You can make an appointment to get your Covid-19 vaccination through the NHS App or visiting www.nhs.uk/covid-vaccination. If you can’t get online call 119.
Please do not contact your GP for a COVID-19 vaccine. The NHS will contact eligible people directly when it is your turn and advise when and where and when you can get vaccinated. When our team spend a lot of time fielding calls about the vaccine it prevents them from helping where they are able.
Safety and Vaccine Choices
You will be given the vaccine which is available (has been delivered to the vaccine centre) on the day/week of your appointment.
Please note they are NOT live vaccines & have been proven to be very safe.
The only people who should not have any vaccine are those who
- have a previously had an anaphylactic / severe allergic reaction to vaccines or multiple medications, (in this case your vaccine can be arranged at a special centre via 119 or via a GP referral – but this only applies to anaphylactic (very severe allergic reactions requiring hospital admission and adrenalin) to VACCINES OR MULTIPLE-MEDICATIONS)
- those who have had any other vaccine in the past 1 week
- or any coronavirus illness or positive test within 4 weeks,
- and those on warfarin where their INR is poorly controlled at more than 4.0.
- 2nd vaccines: Those who have had a major venous and/or arterial thrombosis occurring with thrombocytopenia following their first vaccination
| Group | Recommended vaccine(s) |
| People aged 16-17 year olds in eligible cohorts | Pfizer unless contraindicated |
| People aged 18-39 year olds in eligible cohorts (but NOT in a priority group) | Pfizer or Moderna unless contraindicated (but you can choose to have the AstraZeneca if you prefer to avoid delays and are not concerned re the clot risk, especially if you are in a priority group) |
| Pregnant women in eligible cohorts | Pfizer or Moderna unless contraindicated |
| People aged 40 year old & over in eligible cohorts; and those in priority groups under 40 | Any Vaccine |
| People at very high risk of blood clots & not had their 1st AstraZenceca Covid Vaccine | Advised to have an alternative to the AstraZenceca Vaccine |
| People who have had a blood clot after an AstraZenceca Covid Vaccine | Should have an alternative to AstraZeneca for their second vaccine |
Those under 40 or at very high risk of blood clots are advised to have an alternative to the AstraZenceca Vaccine due to a possible very low risk of blood clots. The pregnancy recommendations are based on some vaccines having better evidence of safety in pregnancy; not because of any evidence of harm or risk in pregnancy.
Those who have had their first vaccination with the AstraZeneca Vaccine are advised to have their second vaccine with the same AstraZeneca Vaccine.
Those under 40 without risks will be offered an alternative provided when it becomes available and when their age group is invited for vaccination. WLMC will not be involved in vaccinating low risk people under the age of 50. The mass vaccination centres will focus on this whilst we focus back on providing healthcare to our patients.
More Information on Allergies
| Safe to Proceed With Vaccine | Needs Special Vaccine Centre Referral | Vaccine Likely Unsafe |
| Previous allergic reactions including VERY SEVERE/ANAPHYLAXIS to food/insect bites/most medicinesFamily history of allergiesPrevious non-allergic reactions to a vaccineHypersensitivity to non-steroidal drugs like aspirin & ibuprofen | Previous IMMEDIATE ANAPHYLAXIS (very severe allergic reaction requiring adrenalin and hospital admission) to MULTIPLE different drug classesPrevious ANAPHYLAXIS to a ‘PEG’ containing product like a VACCINE, injected antibody or steroidPrevious idiopathic anaphylaxis (very severe allergic reaction requiring adrenalin and hospital admission without any cause – it just happened) | Previous SEVERE ALLERGIC REACTION TO A COVID VACCINE (this does not include side effects and non-allergic reactions like pain, shivers, fevers, weakness) or a component of the vaccine or another mRNA vaccine. |
More Information on the very low and uncertain risk of Blood Clots with AstraZeneca
- There have been 17 cases of clots and 19 deaths after 20 million doses of vaccine. It is unclear if this means there is any significant increase in risk yet.
- It is reported that the risks with the AstraZeneca vaccine would be about 4 in a million of a clot and 1 in a million of dying.
- The background risk of a clot in the general population without vaccination is 1 in 1000 (thrombosisuk); This risk increase 3.5 times on the combined pill (BMJ 2013; 347:f5298)
- Travelling 250 miles in a car also, reportedly, carries a 1 in a million risk of dying
- Covid kills 1 in a thousand of adults in their 40s and 1 in 8 adults over 75.
More Information on Safety in Pregnancy & fertility
One concern we are hearing from people about the vaccine is that it might affect their fertility. There is no advice to avoid pregnancy after a COVID-19 vaccination.
Click here for more information on pregnancy and breast feeding
Dr Aruna Ramineni, consultant gynaecologist and lead for fertility at Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust, has developed a video talking about the vaccine and fertility.
The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) and the Royal College of Midwives have responded to misinformation around Covid-19 vaccine and fertility.
A helpful easy-read guide explains what to expect when receiving a Covid-19 vaccine. You can find it here.
For more information on what to expect after the vaccine click here
Why are you being asked to wait? Click here
For more formation / guidance including for the elderly click here
NHS staff urge non-English speaking Londoners to get the Covid-19 vaccine
NHS doctors, nurses and other frontline staff have come forward to help reassure people that Covid-19 vaccines are safe, effective and have been independently tested to the highest standards. The clinicians have recorded messages in some of the most commonly spoken community languages in the capital. We hope that the videos will be shared among friends, families, faith and community groups via WhatsApp, text message and on social media.
You can watch the videos here. More videos in additional languages, including Swahili and Yoruba, are in development. There are also resources and information in 10 different languages which you can view here.
Barts Health NHS Trust have put together a range of questions and answers, blogs, videos and messages from staff on the importance of getting the vaccination.
These include:
· Rupert Pearse, intensive care consultant on the Covid-19 vaccine
· Head of Chaplaincy, Yunus Dudhwala on why he got his Covid-19 vaccine
