Flu vaccine

06-10-2020 10:27pm

3d4life wrote: »

How do Boots satisfy themselves that you do indeed qualify and that you are not blagging them ?

If you go to own small local chemist, like I go mine, they know my conditions inside out, but if you go to one of the larger chain ones it's a matter of professing whatever condition(s) you have.

Edit... it reminds me of the Swine Flu vaccine in 2009 when it became available in Dundrum HSE community centre. They asked me what medical conditions I had, and as the primary one that came to mind that instant was Colitis I stated this and in that year inflammatory bowel disease alone wasn't considered a risk factor as use of immune-suppressive drugs wasn't as widespread (surgery was nearly more common) as it has nis become. Then I remembered the asthma, though I hadn't been much bothered by it around that time and this "qualified" me.

morebarn · 06-10-2020 10:29pm

I got my flu injection tonight at my GP. At 7.30pm and patients were still arriving at 8pm! It’s a large multi GP practice; but in fairness the Doctor who owns the practice was actually carrying out all the injections himself.

It’s the first time I have ever seen them open or working so late in the day.
So I guess the demand is definitely way above other years.

It took me 3 attempts to get an appointment as supplies of vaccine were late arriving and were used up instantly.
Yesterday for instance they received 700 doses to administer.

I have been getting the injection for a good few years due to immunosuppressive meds I take and as a pensioner I don’t have to pay now.

By contrast, husband just popped into his GP to enquire, and they gave vaccine there and then!

So it does vary between different GP practices&#55357;&#56842;

3d4life · 06-10-2020 10:33pm

o1s1n wrote: »

They were in communication with my GP so they may have confirmed it. I got it with them last year too so I'd say it was on record.

Thanks, will try this myself

06-10-2020 10:35pm

morebarn wrote: »

I got my flu injection tonight at my GP. At 7.30pm and patients were still arriving at 8pm! It’s a large multi GP practice; but in fairness the Doctor who owns the practice was actually carrying out all the injections himself.

It’s the first time I have ever seen them open or working so late in the day.
So I guess the demand is definitely way above other years.

It took me 3 attempts to get an appointment as supplies of vaccine were late arriving and were used up instantly.
Yesterday for instance they received 700 doses to administer.

I have been getting the injection for a good few years due to immunosuppressive meds I take and as a pensioner I don’t have to pay now.

By contrast, husband just popped into his GP to enquire, and they gave vaccine there and then!

So it does vary between different GP practices��

Obviously some GPs are under-ordering and vice-versa or else the ordering system provided by HSE is not fit for purpose.

GalwayGrrrrrl · 06-10-2020 10:36pm

I get the flu vaccine every year as I’m a healthcare worker. Never had any side effects afterwards. Am hoping to get mine tomorrow.

3d4life · 06-10-2020 10:45pm

GalwayGrrrrrl wrote: »

I get the flu vaccine every year as I’m a healthcare worker. Never had any side effects afterwards. Am hoping to get mine tomorrow.

Lucky you

I used to get it and would, without fail, be crucified for 3 - 4 weeks

Didnt get it the last two winters and all good

So dilemma this year ...

06-10-2020 10:45pm

odyssey06 wrote: »

Research indicates effectiveness of 50 percent over last ten years - due to mismatched strains in vaccine versus what circulated.
Lets hope this year is one of its effective years.

I say I last got influenza in about 1988, and since the later 90s started getting the vaccine as I was then looking after my elderly mother. However there have been two occasions since vaccination when I git the characteristic abrupt start of flu, you know when all of a sudden you start to ache and shake and take to bed with fever and bone pains. To me this has only happened for two reasons; influenza or bacterial pneumonia but with the latter I have always soon started coughing clots of blood. Well the two occasions I speak of it just faded away after 24 hours and by 36 hours I was up and making a light tea, and next day 100% with a slight irritating cough fading away. I believe that was probably an "attenuated" dose if influenza because I had at least been part immunised by vaccines. So to me that "aborted flu" was well worth having the vaccine fit in itself.

06-10-2020 10:46pm

3d4life wrote: »

Lucky you

I used to get it and would, without fail, be crucified for 3 - 4 weeks

Didnt get it the last two winters and all good

So dilemma this year ...

Crucified by what in particular... curious to know.. was it joint pains etc?

3d4life · 06-10-2020 10:51pm

Deleted User wrote: »

Crucified by what in particular... curious to know.. was it joint pains etc?

