Hi everyone,
Well I’ve heard it all now, my husband who has common variable immune deficiency has been told by consultant at his specialist dept, yes he must have 3rd vaccine, when I asked his doctors receptionist she told me to phone 111 and it’s nothing to do with them.
Where do I go from here?
Xx
Perhaps and hopefully it was the receptionist’s ignorance alone. Can you talk to the GP about it, armed with the wealth of information that we have on FAQs? Your local council may have information about vaccine centres etc ours has been very proactive and has a very helpful website. The local hospital website maybe? Or just Google your town and Covid vaccines and see what the provision is. Keep calm, some folk don’t bother to do their jobs properly. I got a helpful letter from my Rheumatologist in Leeds that outlined the need for me to have a third vaccine. It saved a lot of tedious explaining.
Oh it’s just crazy, I will contact his doctor but how ridiculous that she told me to contact 111.X
In the states, we dial 211 to enter the doorway to the maze of government offices. I'm guessing that is your 111? Do you folks email your doctors? That seems to be the preferred method of communication more and more often. It's all a 'hair puller'~!💖
Hi Grammy 😊
111 is our ‘out of office hours’ health advice number, to be used for the kind of thing you’d ask your GP or family doctor about if their surgery / office were open.
119 is the dedicated COVID helpline
999 is the 24/7 emergency number, which often but not always results in an ambulance being sent out.
Other government services are accessed via a gov.uk website….
So you kind of need your wits about you if you’re at home and feeling unwell…..🤔
Hope you’re well 😊
Nextoneplease x
Make a complaint about the receptionist - whatever 111 is for, it is NOT for arranging 3rd vaccines!!!!
Can the consultant's team offer a letter like SJ's?
Perhaps she should have said ring 119…..and the invitation comes direct from NHS , not your surgery.
Maybe 🤔X
My Wife's invitation came directly from NHS not local surgery.
Dear Dorset Lady. I also rang the surgery after the text from NHS but the receptionist didn’t know about the 3rd jab and told me to ring 119. I would advise everyone not to ring as you spend 5mins listening to an automated voice telling you to press this button then the next and then put you on hold while you listen to dreadful music and when you do get through they tell you they can’t book the third jab only the booster and you should ring your Dr. Being very frustrated I rang the surgery again and a very nice lady said she would look into it for me and ring me back , I am still waiting. I think I will have to wait for a letter. The annoying thing is my husband is having his booster on Friday and I could have gone with him .
Thanks for update…seems the system is not in place to back up the information patients are being given. Does the text give you link to book a 3rd vaccine or just a booster online?
At the moment it would appear booster only…
The text says to contact your GP for the 3rd vaccine which I did but the receptionist wasn’t sure what to do. She said they were going to send out letters so I am waiting. You can only book the booster through the NHS call centre. I have been waiting for an appointment to have a DEXA scan and would you believe it it has come on the same day as my husband’s booster jab but of course not in the same town so it will be a mad dash. Oh well we get it all over on one day.
That’s absolutely typical isn’t it!
My neighbour rang her surgery to ask if she could have her 3rd jab and was told she would have to wait for her letter as it was nothing to do with the GP.Has it been 6 months since your husband's second vaccination?
Shouldn’t the receptionist have said phone 119?
I just googled Covid booster vaccines in my area- available to everyone over 50 and it must be 6 months plus since the last one : it seems to be mostly at pharmacists in our area .
I too spoke with 3 different shirty receptionists who knew nothing about a 3rd primary vaccine but said I would have to wait for a letter. After waiting another week to speak with my GP she was very apologetic and recognised the two distinct vaccinations. She told me to book my third primary immediately and my booster in 6 months.
The original statement from the JCVI said it was the responsibility of the consultant to let the GP know to send an invitation. But that didn’t happen which seemed to create the mess it’s in and has left the GPs trying to piece things together!! Not ideal.
