What exactly is happening with AstraZeneca?

LLMMLL · 06-04-2021 11:54PM

Lesalare wrote: »

Well I have 3-4 months to look into it and work it out/make a decision.

Yeah that’s fair enough it’s your choice. But you may be operating vaccineless in a society where COVID is rampant once we open back up.

Enzokk · 07-04-2021 06:16AM

Lesalare wrote: »

Because I have Raynaud's disease and my father died from a stroke at 55.

"Can Raynaud's cause blood clots?
We seem to find that patients with autoimmune diseases have a higher frequency of Raynaud's than the general population. Scleroderma has the strongest association. In phospholipid syndrome, a person has certain blood proteins that predispose them to sluggish blood flow or blood clots that may show up as Raynaud's"

So I am somewhat worried, yet it's not on an 'underlying condition' list.

I'm not sure how happy I am to have this AZ jab anymore. I'm actually more worried about being forced to take it than the fact I've hibernated away for the past 12 months and followed social guidelines by the book.

You need to talk to your GP or consultant and see what they say. Maybe not now as the advice will probably be that the good outweighs the risk taking the vaccine will do. But if more data becomes available over the next few weeks then they may have a different answer for you.

You are right, it is your choice to take the vaccine or not. If you get an appointment you should know which vaccine you are supposed to get, or at least on the day they will tell you. If you are still concerned after speaking to your doctors you can always as a last resort speak to those at the vaccination centre as well. Even if you go to speak to them and then not take it, as long as you are comfortable with your decision.

On this thread we will not be able to tell you what you should do, because even if a poster is an expert in the area they still don't have your personal medical history to have an informed conversation on whether you should take it or not. So the advice on here should always be general advice but should never be acted on as there is zero accountability for us posting on here to make medical judgements. Always speak to your GP or consultant if you have queries.

murphaph · 07-04-2021 07:06AM

If you have 3 months until your vaccination just sit back and relax for the moment. They are trying to establish the cause as we speak. They might well know if your condition puts you at elevated risk by then.

fin12 · 07-04-2021 08:32AM

What about if u have ITP , is their a risk taking this vaccine ?

BonnieSituation · 07-04-2021 08:35AM

fin12 wrote: »

What about if u have ITP , is their a risk taking this vaccine ?

Talk to your doctor.

Soliciting advice on a message board is madness.

fin12 · 07-04-2021 08:43AM

BonnieSituation wrote: »

Talk to your doctor.

Soliciting advice on a message board is madness.

There is literally no time as I’m supposed to be having it today.

Enzokk · 07-04-2021 09:02AM

fin12 wrote: »

There is literally no time as I’m supposed to be having it today.

Speak to the vaccinators where you are having the vaccination later and see if they can help you. I am sure we would like to give you the right advice, but you never know where the person got their information from.

Kivaro · 07-04-2021 09:02AM

fin12 wrote: »

There is literally no time as I’m supposed to be having it today.

There will be a doctor in the vaccination centre, so ask after you go in and register to speak with the doctor. They are very accommodating and expect people to have medical questions.

fin12 · 07-04-2021 09:06AM

Kivaro wrote: »

There will be a doctor in the vaccination centre, so ask after you go in and register to speak with the doctor. They are very accommodating and expect people to have medical questions.

Ok thanks I rang to speak with a doctor but the receptionist just said the advise they are being told is to take vaccine and benefits outweigh the risks. Ya il have to speak with the people there. It’s just I’ve seen they have stopped giving the vaccine to under 55s in other countries . I will speak to the people there.

mick087 · 07-04-2021 09:08AM

Lesalare wrote: »

I'm reading through this: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11239-019-01805-0#Sec12

I'm still looking into it. I am a tad concerned though. I'll obvs read up throughly on it. Considering Raynaud's is a condition to constriction of blood vessels, of course I am concerned. But I'll research it and get advice and make a call.

Reading medical books or looking up your symptoms can and does lead to making yourself ill.

Dont listen to anyone on this site or anyone on line, speak to your GP

Sam Russell · 07-04-2021 09:20AM

mick087 wrote: »

Reading medical books or looking up your symptoms can and does lead to making yourself ill.

Don't listen to anyone on this site or anyone on line, speak to your GP

Reading a medical dictionary will start with you being convinced you have asthma and by the time you get to D you will have loads of diseases and syndromes that you will convince yourself you are dead - and there will be a definition of this as well so you can check if you fit the conditions.

