Vaccine for household members.

[Coffeejenny]

Apologies if I have missed news but how do household members get the vaccine .Do we callers get a letter from somewhere to send household members.I have just read that over 40s being called

Thanks for any help here

[Newdawn Administrator]

They can contact their GP surgery to see if it’s being done there or book direct on this link;

nhs.uk/book-a-coronavirus-v...

It will ask if they meet this category I think.

Newdawn

[Coffeejenny in reply to Newdawn]

Thank you.It says no appointments until apr and looks like cev households not yet added to list.This was announced on TV in a a blaze of glory but no logistics.Will try GP soon especially as my antibody test showed zero as with many of us

[Newdawn Administrator in reply to Coffeejenny]

My husband did qualify by age but he ended up ringing our surgery because all the vaccination centres in our area were booked up for weeks.

Good luck!

Newdawn

[Hidden in reply to Coffeejenny]

Far easier to check eligibility by going on the web site stated above. It’s often ahead of the GP system.

No harm if you check every few days. Also the benefit of booking your 2nd appointment at the same time.

I did this and now have to sympathise with neighbours who used the GP and are becoming anxious counting the final weeks without a text or phone call for their 2nd dose appointment. My GP will text the week before but which week!

[Whitewillow in reply to Coffeejenny]

CEV households/contacts have been added as my daughter and her partner have had the jab two weeks ago! (On the basis that they take me to appts etc).

[Harvist in reply to Newdawn]

If only life was that simple!

I contacted my GP the morning after the first announcements by Blood Cancer UK, the 29th March I think. They had not received the government letter and first people I spoke to in manager's office knew nothing about it. They got back to me later that day and said I just needed GP stamp of approval and they would then contact the local administrator of vax programme.

Since then? Nothing. I have tried the national booking service as well, where now we are seeing the "no appointment available in April" notice.

Also yesterday the government announced that over 40's are now eligible.

Essentially, like a lot of things, the big announcement is followed by a long period of nothing much happening plus a lot of fruitless enquiries. Disappointed like many of us that this has not happened sooner for households of blood cancer patients.

[MickUK]

Hi Jenny

I read this post this morning and was thinking exactly the same as you - how do we make this happen?

Lo and behold, I checked my mail this afternoon to find a letter from NHS confirming that adult household contacts are now eligible.

The letter said to tell household contacts that they can now book a vaccination appointment via their GP practice, who will then invite them to attend their GP-led local vaccination service. The letter has other details about eligibility, proof of address etc so feel free to ask me any questions about it.

Interestingly, the letter has the electronic signature & phone number of my GP practice so I would hope that they are already aware of this and will expect contact in due course.

[Coffeejenny in reply to MickUK]

Thank you,I will eagerly await my post this week

[Tsadams]

Hi Jenny; 2 weeks ago I heard about this via this forum, nothing from NHS, no letter, which was very annoying. My daughter has been shielding with me for a year now. We phoned our GP, appt. & 1st does given next day. Pester your GP, say you've heard about this being done elsewhere. Good luck, take care.

[Vakraas]

We've had a much more positive experience than some of the people posting here. My wife is in her late 40s, but was proactively contacted about three weeks ago by our GP (even though she's under 50) and asked to make her vaccine appointment; she was able to book in a slot the very next day for her first shot.

We knew that she'd come before most in the 40-50 bracket, but we just quietly assumed that our GP was prioritising the spouses of the clinically vulnerable. She's always offered a flu shot after the elderly and vulnerable, but before everyone else, so we thought this might be operating under a similar principle. This doesn't, however, appear to be the case for most of us; so maybe we've just been lucky.

[dandodex]

My husband is the one with CLL, and we use different GPs, so this is what my GP told me on April 1st after I emailed them about how to get moved to priority group 6 (from 10 as I'm in my 40s):

"Thank you for your email and enquiry. The JCVI has recently advised that adult household contacts of adults (over 16 years of age) with severe immunosuppression should be offered COVID-19 vaccination alongside the current priority cohort 6. We now have guidance on how this will be rolled out.

Over the coming days, GP at Hand and other GP practices will write to immunosuppressed individuals to inform them that their adult household contacts are eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccination. Your husband should receive this from his GP.

Household contacts can then use the letter, together with their own proof of address, which must match that of the immunosuppressed individual, to provide evidence of eligibility for vaccination. This will also be requested on arrival for their vaccination appointment.

If you are eligible, please email both of these documents to this email address to arrange your vaccination."

So now we are waiting for my husband's GP to send that letter unprompted, if we haven't got anything by tomorrow (2 weeks) he'll have to give them a call.

[bennevisplace]

Dr David McAllister, University of Glasgow said:

“Our study has important implications for informing vaccination strategies. The JCVI in the United Kingdom recently commented on the lack of real-world evidence evaluating the role of vaccination programmes on transmission. We provide the first direct evidence that vaccinating individuals working in high-exposure settings reduces the risk to their close contacts – members of their households".

These research results were published on 12th March, and only now is the message getting out that household contacts of CEV people can come and get jabbed?

The heroic nurses at my local surgery didn't wait for the wheels of bureaucracy to turn. My wife and I had our first doses on 12th February!

[richardp]

Very good question! I contacted my GP last week when the news came out for my 27 year old daughter living at home with us. The next day she received a phone call giving her an appointment for last Saturday . Then the very next day , the appointment was cancelled because it was the AZ vaccine and " temporarily" has been removed for under 30 year olds. When I asked, as I was having my second jab, was told they had no idea when they will get Pfizer or Moderna vaccines which are considered safer for my daughter.In the meantime you can not register on the NHS website as it will not accept the new criteria at the moment.

[AnneHill in reply to richardp]

My husbands appointment has been moved to 10 days later. Another 2 people we know have also had theirs moved. The pfizer 2nd jab. My astra Zenecca 2nd jab is next week. We wondered if they want more 1st jabs done. He is still within the 12 weeks.

[MickUK]

Update on my previous post.

I phoned my GP surgery this morning and explained about the letter and that I needed an appointment for my son as he lives with me. No problem and he booked him in for this coming Saturday until, that is, that he realised that my son is only 17 and the booking was for an AZ jab.

He searched again and told me that there were no Pfizer 1st jab appointments available. He asked me to phone again in a week to see if any new appointments had become available.

At least the procedure worked even if he couldn't find an appointment for him right now.

I hope that helps!

Mick

[Sesq]

I rang my drs but they haven’t got back to me yet (other half has CLL). I’m can now book a vaccine because they are doing them for my age group.