid…. ???🤔The idea is to prevent hospitalisations and complications for those most affected by the virus.

I would be thankful that my family avoided the need for more intense care.

😊

[Poobah in reply to Logo132]

Vaccines such as polio and smallpox vaccine programmes have been extremely successful in this country and worldwide, because of the intensive and blanket delivery. However, when a vaccine programme is less intensive, less than 98% of a population get the full vaccine doses, and given the travel dynamics of today's society, that population is global, then the vaccine becomes much less effective. It's power lies in numbers, it's not about the individual.

With many countries only achieving up to 85% coverage for covid-19 vaccine, and many much less than that, any virus will spread more effectively and that gives the virus time to change and mutate, thereby eluding the original vaccine affectiveness. That's why scientists are working on a better and more sophisticated vaccine that will be covid universal in nature (still not the 100% silver bullet).

Mapping the mutations is necessary as that gives the scientists the virus code. When they developed the current vaccine it was based on the very first covid-19 virus codes, which have changed over time as it spread around the world.

The flu vaccine works this way, being changed every year, being based on a forecast that suggests which viral codes will be more virulent that season. So covid vaccines will change and be more or less effective. I doubt that we'll enjoy a polio or smallpox type vaccine, just because those viruses are different in the way they spread and the speed of contamination and mutation. It's like trying to compare apples and pears. Smallpox and polio may have similarities but they're not equivalent to today's coronaviruses.

The best we can enjoy is a percentage of protection and a boosted immunity to a degree, but not complete protection. Looking at just the excess deaths stats for the pandemic period to date, they do show a reduction for the period since we've had the vaccine, with excess deaths reducing over time as the vaccine programme has rolled out to a larger part of the population (ONS). But there are still excess deaths as we continue to feel the effects of covid-19.

The language has always been about slowing down the virus in order to slow down the mutations and to prevent its affects increasing. By slowing down the virus, mutations are reduced and therefore they are more likely to become less effective. It's also been about reducing the numbers requiring ICU or hospital treatment. It's never been about total prevention and protection.

Given the time in which an effective vaccine had to be produced, we were never going to get the universal covid version first time around, and that's why in the long term, a more effective vaccine will be produced, but it will never be 100%.

Viral load is the other thing we've been trying to affect by wearing masks, socially distancing and washing hands. So if we're vaccinated and taking all the other steps to reduce catching a large viral load we are more likely to be able to cope when we do catch covid. Despite all that, some people will be perfect hosts for the virus and will experience the full symptoms. That's another part of the puzzle that is receiving less attention, but without understanding that some people are more badly affected it can undermine people's confidence in the rest of the science behind vaccines and protective steps.

This has been an information battle as well as a scientific one. It should also be noted that there was less potential for misinformation to be spread globally when the smallpox and polio vaccine programmes were introduced as we didn't have social media so take up was far greater, so trust in science may have reduced over time as a result, in line with growing expectations as we face less early death because of advances in treating disease.

Hope your family have made a full recovery back to full health.

[Gareth57 in reply to Logo132]

Sorry you seem to have taken my reply completely the wrong way. I was not preaching but merely suggesting that different people have different reactions to a range of illnesses which could account for the differences between your children and as another reply said, the vaccine was never said to make you totally immune, but to lower the effect and transmission which is why I suggested your daughter could have been worse without the vaccine!

[Nessie87 in reply to Logo132]

Hallelujah!

[Keisha192001 in reply to Logo132]

The vaccine did protect her she's still alive and as far as you've suggested didn't end up in the hospital. Sure I had covid and had awful migraines for the first 3/4 days and currently my lungs are battered from having it. But if I didn't have the vaccine I definitely would have been worse off and in hospital requiring at a minimum supplemental oxygen. As a healthcare worker I was exposed to covid several times before I contracted covid in December, so the vaccine definitely protected me.