Do not read through the internet sites looking for symptoms as you will not be experienced to know what 'mild', 'moderate', or 'severe' actually means. Doctors spend their lives learning this - you will not become an expert by flicking through using Dr. Google.

volchitsa · 07-04-2021 09:28AM

fin12 wrote: »

Ok thanks I rang to speak with a doctor but the receptionist just said the advise they are being told is to take vaccine and benefits outweigh the risks. Ya il have to speak with the people there. It’s just I’ve seen they have stopped giving the vaccine to under 55s in other countries . I will speak to the people there.

Since you have a blood clotting disorder, and since covid itself causes blood clots, I think it makes perfect sense that you're being told that the benefits outweigh the risks for you. IOW, even if you are at higher risk of those sorts of complications from the vaccine, that also means you're at far higher risk again of them if you catch covid.

(But obviously, ask again when you're at the vaccination centre - no harm in making sure! Let us know how it goes. Do you know if you're definitely getting Astra Zeneca?)

fin12 · 07-04-2021 09:33AM

volchitsa wrote: »

Since you have a blood clotting disorder, and since covid itself causes blood clots, I think it makes perfect sense that you're being told that the benefits outweigh the risks for you. IOW, even if you are at higher risk of those sorts of complications from the vaccine, that also means you're at far higher risk again of them if you catch covid.

(But obviously, ask again when you're at the vaccination centre - no harm in making sure! Let us know how it goes. Do you know if you're definitely getting Astra Zeneca?)

I think I’m def getting the Astra one cause the text said ur first dose so ya assume it’s that one. Thanks for ur reply.

NeuralNetwork · 07-04-2021 09:53AM

If you've concerns about an underlying illness, I would suggest that you have a chat with your GP for technical advice.

cheezums · 07-04-2021 10:34AM

fin12 wrote: »

I think I’m def getting the Astra one cause the text said ur first dose so ya assume it’s that one. Thanks for ur reply.

moderna and pfizer are both 2 jab vaccines so you might be getting those.

NeuralNetwork · 07-04-2021 10:44AM

cheezums wrote: »

moderna and pfizer are both 2 jab vaccines so you might be getting those.

Until J&J rolls out here, there are no single-shot vaccines.

AstraZeneca is two shots with a long pause between them.

the two mRNA vaccines: Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna are two shots with a short pause (around 28 days) between them.

The way things have worked, from what I've seen with people I know who've had either type is that you get scheduled for the first shot and you get a second appointment scheduled for the second one about a week ahead of it. Although, this may work differently for the mass vaccination centres when the online portal opens later this month.

If you're in Northern Ireland or Britain they're following their own protocol (not the manufactures') and extending the gap between the mRNA vaccine shots. That is not the case in the Republic of Ireland, where they're following the exact spec from the manufacturers, so you'll get both shots,

Lesalare · 07-04-2021 11:41AM

Everyone is saying "Ask your GP". Can I ask do GP's actually know anything about the AZ vaccine and it's side effects more than Joe soap?
They're just going to tell you what they've been told by someone else who probably doesn't know much, to tell everyone: "the benefits outweigh the risks"

When so many countries are banning AZ due to clotting issues, I personally find it somewhat concerning to be expected to put it into my system when there is a family history of clots and I have a vascular disease.

I genuinely want to get vaccinated but this is causing me concern.

If I had to be put onto a drug for something else and it says "may cause life threatening blood clots" I'm not sure I'd take that either.

r93kaey5p2izun · 07-04-2021 11:41AM

The assumption here seems to be that doctors will advise that the benefit outweighs the risk. What if they advise holding off and not getting the vaccine in cohort 4? Or if there's mixed messages from doctors? I am not qualified to assess the risk as pointed out here, but who actually is? My gp? My cardiologist? My endocrinologist? My neurologist? My immunologist? My gastroenterologist? Talk to your doctors is not necessarily the easy solution either. I never thought I would be in this situation of vaccine hesitancy. Speaking to my doctors has only made me more confused.

LLMMLL · 07-04-2021 11:44AM

Jacqueline Wet Bag wrote: »

The assumption here seems to be that doctors will advise that the benefit outweighs the risk. What if they advise holding off and not getting the vaccine in cohort 4? Or if there's mixed messages from doctors? I am not qualified to assess the risk as pointed out here, but who actually is? My gp? My cardiologist? My endocrinologist? My neurologist? My immunologist? My gastroenterologist? Talk to your doctors is not necessarily the easy solution either. I never thought I would be in this situation of vaccine hesitancy. Speaking to my doctors has only made me more confused.

What did your doctor advise and why was it confusing?

r93kaey5p2izun · 07-04-2021 11:45AM

LLMMLL wrote: »

What did your doctor advise and why was it confusing?