Even if you get the 3rd primary one then it gets booked on the computer as ‘booster’ as the system hasn’t yet been updated to include the difference 🤪🤪
I’m still waiting for my doctor to phone regarding the vaccine ?Who knows when that will happen 🤔
X
hi I had my 3rd dose last week ,they didnt have the facility to book online but i had a letter from my consultant to take to the vaccination center on a walk in day .They definitely needed the letter as totally different to a booster ,which they said i would now get in the spring .Hope this helps
When I have rung 111 for my husband there is a beginning piece about what to do and who to contact in regard to Covid.
Just Google your local area forCovid vaccine info. I have just returned from Greece to UK and as I’m 81 want the booster asap. My local area Haringey has many walk in clinics. Going today. I also live in Somerset part of the time and I know from friends there same procedure. You may need to travel a bit if rural.
Its not difficult to find but the receptionist should definitely be retrained
I have had 2 texts, one from GP and one from NHS offering a 3rd dose. I followed the link I was sent and now have an appointment on 23/10.
My hubby (type 2 diabetic over 65) hasn't had anything yet. He spoke to our GP who said just wait until you get contacted.
Seems that the booster doses aren't being rolled out here just yet. 3rd doses are. All the mass vaccine centres have closed here and we now have to go to our GP clinic. They have also started their flu vaccine clinics.
We have had recent notice from our surgery that they cannot organise the booster roll-out as they did the original 2 vaccines (6 surgeries working together in one hub) stating lack of staff. Recommend when nhs notification letter received take the option to get elsewhere- mass hub or pharmacy. However they are fulfilling flu vaccine programme. My booster isn’t due until end of month so will see what happens by then.
Pretty much the same as me: text from GP on Tuesday evening saying as an immune-compromised person I could book my third jab (done for 22/10, at my own surgery 300 yards away!). Then another text from the NHS Vaccines service asking me to contact my GP or consultant to arrange: too late, already done!
My Daughter has had this problem, letter from hospital to book at GP surgery but receptionist says , no such thing as 3rd primary, she’s been told in the Kerry she can have it at the hospital but that’s an hours drive away , try phoning 119 x
Well I’ve tried phoning 119 all you get is an answering machine, there is no option to talk to a human being?I give up.
X
There is never any opportunity to talk to human beings any more humans are few and far between and the few around are probably working from home. Did you leave a message?
I had a NHS text this morning telling me I should have had my 3rd jab and if not to contact my Dr or hospital Consultant.
I have had the same text message. Surgery is only dealing with urgent med problems due to staff illness! They are a small rural practice and usually excellent. Will try again tomorrow.
I've had same text too. Phoned GP and they said I can phone back next week and they'll book me in. My 6 months isn't up until 27th.
If it’s for 3rd primary you don’t have to wait 6 months , you can have it after 8 weeks x
Thanks Rosebud, I didn't know that, obviously receptionist getting mixed up with booster dose I think.
Actually, just having read the text again, I think it is the booster I'm being offered as I'm only on 6mgs of pred. I mistook it for the full 3rd vaccine. 🤔
It isn't what you are on NOW - it is what you were on at the time of the second jab.
I think I was on 12 mgs at that time. Had been started back on 12 for about 12 days after almost being off.
The jabs are identical - what will become a point will be getting another in 6 months time!! But by then I suspect they'll be aiming for more if Covid is still a feature ...
Well good luck with that one, I’m getting no where, I’ve now got through to a human on 119, she tells me it’s the booster only, and there is no such thing as a 3rd vaccine .🤔😡
As you seem to be going round in circles perhaps you should contact the specialist who gave your husband this information - and see if there another way to circumvent the impasse you find yourself in.
Will do but it’s just crazy, why are the hops specialist saying one thing yet the nhs don’t know anything about it?X
Pass...ask me one on sport!🤔
I am totally confused! Myself and my OH had a text message from the NHS to book our booster jabs, and had them done last week. The blue card also said Booster on it. As I am classed as CEV, should I have been offered the 3rd vaccine instead? And, what's the difference?
Hi JanBoC 😊
If I understand correctly, the vaccine itself is the same. Your 3rd dose will be recorded as a booster like your husband’s, because the IT system is not up to date……the real difference is that you should receive a 4th dose in 6 months time (unlike your husband).
