5th Vaccine

[Maisie10]

Hello. I have been to the vaccination centre this morning for my 5th vaccine who said they will not give it to me without a letter from either the GP or the hospital. I had printed all the documents from Blood cancer UK but they insisted that they are not doing 5th vaccines yet! Not happy. It’s been the stated 3 months since my last booster . I will contact my haematology nurse and. GP on Tuesday and see how I get on. Just thought I would share as I know a lot of people on here have received their 5th vaccine. See what happens next. Take care xx

[jointpain]

We live in Wales, and my wife had her appointment sent by letter over a week ago and had the 5th vaccination this morning. Even got reminded twice by text. Make sure you are registered on vaccines.nhs.wales or equivalent.

[Maisie10 in reply to jointpain]

Thank you. I will check mine. I live in Kent

[Turfbeg]

Hi, I live in South Wales and had my 5th vaccination last Tuesday after receiving the appointments by letter and 2 text messages.

[Maisie10]

Thank you. I will check mine out. I live in Kent

[Tea2]

I had my 5th one 2 weeks ago in Kent, but booked it through the phone service. You give them your NHS number and tell them which cancer drugs you’re on for your mpn, because all patients taking this type of medication are entitled as they cause you to be immunocompromised.

[Heather270240 in reply to Tea2]

Hi Tea 2. Where in Kent do you live? I am in Maidstone and was told by my GP surgery that I am not entitled to it despite showing them a letter from Guy's Hospital who have invited me to attend there for the 5 vaccine. I'm under Prof Harrison.

[Maisie10]

Thank you. I will give that a go.

[sheperd86]

Nhs website says you will be called for 5th dose appx 6 months after your last dose.

[Ebot]

Hi. The advice is to wait six months between vaccines 4 and 5. I had my 4th jab back in early January so I’ll aim to get my next one end of May / start of June.

[Bluesloth1]

I had lots of paperwork and two walk ins wouldn’t even discuss it or look at my info saying they’d never heard of it. I booked online to a local pharmacy with no difficulties. Suggest just using the term Spring Booster and not 5th vaccine when you do get there. Good luck.

[Exeter21]

I also told they want a 6 month gap on vaccine this time. I am Devon UK 👍

[Wyebird]

Thank you, this is all news to me. I was totally unaware that 5th vaccines were being given. I’ll query this with my nurse.

[Maisie10]

Thank you all for your reply’s. I only booked it because I read on here we needed a 5th vaccine 3 months after the 4th, and Blood Cancer UK confirms this. I will see if I get any answers next week. Take care x

[Anniepops112]

I really confused the local vaccine centre when I asked about a 5th vaccine. They rang up the local health authority and then apologised and booked me in.

It is your 5th vaccine but technically your “spring booster”. The first 3 are the “primary dose” and the 4th one “booster”

Once we got the terminology correct it wasn’t an issue and I just took the letter along I was sent about my 4th one from the hospital confirming my MPN.

It’s the same as what they’re giving the over 75s atm. There are some vaccine supply issues so they may be prioritising and doing it case by case depending on availability.

Good Luck!!

[Pennypen in reply to Anniepops112]

Hi Annie I just cant believe the people on here are going for their fifth booster shot. I have thrombocythemia which I have had for 24 years now and seem to manage really well. My haematologist told me not to get the AstraZeneca shot a year ago so that sent alarm bells to me. I have not had any covid vaccines at all and rely on my own immune system. I have had covid six weeks ago which lasted three days and was fine. Three weeks ago had a nasty virus with sore throat and runny nose which turned into a bad cough which is hard to get rid of which was worse than covid. I just cant understand why they pushed this vaccine onto people when they said you have a 99.8 of survival anyway. When this man made virus first came onto our shores they were treating people with a drug that was killing them and thats why the high volume of deaths. The vaccine they have been treating people with just doesnt do anything as I have been reading reports from UK recently as yesterday about it. Did you do a good research into the vaccine before you decided to have it?

[HazeBlue]

Go online on Nhs app look at eligibity by putting in your Nhs number and take a photo on Phone if you are eligible showctge people the photo a vac centre.

[Maisie10 in reply to HazeBlue]

I did this but they still refused to give it to me. X

[Jeftheref]

There seems to be wide discrepancies about the 5th booster, depending on where you live. My Heamo dept said wait 6 months but reading the gov site info and blood cancer organisation, there info indicates a 5th jab after 3 months. So I booked appointment with my local centre on line, went along and they didn’t ask for any letter from GP or hospital. I just confirmed my condition and showed them the drugs I was on. Had the jab no problems.

[Cokopops]

Thank you for posting this Maisie. I’ve got an appointment for the 5th vaccine next week so I’ll get in touch with my haematologist for a letter before. Why is it so difficult!! Take care

[HazeBlue]

I’ll ask haematologist on Friday . Was. Due fifth jam on 26th April but had Covid in 4th . Had the infusion and wasn’t too bad. I’ll ask how long it is best to wait before jab. After four jabs I didn’t have any antibodies . Wondering if worth having jabs to be honest.

