In remission from blood cancer, can I have the Covid-19 vaccine early?
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A great big welcome to our forum @Superhero.
There is a lot of current information on the Blood Cancer UK website on the vaccine process.
Blood cancers were a category mentioned by the government as being a priority category.
Have you been classed as CEV (clinically extremely vulnerable)?
If not, it might be worth contacting your GP or someone on your medical team?
If you would like to talk to someone the Blood Cancer support team details are above.
Please let us know how you get on.
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Welcome to the forum @Superhero!
How have you been doing?
This is such an important question, and one which we have been asked by many in our blood cancer community and understandably so. We would strongly encourage people to have a look at our “blood cancer and coronavirus risk” webpage, as there is a section “Which adults are at high risk from coronavirus?” where we talk through the risk of coronavirus in the context of the different types of blood cancer. In one of the later sections on this webpage, we have support and advice for people who are in remission under the section “I am in remission - am I at high risk?”
It’s people who are classified as Clinically extremely vulnerable who have been put on the shielded patient list and are currently in group 4 on the priority list for a covid-19 vaccine.
As @Erica has said, if you don’t know whether or not you’re on the shielded patient list, or you aren’t on it but you feel like you should be, we’d strongly encourage you to get in touch with a member of your healthcare team such as your consultant, clinical nurse specialist, or GP, as soon as possible, to ensure that you are on the right place on the priority list, according to your individual circumstances and medical history. You might find this page helpful - https://bloodcancer.org.uk/support-for-you/coronavirus-covid-19/covid-vaccine-blood-cancer/how-to-get-vaccine/
You may like to have a look at our “covid vaccine and blood cancer” webpage, as it’s here where we talk through what all of the above information means in terms of receiving a covid-19 vaccine, and everything we know so far in terms safety and effectiveness of such vaccines and what to expect in terms of the roll-out.
Please feel free to give us a call on 0808 2080 888 if you want to chat any of this through!
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It’s natural to feel a bit confused about all of this. I’ve been lucky. I’ve been in remission for almost 2 years but was on the CEV list and have been pushed through in the priority groups for the vaccine. You should definitely ask about this if you don’t think you are on the list as you probably should be.
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You should have had your first vaccination by now if not contact your GP. I’m one year into remission and am in the queue for my second vaccination.
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Hi @Catcher, yes, I have had my first (Pfizer) vaccine and I hope I am also in the queue for my second. How are you doing still in lockdown?