A "cold" ( colds always go to my chest )

being immunosuppressed probably doesnt help

06-10-2020 11:02pm

I got it last Thursday. I felt pretty rough over the weekend, but it always hits me that way for a day or two. My arm is still a bit swollen and sore tonight, but otherwise okay.

Spanish Eyes · 06-10-2020 11:04pm

Better to leave it until end November. The strain the current vaccine is working on might not work. The next batch might!

Just saying.

Water John · 06-10-2020 11:08pm

Spanish Eyes wrote: »

Better to leave it until end November. The strain the current vaccine is working on might not work. The next batch might!

Just saying.

Not aware the flu vaccine is tweaked during a season? Are you just speculating?

Spanish Eyes · 06-10-2020 11:13pm

Water John wrote: »

Not aware the flu vaccine is tweaked during a season? Are you just speculating?

Well I am sure you can check it out yourself. Of course it is being tweaked. Issue is the Southern Hemisphere has had few flu outbreaks so the vaccine now has to suit the Northern Hemisphere as always,

Harry Palmr · 06-10-2020 11:14pm

Type 1 diabetic, get it every year now I'm old and decrepit

Booked in for the 20th, the pharmacy have already got through two batches.

06-10-2020 11:15pm

3d4life wrote: »

A "cold" ( colds always go to my chest )

being immunosuppressed probably doesnt help

That's not the vaccine, it doesn't work on the respiratory system specifically but rather your immune system in general. It's likely ya picked up those viral respiratory infections at the places ya got the vaccine. Doctors' surgeries and chemists' are full of people brewing bugs.

angel eyes 2012 · 06-10-2020 11:17pm

o1s1n wrote: »

Got mine on Thursday in Boots for free due to having Crohn's.

Had some mild after effects for a couple of days. Woozy with a bit of a scratch in my throat. Seems to be gone now.

I'm on a waiting list with Boots and I've also contacted Lloyds. Next stop GP. I've been getting it with Boots each year and I never even had a sniffle but I've been obsessed with hand sanitizer and not touching surfaces long before Covid. I had a renal transplant a couple of years ago. Usually it costs around €20 in Boots.

o1s1n · 06-10-2020 11:18pm

[Deleted User] wrote: »

OK, time for time away from Boards me thinks
Give my head some peace

Ah best to ignore the cranks and keep on posting

o1s1n · 06-10-2020 11:21pm

angel eyes 2012 wrote: »

I'm on a waiting list with Boots and I've also contacted Lloyds. Next stop GP. I've been getting it with Boots each year and I never even had a sniffle but I've been obsessed with hand sanitizer and not touching surfaces long before Covid. I had a renal transplant a couple of years ago. Usually it costs around €20 in Boots.

I haven't had a single sniffle in 2020 at all due to the heightened cleanliness everywhere. One good thing to come out of all this covid sh1te!

/Edit - until I got the flu vaccine that is! Passed after about three days thankfully.

Spanish Eyes · 06-10-2020 11:23pm

I am not a crank, just saying what I see.

Nothing personal at all

VeVeX · 06-10-2020 11:48pm

Deleted User wrote: »

No, an attenuated vaccine won't do that.

An ongoing vaccine derived polio outbreak in Africa from an attenuated vaccine -

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2020/sep/02/vaccine-derived-polio-spreads-in-africa-after-defeat-of-wild-virus

https://www.who.int/csr/don/01-september-2020-polio-sudan/en/

http://polioeradication.org/where-we-work/chad/

06-10-2020 11:53pm

VeVeX wrote: »

An ongoing vaccine derived polio outbreak in Africa from an attenuated vaccine -

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2020/sep/02/vaccine-derived-polio-spreads-in-africa-after-defeat-of-wild-virus

https://www.who.int/csr/don/01-september-2020-polio-sudan/en/

http://polioeradication.org/where-we-work/chad/

Let's hope we don't make a super-spreader from attenuated Covid

Manach · 06-10-2020 11:54pm

I've booked an appointent for the shoot. Based on the statistical outcome, time spend for the appointment versus a week being very ill, makes sense.

Necro · 06-10-2020 11:55pm

Spanish Eyes wrote: »

I am not a crank, just saying what I see.

Nothing personal at all

Mod:

You can have a holiday from AH for your troubles too.

Do not post in this thread again on your return.