[Pennypen in reply to HazeBlue]

Hi Haze I am glad you have discovered that you didnt have any anti bodies as I think we the people have been conned. I'm 73 have Thrombocythemia for 24 not taken the jab have had covid six weeks ago and lasted for three days. Three weeks ago caught a virus off my grandson and has left me with a lingering cough but noticed today its a bit better. The virus was worse than the Covid virus. I trusted my own immune system as I eat well and my vitamin d levels are good. I have heard that these vaccines are destroying the immune system in some people and is making them very sick. I read yesterday from the UK that they said the vaccine doesnt do anything. They have generated allot of fear into people and hope in time it will all go away.

[EPguy in reply to HazeBlue]

So sorry you didn't get any antibodies. Have your WBC levels been ok? Some reports say MPNs are supposed to do well with the vax, others say we're all immune compromised.

This recent post has both views in reports . Did you get the Evushield infusion?

healthunlocked.com/mpnvoice...

[HazeBlue in reply to EPguy]

It was Xevudy sotrovimad

[EPguy in reply to HazeBlue]

Good to hear you're recovered from Covid. If you find a future concern with Covid, and info for others who see this, you should ask your Dr about Evusheld.

In US:

<<Sotrovimab is no longer authorized to treat COVID-19 in any U.S. region due to increases in the proportion of COVID-19 cases caused by the Omicron BA.2 sub-variant>>

fda.gov/drugs/drug-safety-a...

BA.2 and related variants are the ones we're catching these days and Sotrovimab is showing not much benefit to it according the latest info, while Evusheld is effective:

<<Evusheld long-acting antibody combination retains neutralising activity against Omicron variants including BA.2 in new independent studies>>

astrazeneca.com/media-centr...

Evusheld is now approved in UK:

<<Evusheld approved to prevent COVID-19 in people whose immune response is poor>>

gov.uk/government/news/evus...

It seems UK is also considering to not recommend Sotrovimab:

<<UK medicines regulators are reviewing emerging evidence that monoclonal antibody sotrovimab may not be as effective against the current dominant strain of Covid-19.>>

pulsetoday.co.uk/news/clini...

It's frustrating of course that the info keeps changing, but that's because the virus also keeps changing.

[FiNottm]

Snap, same here. I even took my box of hydroxycarbomide with me. Waiting for MPN Nurse to get back to me. A little ridiculous really. They’re trying to increase vaccination uptake but are turning people away. Will continue to hibernate. Take care

[MWxxxx]

I managed to book my 5th vaccine on the NHS booking service. As advised I went along with all my paperwork such as evidence that I needed a 3rd primary dose, my medication, blood cancer uk advice etc. Everyone at the vaccine centre were absolutely lovely but I was questioned in depth! I was originally told that they had never heard of the 5th vaccine. I asked to speak to the Clinical Lead who came over to talk to me. As someone else here has suggested, terminology is really important. It is your Spring Booster, regardless of what number it is. The Clinical Lead went through all my paperwork and agreed that I should have my spring booster 3 months after my 4th vaccine (or 1st booster). We had a bit of a sticking point when she couldn't find Hydroxy on her list of medication but then she googled it and realised it was a chemo drug. She said that was all she needed to know. I was whisked through to the front of the queue but then hit another stumbling block with the next person who was logging my details. Again, this was because I said 5th dose instead of Spring Booster and I had to go through it all again. The Clinical Lead came over and explained that although it was a 5th vaccine, it was actually only my 2nd booster so it was ok. Finally I got the to person giving the vaccination, when they were told to stop because the Doctor wasn't happy. We all had to wait while the Doctor had a discussion with the Clinical Lead and finally it was given the go ahead and I got my vaccine. The people there couldn't have been kinder but in most of them are volunteers and don't know the green book inside out. My advice would be to choose a large vaccination centre where it is more likely they will have experts in the rules, ask to speak to the Clinical Lead and use phrases like Spring Booster or 2nd Booster.

[azaelea]

I’ve read all the replies to you with interest. What a confusing situation we’re all having to contend with. I have telephone appointment with Haematologist on Thursday so will ask if she has any info. I’m due my 5 th around 19th May. My query is each time I’ve had Pfizer which I understood was the full dose and not Booster. Didn’t think Pfizer phials came in smaller doses. Has anyone any information on this? Regards Fran

[mark382]

Had my 3rd vaccination in November. I've heard nothing about 5th, let alone about 5th. Fed up of constantly chasing the health board for things, but then venesection and aspirin may not tick all the boxes. I live in Wales and have PV.

[Jynx93]

I have my 5th booked for the 14th so it will be interesting to see if they do it as I’ve had no letter yet.

[Maisie10 in reply to Jynx93]

Good luck