UKH

I had my fifth Covid vaccination yesterday, and my arm is hurting quite badly now and making me feel a bit 'under the weather'. I think a bit worse than I remember with any of the previous. This one was the Moderna. Previous ones were AstraZeneca and Pfizer.

I had both my flu & covid jabs in my left arm two weeks ago and went climbing the next day, a big mistake. Felt like I had mild flu and I'd been shot in the arm. Nurse said it was this years flu jab that was causing symptoms. I had a Pfizer covid jab.

I had my 5th one yesterday along with flu. Comirnaty Omicron XBB1.5 apparently. He put it in my right arm as he thought it would have fewer side effects than the flu one. He was wrong, my right arm is quite painful today and I feel a bit yuck.

Me and Mrs J had our covid boooster and flu jabs last thursday - one in each arm. She was in pain for a few days - I didn't feel anything. 

Had my latest Covid jab last week in my left arm - hurt for the entire next day but had gone the morning after.

Didn't have the flu jab as well this time, so didn't have a day with mild/medium flu symptoms.

(Think I'll give the flu jab a miss this time around - don't normally catch the actual flu, and don't want a guaranteed day of flu symptoms).

It's just the 5G signal connecting to the network, nothing to worry about Citizen

Flu and covid vaccinations have previously only given me slight soreness at the injection site, but last year i had them both on the same day in the same arm and I felt like death for about three days. Going to space rhem out in the future.

Speaking of which: as someone who is mid-fifties and generally healthy, can I actually get a covid vaccination this year? Or do I have to pay?

Do you normally get the flu jab? Just wondered if that might be why you don't normally catch flu??

I'm 63 and on the face of it don't warrant a free COVID or flu jab this time according to the government advice online (state pension age I think). I'm having some blood tests done again to see if there's anything else 'wrong' with me that's causing my long covid symptoms. I'll see if I can wangle my way to some free jabs.

In the name of equality (?) no you can't buy the privilege of a covid vaccine. And it's over 60s this year, unless you are medically vulnerable or live/work with vulnerable people.

You can pay for a flu jab though, worth shopping round as prices vary quite a bit. I had a sore arm with mine, but no illness.

It’s just your immune system letting you know it has recognised intruders, or thinks it has.  I recently had Covid in one arm and flu in the other and was sore both sides.  It was quite interesting that the flu side started hurting first (as expected) and the Covid one was about 6 hours later - if you like to figure out how long it takes you to express a transfected transgene.

The arm pain goes away after five days.  If your vaccine included stuff for the new variant, then everyone I know has felt a bit glum with it for the first two days ('flu-like symptoms for my other half, including fairly dramatic shivering) and picked up thereafter to, again, be fine after five days.

Make sure you have some easy meal options to hand for the next few days and you'll be okay.

T.

Thanks, yes, I’ve just done a big shopping (felt like I was going to fall over any second!) and stocked up. Going to get into my nice cosy bed in a minute.

Not sure. I had mine because I’m over 70.

If on an age basis alone, it’s 65 yrs or over for the Covid booster afaik or at least it is in Scotland. Flu jab is 50 yrs or over up here, but I think it could be 65 yrs down south.

I think it only applies if you are 65. I got mine because I am 65 in January so within the season (if you are 65 by 31st March 2024)

I had both my Covid and flu jabs in the same arm, an inch apart, 2 weeks. My arm ached for two days. I'd say that was normal.

If you get significant swelling or signs of infection see your GP or practice nurse.

There’s no significant swelling or signs of infection, thanks. I guess that how I am experiencing it is exactly par for the course.

Got my flu and Covid jab booked for this Friday, looks like I have a sore weekend to look forward to. 

I wouldn’t want to have the aftereffects of both to cope with at once (the Moderna Covid one i had yesterday has put me in bed today). I haven’t got round to booking the flu one yet.

Strange. I've had free NHS flu vaccinations since I turned 50 but it looks like that's 65+ from this year too: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/flu-vaccines-for-the-current-sea....

Not a big fan of private medicine but I guess I'll have to consider it as a one-off.

I was surprised it was around the £20 mark at Boots. Had thought it'd be £15 like I think it was last year?

Personally, I don't qualify for it on NHS but my wife has a health condition and I don't want to bring flu home to her, so I always have to pay.

If the NHS don't offer it to you, what choice of NHS versus private do you get? If you get the flu jab at Boots they (privately) profit, but so do they if you buy stuff from them, or get NHS prescriptions done there. Is a moral dilemma to get it at Boots or other private source?

My Mrs had the COVID jab recently and had no more that a sore arm for 24 hours, but it's hugely variable 

I paid £12 at Asda pharmacy for a private flu jab. 