Simi · 07-10-2020 12:07am

I'm a healthcare worker so get it every year. No sign of it yet this year. There must be supply constraints. I'd normally have gotten it either this week or last week. If there's no sign of it soon I'll just book an appointment myself.

07-10-2020 12:33am

Harry Palmr wrote: »

Type 1 diabetic, get it every year now I'm old and decrepit

Booked in for the 20th, the pharmacy have already got through two batches.

Are you getting the pneumonia vaccine as well?

I got it two years ago, even though I am under 65. (its every 5 years). Its recommended for diabetics and can be given at the same time as the flu vaccine.

07-10-2020 10:12am

After info from Boardsies here, de used to try Boots. Now booked for 19th October in a south Dublin branch. A bird in the hand, as the saying goes. Goodness knows when my local chemist would be able to oblige.

Wibbs · 07-10-2020 10:35am

Never got it, mainly because I don't get the flu. I'm one of those 15-20% who are asymptomatic, or not enough to notice much anyway(my dad was the same). No doubt a few mild "bugs" I've gotten over the years were the flu. Though latterly I have been thinking of getting it so I don't act as a carrier for those who do get it badly.

07-10-2020 10:55am

Wibbs wrote: »

Never got it, mainly because I don't get the flu. I'm one of those 15-20% who are asymptomatic, or not enough to notice much anyway(my dad was the same). No doubt a few mild "bugs" I've gotten over the years were the flu. Though latterly I have been thinking of getting it so I don't act as a carrier for those who do get it badly.

You could donate antibodies

Buford T. Justice XIX · 07-10-2020 11:00am

billyhead wrote: »

Just wondering do you feel sick after getting it or is that a myth?

Get it every year here, I'm diabetic and it normally just causes low blood sugars for 24 or 36 hours afterwards.

I mustn't have been exposed to one of this years strains before now as I had a bad few days of mild flu symptoms, coughing, runny nose, tiredness, slow reactions. So I was advised to get a covid test, just in case. Negative, thankfully.

A week today, still coughing but much better than the last few days.

07-10-2020 11:00am

Having been exercised enough this morning to email my own pharmacy, they phoned me just there to say to come over at noon and I would be vaccinated, as they had a cancellation. She said the whole thing is quite all over the place as I suspected.

So Boardsies, seems you have to be proactive to get your shot in a timely way, and literally not wait your turn

which is the way medicine in general operates in this country.

Igotadose · 07-10-2020 11:04am

billyhead wrote: »

Just wondering do you feel sick after getting it or is that a myth?

Here's the information on side effects of the vaccine being given this year: https://www.medicines.ie/medicines/quadrivalent-influenza-vaccine-split-virion-inactivated--33499/smpc

You can feel a little ill afterwards, fatigue isn't uncommon or a slight fever. This happened to both me and my spouse after our vaccine last week Monday at our local chemist.

We get vaccinated every year if at all possible. One year I didn't and was miserable all winter as a result, laid me up good, lost weight, extremely high fevers. This illness is underplayed in the media, it's common enough in the Winter and very debilitating. Much worse than 'a bad cold' which imo people mistake for 'the flu' or 'a touch of the flu.' It wasn't in my experience at all, no comparing.

07-10-2020 11:07am

Buford T. Justice XIX wrote: »

Get it every year here, I'm diabetic and it normally just causes low blood sugars for 24 or 36 hours afterwards.

I mustn't have been exposed to one of this years strains before now as I had a bad few days of mild flu symptoms, coughing, runny nose, tiredness, slow reactions. So I was advised to get a covid test, just in case. Negative, thankfully.

A week today, still coughing but much better than the last few days.

Just reading this article, which seems to contradict itself. Even otherwise reliable medical sources can cause confusion:

https://www.self.com/story/flu-shot-side-effects

But in any case, a dose of influenza is always worse than side effects, so I would hate folk to be put off by talk of them.

TheBody · 07-10-2020 11:09am

I was Lloyds pharmacy at the weekend. They said it will be 3-4 weeks before they will have more vaccines in.

McGinniesta · 07-10-2020 11:13am

billyhead wrote: »

I might get it this year for the first time. Will you get it and if not why not?

No. Because I couldn't be arsed.

As a side note, is it possible to tell which strain of the flu will be prominent this year.

07-10-2020 11:27am

McGinniesta wrote: »

No. Because I couldn't be arsed.

As a side note, is it possible to tell which strain of the flu will be prominent this year.

