These FAQs should help to answer queries around the COVID-19 vaccine and vaccination programme at the Trust. Please also remember that you can always ask questions during your vaccination appointment.
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The UK’s independent regulator, the MHRA, is monitoring reports of an extremely rare blood clotting problem affecting a small number of people who have had the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine. The problem can also happen in people who have not been vaccinated and it’s not yet clear why it affects some people.
Both the MHRA and Joint Committee for Vaccinations and Immunisations (JCVI) have emphasised that the risk is extremely small – just over 10 people in every million have developed this condition – and that the benefits of the vaccine outweigh the risks for the vast majority of people.
If you are aged 40 or over or have a health condition that puts you at greater risk from COVID-19, you should still have whichever vaccine is offered to you. The benefits of the vaccine in preventing you becoming seriously ill or dying from COVID-19 outweigh any risk of clotting problems.
For people under 40 without any health conditions, the JCVI has advised that it’s preferable to have alternative COVID-19 vaccine where available and where this will not cause delays to people having the vaccine. This is a precautionary measure, which takes into account that this rare condition is seen more often in younger people and that the risks from COVID-19 decrease with age.
Please read the leaflet that has been produced by Public Health England and the NHS to answer any questions you may have.
If you’re a frontline worker in the NHS, you are more likely to be exposed to COVID-19 at work.
Getting your COVID-19 vaccination as soon as you can, should protect you and may help to protect your family and those you may care for. The COVID-19 vaccine should help reduce the rates of serious illness and save lives and will therefore reduce pressure on the NHS and social care services.
Both vaccines have been shown to be highly effective at stopping people from becoming seriously ill from COVID-19.
Like all medicines, no vaccine is completely effective – some people may still get COVID-19 despite having a vaccination, but the symptoms should be a lot less severe.
Having the vaccine prevents you becoming seriously ill from Covid-19 but you may still be able to spread it to others so it is very important to keep following the guidance – in particular, wearing a mask, washing your hands and keeping two metres apart.
Both vaccines have been shown to be safe and highly effective. No trials have been carried out to compare the vaccines: the important thing is that they will both protect you from becoming seriously ill from COVID-19.
Protection starts around seven days after your first dose. To get the maximum amount of protection, people need to have their second dose. Full protection takes effect around a week or two after the second dose.
Both vaccines require two doses to give the maximum amount of protection. The latest advice is that the second dose is given 10-12 weeks after your first dose of the vaccine.
Like all vaccines, the Covid-19 vaccines teach your body to fight the virus.
The vaccines work by making a protein from the virus that is important for creating protection. The protein stimulates the immune system to make antibodies and cells to fight the infection.
The components of the vaccine leave the body within a few days. The vaccines will not alter your DNA or genetic material.
Yes. The COVID-19 vaccines approved for use in the UK have met strict standards of safety and effectiveness.
They have been approved by an independent body (The Medicines & Healthcare products Regulatory Agency), which follows international standards of safety, and have gone through all the same clinical trials and safety checks that all other licensed medicines have to complete before they can be used.
The vaccines have been thoroughly tested and no safety concerns were seen in studies of more than 20,000 people of different ages and ethnic backgrounds. As of 10 February, more than 13 million people have had a COVID-19 vaccine in the UK and reports of serious side effects, such as allergic reactions, have been very rare. No long-term complications have been reported.
There is no evidence currently that the new strains will be resistant to the vaccines we have,
so we are continuing to vaccinate people as normal. Scientists are looking now in detail at
the characteristics of the virus in relation to the vaccines. Viruses, such as the winter flu
virus, often branch into different strains but these small variations rarely render vaccines
ineffective.
The main reason that the vaccines were developed so quickly is that finding a vaccine for Covid-19 was a worldwide priority. Funding was made available very quickly and scientists across the world have worked together to develop the vaccines, which has meant they were able to complete years of work in months.
Similarly, thousands of people across the world volunteered to take part in the clinical trials, whereas it usually takes a long time to find enough volunteers for a vaccine trial.
The other factor was that all the different bodies involved in checking the safety of the vaccines worked together so this could happen as quickly as possible and sped up the administrative processes, which can often take several years. For example, usually the different phases of the clinical trials take place one after another but for the covid-19 vaccine, some of them ran at the same time to speed up the process.