Some have advised to go ahead. Some have advised to hold off. They don't even agree if I should be in cohort 4.

Wanderer78 · 07-04-2021 11:47AM

Just got this, nothing major to report yet, anyone else get it?

Ashbourne hoop · 07-04-2021 11:48AM

Lesalare wrote: »

Everyone is saying "Ask your GP". Can I ask do GP's actually know anything about the AZ vaccine and it's side effects more than Joe soap?
They're just going to tell you what they've been told by someone else who probably doesn't know much, to tell everyone: "the benefits outweigh the risks"

When so many countries are banning AZ due to clotting issues, I personally find it somewhat concerning to be expected to put it into my system when there is a family history of clots and I have a vascular disease.

I genuinely want to get vaccinated but this is causing me concern.

If I had to be put onto a drug for something else and it says "may cause life threatening blood clots" I'm not sure I'd take that either.

Like everything the devil is in the detail. As it stands with what we know at the moment the risk of blood clots from AZ is incredibly low. What we need to know is of those who have had blood clots, what age and sex were they, how many in that cohort were vaccinated and did they have any previous conditions/use of meds that made them more suscetible to blood clots. I've had the first AZ dose, and as it stands, I'd take the second one.

The MHRA have a press conference at 3pm so we may know more then.

Strazdas · 07-04-2021 11:59AM

Fergal Bowers mentioned on the RTE News last night that there had been 16 reported blood clot issues with AstraZeneca in Ireland but they were all considered minor clotting issues and not the deadly type which affect the brain.

So it seems we have been lucky enough so far and not experienced any of the potentially 'deadly' ones.

fin12 · 07-04-2021 12:12PM

Lesalare wrote: »

Everyone is saying "Ask your GP". Can I ask do GP's actually know anything about the AZ vaccine and it's side effects more than Joe soap?
They're just going to tell you what they've been told by someone else who probably doesn't know much, to tell everyone: "the benefits outweigh the risks"

When so many countries are banning AZ due to clotting issues, I personally find it somewhat concerning to be expected to put it into my system when there is a family history of clots and I have a vascular disease.

I genuinely want to get vaccinated but this is causing me concern.

If I had to be put onto a drug for something else and it says "may cause life threatening blood clots" I'm not sure I'd take that either.

That’s exactly , I’m literally minutes away from doing it , no doctor in a haematology department would speak to me so don’t see any point in speaking to my Gp about , shed probably tell me the exact same the receptionist to the consultant department told me

dogbert27 · 07-04-2021 12:18PM

"Is Britain on the brink of disaster!"

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9444603/Is-Britains-Covid-vaccine-roll-brink-disaster.html

AZ makes up 75% of the UKs roll out and if it's suspended their roll out can come to an effective halt.

Surprised to see they are expecting 26 million doses in the next 2 months

jetfiremuck · 07-04-2021 12:19PM

fin12 wrote: »

That’s exactly , I’m literally minutes away from doing it , no doctor in a haematology department would speak to me so don’t see any point in speaking to my Gp about , shed probably tell me the exact same the receptionist to the consultant department told me

Or even the janitor.

The plan is get everyone jabbed and deal with the issues and fall out after.

fin12 · 07-04-2021 01:05PM

Done now , I was basically told the risk is so low but who knows... I was told I’d be waiting months to get called again if I didn’t take it ,going to be pretty anxious couple of days hoping no deadly symptoms develop .

07-04-2021 01:10PM

fin12 wrote: »

Done now , I was basically told the risk is so low but who knows... I was told I’d be waiting months to get called again if I didn’t take it ,going to be pretty anxious couple of days hoping no deadly symptoms develop .

well done.

The only person who can make the decision is you.

Hopefully in two weeks you will be wondering why you got yourself so worked up.

BorneTobyWilde · 07-04-2021 01:12PM

mista11 wrote: »

How many more people will die waiting for the other vaccines?

No one, use the other vaccines.

Stark · 07-04-2021 01:16PM

Strazdas wrote: »

Fergal Bowers mentioned on the RTE News last night that there had been 16 reported blood clot issues with AstraZeneca in Ireland but they were all considered minor clotting issues and not the deadly type which affect the brain.

So it seems we have been lucky enough so far and not experienced any of the potentially 'deadly' ones.

Hopefully they can determine some pattern. If it's just young women for example, then it would be easy enough to simply give them one of the other vaccines instead. If it's everyone under 50, then we've a much bigger problem. (I'm also not convinced we won't see similar issues with J&J as the vaccines are so similar).

What exactly is happening with AstraZeneca?

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