When I heard from Bloodwise that the 1st vaccination was not very effective for people with blood cancer and they should have a second vaccination earlier than 12 weeks I rang my GP’s surgery ,and explained and was rung back & told my husband and I had an appointment in 2 days time! This was despite the surgery website saying mot to ring for virus appointments. I think it worth trying this if you’re having to wait 12 weeks for your 2nd jab. I waited about 8 weeks in the end.
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Hi @GardenerGran, thanks for your information it is really useful.
We are lucky to have Blood Cancer UK campaigning and informing us.
I hope you and your husband have managed in lockdown and are keeping well.
That’s interesting news. It seems to be a different story depending on where you live as I know others have been told the opposite but it makes sense to prioritise people like us. Thankfully my second dose is coming up this week so I’m not going to force the issue.
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I belong to a local myeloma group. Many members have been offered early second vaccines due to the now known lack of effectiveness of the first vaccine for those of us with blood cancers. Mine wasn’t until the end of the month so I contacted the pharmacy where I’d had my first vaccine who said that they could only prioritise me for the second vaccine with my GPs authorisation. The GP surgery told me that the practice is refusing to have anything to do with the vaccination programme “otherwise that’s all they would do” but said that i could ring 119 to get mine brought forward. When I rang 119, the govt site, I was told that they would have to cancel my second vaccine appt before rescheduling it, so I agreed to this. They then said that the only vaccination centres available to me were at least 45 miles away in London ( the other was 2 miles away), and only a day before my original one had been scheduled. I cannot face driving into London to somewhere where I don’t know where to park when I am vulnerable to Covid-19, so i haven’t now got a 2ndvaccine booked at all. I contacted the pharmacy vaccine centre again, they say they don’t anticipate being able to fit me in as they have 60 people waiting for failed appointment slots which may take until late May to fulfill. I’ve been back on the govt website numerous times but no nearer venues have come up. This scenario has really knocked me for six. I think of myself as pretty resilient, but it makes me tearful even thinking about it. I have emailed my nurse specialist, but don’t know what else I can do. Any advice?
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Oh @Maple, I certainly know the not being able to take any more hassle and bursting into tears.
I can give you no helpful advice, but just feel for you.
I have heard trying to book appointments through 119 often brings about the situation of being offered appointments with the hubs miles away.
I think you have got into a really horrible, wearing roller coaster situation.
I really, really hope your nurse specialist can be of assistance.
Please let us know how you get on @Maple.
Has anyone else got any handy hints?
Hi, I just read this and decided to give a ring for my GP. My 2nd jab is now booked for Saturday! I just wish that it would be as easy for all of us. I hope you get yours sorted asap @Maple.
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Thank you Blood Cancer UK team…
After the last webinar where the consultants said that they had been writing to some of their patients GP’s to request a 2nd jab, I contacted our surgery the next day and was able to organise my husbands 2nd vaccine which meant that he only had a 6 week gap (which is pretty close to the original trial recommendation).
I have also asked his Haematology team if he can be part of the research into the effacy of the Pfizer vaccine, after having a 2nd dose.
Your help with keeping the blood cancer community informed throughout the pandemic has been really invaluable and I am sure you have helped to keep everyone much safer than we would have been.
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That’s really great news!
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Great news @nottmac . I had my second dose this week too but it was with an 11 week gap for the Astra Zeneca one which may not be too much of a problem. Not doing too badly so guess I’ve survived the experience 
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I had 2nd vaccine in Feb did an antibody test and has come back negative for antibodies
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How have you been @Carl999?
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Hi @Carl999 hope you’ve been doing okay? At the moment, we don’t know which response is needed to fight coronavirus infection, therefore more research is needed. Our blog here explains more about antibody responses: https://bloodcancer.org.uk/news/covid-vaccine-should-people-with-blood-cancer-get-an-antibody-test/
This was also spoken about in our latest Q&A - Should people with blood cancer take a COVID-19 antibody test? - YouTube
How have you been doing over the past few months?
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Hi @Carl999 I have also recently just had my 2nd vaccine and recently done an antibody test which was also negative for antibodies.
How are you doing?
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I’ve recently been tested for antibodies by Bloodwise. I’ve had 2 AstroZenika vaccinations nd the test was negative. Could Blood Cancer UK work together with Bloodwise to check which of their participants who had negative responses also had blood cancer? It would be another layer of information.
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Hi @GardenerGran this is obviously a question for Blood Cancer UK I will copy this to @Bav.BloodCancerUK and @Alice_BloodCancerUK to respond. Give them time to respond.
How are you doing and does your name mean that you are a gardener and been able to get out into and enjoy a garden recently?
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Hi @GardenerGran, thank you for reaching out to us. I’m sorry to hear that the antibody tests were negative, this must be disappointing. We have a blog on antibody testing which give more information as more research is need to better understand whether T-Cells also play a role in fighting the covid virus and what this means in terms of vaccine effectiveness: Covid vaccine: should people with blood cancer get an antibody test? | Blood Cancer UK.
Blood Cancer UK use to be known as Bloodwise before the charity name change. We as a charity do not do antibody testing, is this possibly coming from a research studies we are funding rather us doing the antibody testing?
We are working with our research network to develop practical steps for monitoring immune response after vaccination for blood cancer patients. You may want to take a look at this page of our website as it talks about the different research studies: https://bloodcancer.org.uk/support-for-you/coronavirus-covid-19/covid-vaccine-blood-cancer/covid-vaccine-efficacy-blood-cancer/.
If we can be of any further support, our Support Services Team are always here: https://bloodcancer.org.uk/support-for-you/talk-blood-cancer.
Best Wishes
Bav
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