Hi To everybody. My name is Jim and I’d like to ask the community for some advice regarding pneumonia vaccinations. I was diagnosed with CLL at about the time of the Coronavirus outbreak in early February…
My consultant wrote to my gp advising him to inoculate me against pneumonia "initially with Prevnar followed by Pneumovax II ". The surgery was completely out of stock with no clear idea as to when stocks would arrive. I sourced a pneumococcal vaccine from Boots which the surgery administered and that protects me against a number of strains.
I do now however need a Pneumovax vaccine which is not available at Boots and wonder whether anybody in the community can point me in the right direction.
Thank you for bearing with me and Happy Easter to all!
Dear Jim,
This vaccine should be readily available on the NHS.
Contact your hospital team, if they can’t give it to you, I’m sure they would have stock
Failing that contact BMI Healthcare and get it done privately, you will have to get a referral from your GP which shouldn’t be a problem.
You will have to pay BMI but that’s well worth it.
BMI have hospitals all over the country, check their main site and find a specialist close to you who can do it then get your GP to send him a referral.
Good luck and best wishes
Anthony
Hi Jim, welcome, what a year you are having and it sounds as if you are gaining medical knowledge rapidly. @Blackhat has given you good advice and I cannot add to that, except avoid live vaccines. Please let us know how you get on and how you are doing and feeling.
I expect your hair in need of a haircut looks better than my effort of cutting mine. Perhaps a pudding bowl haircut might have been a better look !! Take care and stay safe we will support each other through these isolation times.
Hi, Just to say that my GP surgery has now received a batch of Pnuemovax II and one as been reserved for me. So, that’s a great relief for me particularly with the associated risk of pneumonia from Covid-19. Because of the required timescale between vaccines it can’t be administered until 14 May but I reckon that should be ok as we are self isolating.
Thank you all for your support and advice and please take care x
Hi @jimmee, that’s really good to hear! As you say, it must be such a relief. Keep safe, and please do feel free to post on here if you ever need a space to talk
Thanks for letting us know that your GP surgery has now received a batch of Pnuemovax II and that one as been reserved for you. Good news, let us know how you are and how you are doing.
I had the jab to protect me against pneumonia one year after diagnosis but they did advise me to check after three years to see if my doctor wants to repeat it because my neutrophils were so low that it may have not worked. When lockdown is over I will contact them. They also mentioned that I will not receive the shingles jab at 70 years as that is a live vaccine. It is years until then anyway but she was aware she had given it to my husband I think.