That's very specific! My arm feels virtually better after 30 hours.

From personal experience, and from others too.  There's obviously a Somerset subset, since they're all from round here.

T.

I've just had Covid at almost exactly the time they sent the "you can have a Covid jab" message. This happened almost exactly a year ago as well - was undecided before but not going to bother getting it now. Still need to sort out the flu jab.

Good for you for getting it. Bear in mind it won't prevent you from carrying & giving covid to someone else - it'll just keep you from the worst effects personally.

Some vaccines can be fierce. Yellow Fever's a rough one. Wouldn't like to get it for real.

After many hours - it’s now about half past one in the morning - I’m feeling a bit better, but the arm is still aching quite a lot,

Didn't have any issues with Yellow Fever, but always struggle after the Typhoid.

Cholera is one I won’t be having again!  I’ve had three over the years - the reaction getting more severe each time!  I think my humoral response is probably more than adequate- the irony being that’s not really where I need it.  An oral vaccine would make more sense.

I am literally stunned that they won't let you get a covid jab even if you pay for it.  I was starting to contemplate that option because I am now too young to get the vaccine, having previously qualified, but then I got Covid ( the first time knowingly) and it's taken a long time to shake off the after effects which only makes me more annoyed that it was been 'withheld' from me.

No I don't - only had it with the two previous Covid boosters.

Probably one of the reasons I don't catch the flu is because I spend very little time in crowded areas of any type (just don't like them). Another is I also use a motorbike/bicycle to move around, hence avoiding public transport and enjoying fresh air. Not only that, my activities are principally "outdoorsy", so I'm not jammed in with infectious persons. Plus we don't have the aircon on that much at work, where we aren't "cheek by jowl", and anyone at work who does get it doesn't come in until they've fully recovered. And I live on my own, so no sharing with anyone else who has got it.

Maybe those who gave me the "thumbs down" should examine their lifestyles, because the more time you spend breathing in others exhaled air, the more likely you are to catch all kinds of things. Just look at the clouds from vapers if you want to know the danger zone around others.

I make very similar lifestyle choices to you, but despite that caught flu about six years ago. Three weeks of being unable to breathe properly, including being in bed for most of Christmas. If anything I felt iller with flu than covid, although the symptoms were very different so hard to compare.

Given that I managed to catch covid during a lockdown (almost certainly at a supermarket) with mandatory mask wearing and social distancing, whilst sticking to the letter of the rules, lifestyle choices can only protect you so far. 

But for me the conviction to fight for covid booster vaccines was how ill I felt after my first booster, it was a painful reminder of the misery of an active infection and a firm reminder of why I want to avoid a reinfection at all costs. As for the flu jab, 2.5 years into Long Covid and I certainly don't want to have to flu on top of that, so £12 well spent.

I can see that becoming a new conspiracy theory...

Three weeks with the flu - that's terrible.

Maybe I'm a lucky one, whenever I've caught it it lasts for a maximum of 3 days, normally half that. I usually partake of a bottle of wine and go to bed with an extra down layer to sweat it out. Tends to mean I'm OK by the following afternoon, just need a damn good hot shower and change, then get all the bedclothes through the washing machine.

Three days is just a cold! I prefer lemsip to wine as a treatment method though, so perhaps that's my mistake.

No doubt.  ‘They’re messing with our DNA!’ (even though that’s exactly what isn’t happening).

If you've only had "flu" for 1.5-3 days then you haven't had flu at all, what you've had is a bit of a cold, and not even a bad cold at that.

Hope it feels easier today. I can't spell out exactly how I react to the Yellow Fever vaccine or I'll likely get banned by the mods. But it also involves excessive, persistent, painful inflammation. Let's just say that the nurse's warning about a sharp prick turned out to be in the right ballpark.

NSAIDs, if you have any in stock and are allowed them, will help a lot.

Jenny, Dave: I've had the typhoid one a few times, no problems at all. Don't fancy the sound of the cholera one, but then it seems side-effects of vaccines are so random and different from person to person that it's hard to know in advance. I still take them rather than risk infection though. The one time I'm suspected to have taken the full brunt of exposure to something for which there was no vaccine was SARS 20 years ago, and both the immediate consequences and the long-term sequelae were... sorry, I can't put a word on it. An abomination; a total negation of life and everything in it. Fortunately it's past and, for the most, memory-holed beyond recall.

I don't remember ever having anything I could distinguish from a cold (some bad, some mild). Anybody know if it is realistic to get to your fifties and never to get the flu?

COVID made me wonder if there are other viruses (flu?) ranging from asymptotic or mild for some people (me?) to really serious for other people.

