Hi all, The JCVI have announced that all immunocompromised people, including those with blood cancer, should receive a booster dose of the Covid vaccine, three months after their first three vaccines. We welcome this announcement and it’s really important for people to have their booster as and when they are eligible as this will give you the best possible chance of protection from Covid.
For those who have had the first three primary doses of the Covid vaccine, this means you will now be eligible for a booster vaccine, three months after your third dose. This will be a half dose of the Moderna vaccine or a full dose of the Pfizer vaccine. We are currently seeking clarification from the NHS on how you can book your booster and will update you as and when we know more.
For those who have not yet been able to access their third primary dose, you should now be able to book your third primary vaccine dose via the NHS website If you’re in England, you can click this link. You can read the latest information we have on how to access your third dose across all four nations on our website: https://bloodcancer.org.uk/support-for-you/coronavirus-covid-19/covid-vaccine-blood-cancer/how-to-get-vaccine/.
As always, please do feel free to contact our support team if you have any concerns or want to talk this through. We are only a phone call or an email away.
Hello, thanks for the info. Have had third primary a month ago after great deal of angst acquiring it. However, my records on nhs app show ‘booster’ not third! Unsurprisingly, as whole thing has been a shambles. Am sure this will make it equally stressful and difficult to acquire our booster when it should be administered. Any advice?
Hi @Alice_BloodCancerUK thanks for the info, that is great news.
Let’s hope the roll out is less stressful than it has been for @MSullivan and many others.
Also 3 mths is less time than the original 6 mths talked of.
Thanks - yes I was watching the update on BBC news as it happened and it did feel a relief to hear “us” being included in the announcements and so clearly being said we have had three prime doses and so our booster will be a fourth etc etc it felt good to be acknowledged and specially mentioned (I wished all my friends and family had been watching you look at me doubtful when I say I have had a third prime dose and say oh but we are all having a booster etc etc) - BUT my immediate thought was then HOW will this happen! I can only imagine having to do as did for third, turn up at a mass vaccine centre armed with stuff printed from such as this lovely charity and ask for my booster which for me will be beginning January - I can’t feel any hope whatsoever of being identified and called for it! I have never been called for third prime dose before or since having it of my own devices beginning October - and despite my NHS app showing it clearly showing I had had three I was still called for my booster dead on time six months from date of no 2 vaccine. I don’t understand how it has all been such a mess - I have thought throughout all our treating consultant teams have a list of their patients all of whom are eligible, how does it become so so complicated that all those patients are not all sent a mail shot letter to get a vaccine and that we can use to get it - when our lovely charity can do this for us and was the only reason I was able to get my third dose?? Anyway that’s my rant over and here’s hoping for no 4 dose !!
Thank you for the confirmation of the announcement. I must say I was very relieved to hear the immunocompromised mentioned alongside everyone else in a clear manner. Since fighting to have my 3rd dose and having received 2 invitations since to have my booster, I look forward to this next step rolling out with a lot more ease than the fight we had to get the 3rd dose, whilst being aware that some still have not had them!
Hi @Jilly20 and @MSullivan your concerns are totally understandable. We have been assured by the NHS that this will be rectified, as they have told us they have a mechanism in place where an individual’s vaccine record is then cross-referenced with the NHS’ information of the individual’s health condition, and automatically changed to ‘third primary dose’ for anyone eligible.
Therefore they were confident that people who should have been invited for a third primary dose, but who instead had it recorded booster jab, should not experience issues around eligibility and access for booster doses. We will continue to monitor the practicalities around this however.
We’ve put a number of questions forward to the NHS, such as how this booster dose for immunocompromised people will be rolled out, and we will be sure to keep you all updated with their response. If anyone has any concerns please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us on the support line.
Exactly the same as me on all counts - stressful, took a LOT of wrangling to get, and now my record says booster. Fingers crossed it will be less hassle getting the 4th. Sending you good wishes, Firefly
Hear hear Jilly20 you have echoed my thoughts and experiences precisely! Thank you and good luck to us both for early January and to everyone else too! Firefly
Good afternoon. I thought an update would be useful for your information. I received my 3rd primary dose on 3/10/2021 after communicating with practice manager and much discussion. I’d had to previously chase my 2nd dose as I’d received no comment at all on that one. Since receiving my 3rd dose I have had a text, an email and today an NHS letter stating my records show I have not had my booster dose for which I am now eligible!!! It seems as if the dots are still not joined up for those of us who are immunocompromised so thank you for monitoring this situation for us.
I don’t have a mobile phone, so no app, how can I find out if NHS England have registered me properly on the system?
My first two jabs I was booked through my surgery, and I blagged my way for the third at a walk in centre - I do have a card saying 3rd dose, rather than booster
You can download the NHS app on your laptop, tablet etc it doesn’t have to be on a phone - so that should make it easier for you to check - but all our records will show we have had a third dose even if it at the moment it shows as a booster, in theory that will be updated soon in the NHS IT system
I tried, you get so far then you have to have to give a mobile number
I had the 6 digit number to my e-mail, but then, after you put that in, it says…
…
Enter your mobile number
We will send you another 6 digit security code, this time to your phone, to confirm your mobile number.
It will be quicker to set up your NHS login if the mobile number you enter is the number your GP surgery has for you.
…
I have the 6 digit security number to my e-mail, but I don’t have a mobile number, and it rejects a landline number
so, can’t use this, is there any way, that people without a mobile can check their records?
I live in Cornwall, on the South coast, lovely, but we have no mobile coverage, so have never had a mobile.
Endorse everything said by others who ended up with what was called booster rather than third primary. Chasing the elusive third jab has rendered me cynical about how swiftly or accurately our records will be changed from booster to third vaccine particularly as my GP surgery does not appear to know anything about third jab anyway and I was never called for one. Moreover when i mentioned the fact that a fourth or booster vaccine was to be offered to our practice nurse during a routine blood test, she said she thought it would only be for those who were severely immuno-suppressed not those “who only had a chronic Leukaemia”. Pleased I am currently looking so healthy despite having dropped out of remission for CML but is it too much to expect some clarity this time round it is useless JCVI stating we are to have a fourth or booster vaccine and Blood Cancer UK being aware of it if the info does not reach the GPs who treat us or is changed en route!
Now totally confused. Had a third dose recently but no idea whether it was a primary or booster as I was given no record of which type it was. How can I find out?
I shall await developments with interest, but a considerable degree of cynicism (someone once accused me of having a degree in the subject!) given the chaos surrounding the third/booster.
