Heads up! To all with MS, on immunotherapies, heading to the Excel Centre in London for your 2nd jab… As soon as you arrive tell a staff member so you will get taken to the front of the line… and not have to wait for ages.
I think where every you go, do the same.
This advice from Rachel has been confirmed by Sarah (Both Blog Readers). Thanks to them for that.
Spread the word by your social media channels as not every one reads the blog…don’t understand why:-)
I believe over 300 people from BartsHealth have been vaccinated to far, others may have had the Jab via their GPs
Please also continue to tell us about your experiences.
We know that the vaccines can induce fever and temperature increases can cause the Uthoffs phenomenon (nerves dont fire as well in heat). This may happen in people with MS and should be transient
According to the trial studies the reactogenicity issue….which is the response to the Jab, like fever and headache, fatigue arm ache…..is apparently less likely on the second Astrazeneca Jab (don’t understand why, but trials on this were small and fever occurred after second jab in about 20% of cases and it was only mildly reduced by paracetamol), but more likely for the Pfizer and the Moderna Jabs…
In addition the good news for the Amercian readers is that your third vaccine, the Johnson & Johnson vaccine has been approved bu the FDA. This is a one-off Jab so no need to worry about the second one. For those in the UK this should arrive soon. Perfect for the Youth who will be getting the vaccine later in the programme and will help the UK get done and dusted
At BartsHealth we have been testing a two dose schedule of the Johnson & Johnson Jab….I volunteered for the trial…but never got a call…I guess I must be considered to have been too high risk to get on the trial.
I must admit I would want me on the trial because as soon as I was offered the Jab I would be off like a shot. Also within a few weeks of getting anything, I would have tested myself to know if I had got placebo, which I suspect you can guess because of reactogenicity (There wouldn’t be any as they are using saline, that is why in some of oxford trials they gave you vaccination of something else). The deal was they were recruiting 6,000 people in the UK (400-600 from East London) and 3,000 people would get placebo. They said that these people could drop out to get the jab if offered one. You would be mad to recruit too many people like me (I gave my risk factors when I signed up). Because if you lose your placebo arm the trial fails. I would get offer the jab by end of March as I’m in the top 1-9 tiers.
This is now the problem for anyone wanting to develop a new vaccine it will be difficult to do placebo controlled trials in thousands of people. This is one of the reasons why the UK has set up a challenge trial centre. This is in London. Rather than vaccinate 30,000 people and spend 6 months doing this to get 150 people (18-30years old) infected, you can donate some cash to 150 individuals (they get paid for this) and you could do it all in a month. This will be important as it has already been hinted by the UK government that a booster may be needed
Eh?
so everywhere?
I queued inside for about an hour 2 weekends ago for mine, with an appointment. I hadn’t been out of the house for such a long period of time(a whole HOUR) whoop! apart from Ocrevus infusion in September, for best part of a year.
No chairs (obvs for hygiene) so wish I’d known about this then.
Should we inform the person doing the marshalling, or the 1st desk they check you in with, and how do we prove it I wonder?
As you say you have appointments and therefore I suspect there are details on a computer somewhere
I had what I consider to be a fairly significant reaction to my first Moderna jab at 6:00 PM on 2/26. That evening I had 4-5 hours of pretty intense body aches (not surprising) and they were gone by the morning, but no other symptoms. My arm became very painful as the day went on, so I took a Naproxen at 4:00 PM. By 5:00 I noticed weakness coming on and body temperature that kept rising, despite Naproxen. This got up to almost 101 F. (don’t know the conversion to Celcius) and as someone who has an EDSS of a 7, I became pretty much completely paralyzed, unable to shift a mm in bed. Panic started to set in, as my husband had to lift my rag-doll body onto the Commode and support me while I used it. Called the Neuro who, given what I was going through, felt a low dose of prednisone (20 mg.) could just get me to a more comfortable spot and assured me that this is no comparison to what Covid would do. Temp went down to 99.7 F with Naproxen and the prednisone. I was able to pivot my body onto the Commode and plop down onto it. Two days later, still not back to baseline, but body temp has been normal since last night and am finally making it three steps to the toilet. And, just two days after the jab, I developed Covid arm! What I expected after second jab and what friends who had Covid experienced after their first was my experience.
I found this article. Is this something interesting ?
Latent gammaherpesvirus infection licenses age-associated B cells for pathogenicity during EAE and MS
The Journal of Immunology
https://www.jimmunol.org/content/204/1_Supplement/58.10