The battle for 4th doses starts after Christmas!!!
Hope this helps.
Nextoneplease x
My OH is over 75 so will he receive the 4th jab due to his age? x
Not on present policy, no.
4th dose is specifically for immunosuppressed, th3 level of which is defined in the guidance to medics from the government (following JCVI guidance)
My rheumatologist said I needed the third primary vaccination. GP who controls vaccinations eventually realised there are two kinds of 3rd vaccination but decreed that I'm not eligible as am on less than 20mg methotrexate. Will not recognise, in spite of rheumatologist's statement, that there is another measure of a combination of immunosuppressant medications at lower doses, which applies to me. Still arguing when 6 months up and I have now had 3rd as booster. Now need to continue 'discussion' about a booster of the 'booster' in 6 months.
As I just said further up - it isn't what you are on NOW, it is what you were on at the time of the second jab.
I know. I have been on methotrexate and prednisolone for more than 4 years, and the same doses for the last two years, so same at time of 1st and 2nd vaccinations and now.
Your GP is in serious need of some education - remember when we did "comprehension" in school!!!
just curious, have you tried 111? xx
Honestly, my Rheumatologist’s letter was the “ open sesame “ that I needed to glide in anywhere and stick my arm out. No argument.
Yes, the battle for the 4th vaccine will be interesting. I only started pred fairly recently, so don't qualify for the third initial dose, because when I had the first 2 jabs my immune system was doing its job as far as I know. However, I am immuno compromised now, so the booster will not be as effective. So will us newbies to Pred get a 4th dose in 6 months?? I can see more confusion in the offing!
Oh Lord, I hadn’t thought of that!! 😉
Yes it will - that is the whole point - a third jab in immunocompromised persons gets the same level of immunity as the second in healthy people.
I agree that you hopefully get the same level of immunity after three jabs in immuno compromised and two jabs in healthy people - at that point in time. However, healthy people then get a booster which gives them what they presumably think at this stage will be another twelve months at a reasonably high level of protection. However, my booster won't give me that same level of protection because I will be immuno compromised when I get it. So, when the 4th jabs are given in six months time, I would hope that all of us Pred newbies will be included. But somehow I doubt it, seeing as people are struggling now to get even a third initial jab! Hope this makes sense.
Healthy people could all be different, as are immuno compromised ones. The flu vaccine degrades for pretty well everybody over a year although the Covid one is supposedly much better. I have read that the Pfizer one degrades faster than the Astra Zeneca one. Some healthy people will create more antibodies than others, also there may be differences if you have had Covid, so it is not as simple as just two groups of people.
I think you will find everyone will get a booster 6 months after either the second or third primary vaccine.
Agreed, but I am getting my booster now, six months after my second vaccine, and it won't be as effective as the booster given to healthy people. So I would hope to be included with other immuno compromised people in six months time. As I said, probably won't happen!
You never know, you could have strong antibodies. I did an at home antibody test the other day. The only trouble is they needed my blood. It was a total fiasco in my case, I don’t seem to bleed, I have the same trouble with blood tests, every phlebotomist in the country runs a mile when they hear I need a blood test!
Absolutely understand your problem, my body also dislikes giving blood away. The GP sent me to the local hospital a while back because they couldn't get blood out of me. The hospital finally succeeded but when I was on my way out the nurse called me over and said don't ever come back! I used to give blood/plasma but I asked them was I an embarrassment to them because it was so difficult. They said yes, so I had to stop. You dread someone saying you need bloods doing, don't you. Which in our case is quite often!
I know what you mean. My body does not like having things taken put out of it or put into it. When I had my second Covid vaccine they managed to hit a nerve. My screams must have put everybody else off.
Just had my 3rd jab and The Dr administrating it advised take letter to GP surgery if they refuse or say there is no such thing x
Ring 119. If he's immunocompromised they should have his details. He should be entitled to 3rd primary vaccine, and booster in 6 months
Flu vaccine
3rd injection
No Cominarty Vaccine!!
Vaccine 