The WHO have figured the most likely strains out, but I believe it's a bit like weather-forecasting with no absolute guarantees. The more influenza immunities you have over time the less likely you are to have a catastrophic outcome if you do get a new strain. Pre-exposed people tend to have better outcomes, as evidenced by the immune naive young folk who succumbed in the 1918 pandemic.

El Weirdo · 07-10-2020 11:29am

billyhead wrote: »

Just wondering do you feel sick after getting it or is that a myth?

I've got it the last 2 years and had a slight bit of fever and general malaise for the following 24hrs or so. It really isn't bad though and way more preferable to being floored for days or weeks with the flu. And even if you don't normally get the flu, it's doing your part to help prevent spread to the more vulnerable among us.

Just booked my appointment for tomorrow afternoon.

07-10-2020 11:30am

It seems the issue overall this year is simply that manufacturers are not set up to produce the amount of vaccines demanded this year. There was no increase in manufacturing capability. A foretaste of the type of thing we will have when the Covid vaccine first becomes available.

https://www.fffenterprises.com/news/articles/article-2020-09-10.html

McGinniesta · 07-10-2020 11:31am

Deleted User wrote: »

The WHO have figured the most likely strains out, but I believe it's a bit like weather-forecasting with no absolute guarantees. The more influenza immunities you have over time the less likely you are to have a catastrophic outcome if you do get a new strain. Pre-exposed people tend to have better outcomes, as evidenced by the immune naive young folk who succumbed in the 1918 pandemic.

I understand that it helps and will restrict its spread.

I know it's a stretch to say that it's a leap of faith but I think you know what I'm getting at.

There'll always be some element of risk involved with these things.

07-10-2020 11:33am

Set to get the vaccine in 30 minutes

and will report here when the mild side effects set in. But again I will emphasise this should never put folk off getting it, me they just remind me it's taking effect

07-10-2020 12:12pm

Just had it one minute ago, painless injection. Muscle is now starting to ache and twitch, so a nice local reaction commencing

3d4life · 07-10-2020 12:18pm

Deleted User wrote: »

Just had it one minute ago, painless injection. Muscle is now starting to ache and twitch, so a nice local reaction commencing

< AH mode > Pics or GTFO < /AH mode >

sweetie · 07-10-2020 12:21pm

Got it yesterday for the first time. I'm 43 but it was available in my workplace where I mix with frontline workers. Didn't have any reaction but fell asleep after dinner for 90 mins which is unlike me!

Sheep Shagger · 07-10-2020 12:27pm

My employer (non front line) always paid for ours but this year said they weren't given the vaccine shortage. Thought it was odd....

Boots only give to high risk or if you have a prepaid voucher (from employer like we used to get).

Trying to get one in a pharmacy is hard, they have yet to move my appointment next week a third time so fingers crossed.....is €25 in McCabes.

markfinn · 07-10-2020 12:57pm

Boots have given me an appointment for the shot. Made the request on 1st September, got a date at the end of Oct. And that's with double "vulnerable category" tags on me.

There's going to be a lot of people going into this winter of CoviFlu1920 uninoculated I'd say.

MarkY91 · 07-10-2020 1:01pm

Booked in for 22nd of October. Never got it before. I feel I should this year and I think everyone else should.

Water John · 07-10-2020 1:09pm

Was in doc practice this morning having my bloods taken by the nurse and asked about the vaccine, and got it. Charged €30 on that, plus €35 for the bloods.

07-10-2020 3:53pm

Water John wrote: »

Was in doc practice this morning having my bloods taken by the nurse and asked about the vaccine, and got it. Charged €30 on that, plus €35 for the bloods.

I'm all for everyone getting vaccinated, especially this year. It seems to be hit or miss when and how people are though, going by folk. As one Indo article predicted "there'll be a catfight". Shortages always create these situations, and that seems to be down to lack of anticipation by manufacturers or else infrastructural inability or reluctance to ramp up vaccine production even though demand might have been duly predicted.

07-10-2020 4:07pm

Done at midday, now just last 4pm, that's the swelling in arm so far, the black furry thing is the cat

rtron · 07-10-2020 4:10pm

Yep I will get mine: That way I can tell the flu from covid

irishgrover · 07-10-2020 4:15pm

I read this thread at lunchtime, phoned the doctor @ 1 and got the shot at 2:30. I was inside the building for a maximum of 20 seconds, literally. They are racking and stacking them .... (I had pre-existing conditions which they know about so was told to head stright down when I called becase demand is high.

Flu vaccine

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