I think I did read something fairly early in the pandemic about some people who do appear to have natural immunity to flu (and that most flus are a form of coronavirus).

Interestingly I know people who had a fully asymptomatic first covid infection and then we're quite ill when they got reinfected (presumably a different variant).

Yes, a lot better this evening, thanks. But still feel a bit weak.

I don't believe that is correct. Flu is an influenza virus, covid is a coronavirus. They have different genotypes and phenotypes. They are not the same.

A dated but also updated article:

https://asm.org/Articles/2020/July/COVID-19-and-the-Flu

Well either you're wrong or I've never (and I mean never in my life, and I'm nearly 68 !) had a real case of flu.

Which is more likely ?

Excellent.👍🏻 

I'm definitely a lot more cautious with my health post pandemic. I finally got COVID in late February this year. I wouldn't say I had it bad but I'd never had any respiratory infection like that! Took three months to recover plus it's left me with asthma😠 and on regular treatment, which does help.

As someone well into my 60s I now treat any chest infection as a potential threat to my health/life. Hope that doesn't sound a bit over the top.🤞🏻

If things are as you describe then lucky you, you've not had 'flu.

You'd know about it if you had.

T.

Well I've only had flu once and I'm 48. It was horrible though, definitely not like a cold even if I was only in bed for a few days. Always get a jab now because I can't face it again.

on balance, don't think i'll be getting another injection (younger than you tho)..

I think you're right on that one. 

I thought that some strains of influenza were coronavirus variants (obviously not the same as covid 19), but looks like I'm wrong. 

I was 20 when I got the Moderna jab (both times) when folk my age were getting them and I had a rougher time of it compared to my friends on the other jabs; it was similar to what you describe, achy where the needle went in and general under-the-weather feeling, Clears up in a day or two though!

Covid on my left arm, flu in my right on Friday afternoon. 

Only side effect has been a sore left arm yesterday and that's it. 

Mrs H is a bit rough but she is always off it for a couple of days after hew flu jab. 

Yes, the bad after effects lasted just two days, then fine again.

I'm a pharmacist, and currently doing covid & flu vaccinations at one of the pharmacies I work at.

Criteria for flu & Covid vaccinations are broadly the same this autumn ie:

- age 65+

- a health condition that's risky if you get flu/Covid (the most common ones are asthma, COPD, asthma, heart disease)

- immunosuppressed due to a medical condition or medication

- household contact of someone who is immunosuppressed

- pregnant

- working in health or social care

This isn't the full list, and the full criteria can be found here for covid & flu vaccinations respectively

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/covid-19/covid-19-vaccination/getting-a-covid...

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/vaccinations/flu-influenza-vaccine/

For a couple of years, the flu vaccination was extended to over 50s, but they've now reverted back to the previous 65+ criteria.

You can pay privately for a a flu jab, but not a covid jab.

Hope that helps.

Thanks for taking the time to respond Becky.

Great post, so nice when someone turns and up says 'these are the facts'.

I'm doing some 'light duty' shifts carrying out vaccinations just now. The criteria here in Scotland are very similar to the list given by BeckyE (who I assume is in England). The main difference is that all 50+ year olds in Scotland can have the flu vaccine;  the '65 and over' age restriction here is just for the covid one. 

Writing from Switzerland.

Here, Covid vacs for 65+ are free (I think)

Covid vacs for younger peopl are possible but you have to pay about 50 CHF.  I am 50 years old and generally healthy, but I have lots of contact (school teacher), so I get all the vacs when possible. 

In the last two weeks, I got the flu vac (right arm) and covid vac (left arm).

As I anticipated, the flu vac had little or no obvious effect.  The covid shot, also as I anticipated, had a huge effect.  My arm hurt massively, and I was really sick with flu symptoms for about 5 days.  It's a brutal virus, and a brutal vaccine.  I hope it offers some protection and/or symptom reduction if we have a surge in new variants this winter.

£45/£50, yes I'd pay that if it was an option in the UK. Might even splash out on a day trip to Wales/Scotland if not available in England.

Me and my partner are both over 50 but under 65, we're in good health, don't have regular contact with high risk individuals and we're not healthcare workers. Our GP - London - offered us the 'flu vaccine but not the covid one. Any idea how this could have happened? I'd like to get the covid one if I'm eligible without me knowing but don't want to ask them in case they want the 'flu vaccine back.

There are various factors that make one eligible for a flu jab and they are different to the covid jab criteria. I get invited for a flu jab because I have asthma. My bouldering buddy gets invited for one because she is a breast cancer survivor. Sometimes it applies to family too e.g. a friend who gets jabs to help protect her husband who has stage 4 cancer.