[Keisha192001 in reply to Logo132]

Most childhood vaccines require you to have 3 doses before you're considered fully vaccinated. I had to have 3 doses of Hep B to be able to work my job as Hep B wasn't routine when I was a child. But anyway it's not uncommon to need several doses of a vaccine. And many vaccines need boosters. The flu requires a yearly vaccination because it mutates and covid mutates even more rapidly so its protection for yourself and others. If you read about the vaccine then you know what you're putting into your body. Plain and simple. The reason you haven't had polio is because people vaccinate against it and we reached heard immunity across many countries. The same way that you have the MMR as part of your childhood vaccines but there's a huge prevalence of mumps at universities. Is the same way that you can get covid although vaccinated. There will always be breakthrough infections as with any disease that you can vaccinate for but the severity is lessened and mortality is reduced.

[PeakyBlinder50 in reply to Logo132]

It's very easy to forget 2020 isn't it? ICU's full of COVID patients and the temporary hospitals that were set up to take extra patients, the army drafted in. NHS exhausted with critically ill patients that were very ill. It's good now the numbers in hospitals are lower and the temporary hospitals are no longer needed and the latest variant is milder. Very sad for all those that lost loved ones in 2020/2021. I hope your daughter didn't need to be treated in hospital? I feel very sad for those that didn't get a vaccine and had no protection back in 2020 early 2021 and sadly are still living with long Covid with long term medical issues and/or passed away.

[Pipsqueak77]

Hi Titch1908

Do you mind me asking who notified/invited you for a fourth covid vaccine please?

Was it your GP or hospital cons?

I haven’t been invited but if I’m honest I am not sure I would have another anyway. I think three is enough for me atm! Especially on top of self injecting my biologic every eight weeks.

Sorry this is probably not helpful to you but just wanted to reassure you that you are not alone in your anxiety.

Take care

😊😊

[Titch1908 in reply to Pipsqueak77]

It was w government letter like the shielding letters. From what I understand its for those with severely weakened immune systems. My GP said that they I'm due it beginning of march they are going to phone me.

[Pipsqueak77 in reply to Titch1908]

Many thanks!I hope you are able to decide what is the right thing for you personally to do.

😊👍

[Joolstom]

Hi

Not sure a about a 4th vaccine but I'm still struggling to get my 3rd primary vaccine.

I received an email following my being added to the extremely list advising that I needed a 3rd primary vaccine ( I'm assuming that this is due to my medication of oral steroids and higher dose inhaler steroids). When I attempted to go online to book my booster, it blocked me with a message stating needed to contact my GP for a letter for 3rd primary vaccine due to immunity.

I had to wait a week to speak to a GP (after a receptionist advised me that I would just book a booster, I didn't need a 3rd vaccine) and after a complicated telephone conversation where my GP was very confused, she came back and said that the vaccines were nothing to do with them and to call 119 or speak to my consultant.

Called the respiratory Secretary and she was so reassuring and helpful but again didn't know anything about it but did go away and speak to three separate consultants who confirmed that it was GP and they would follow NHS England guidelines.

Now attempting to get another GP telephone appointment to try to obtain this letter to.enable me to get this 3rd primary jab. My concerns are that I'm current unvaccinated as second jab was in May and having had one infection after another this last year (with a really bad one over Christmas) the last thing that I want to risk is catching covid.

[Poobah in reply to Joolstom]

I found an online booking facility for those requiring a 3rd primary vaccine, assuming you'rein England: england.nhs.uk/2021/11/thir...

[Joolstom in reply to Poobah]

Thank you, I'll take a look at it this morning. Going to try and have another telephone consultation with GP to try and get this letter.

[Keisha192001]

I haven't heard anything about my 4th yet but as and when I do I will most certainly will be getting it. What covid has done to my asthma is terrible and I definitely don't want it again. And seeing the damage causes as a healthcare worker that just makes me even more inclined to get the next one.

Also vaccines don't cause side effects after a long period of time due to the mechanism through which vaccines work. If you were going to have a reaction to a vaccine it would be soon after vaccination not months or years later. The vaccine just triggers your immune system to create and immune response and create antibodies. The mRNA in the vaccines is out of your body in days leaving only your bodies native immune response, which is why there's no side-effect that will pop up months down the line.