Cancer Australia FAQs COVID-19 Vaccine

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Comments

  • June1952
    June1952 Member Posts: 1,931
    Friends overseas are having their 3rd booster shot but that may be due to going into their colder months.  Guessing we may be offered another next autumn but probably no longer free to all as it has been.
    Agree, it is a worry that people do not have to isolate - more reason to wear our masks to protect ourselves as much as possible.
  • iserbrown
    iserbrown Member Posts: 5,692
    Yesterday we toured two aged care facilities.   There's no interest in if we are vaccinated and how many we've had.  It's all about a negative RAT test
  • June1952
    June1952 Member Posts: 1,931
    Hi @iserbrown.  We have BIL in a Ballarat facility.  Initially we had to provide all the vaccination proof but now I think they go by the RAT test done as one enters, along with the lengthy form which has to be completed.  Also, visits have to be in private rooms, not in shared areas.
  • Ellamary98
    Ellamary98 Member Posts: 158
    My GP has suggested I can have a 5th shot, as this would really be my 2nd booster ( given the 3rd shot was considered part of the initial regime for cancer patients). However, my oncologist thinks I don’t need it, even though my last booster was in April. I had a rough 36 hours after each booster, and he thinks I should avoid it. I have not had covid yet, despite living with 5 young adults and teens, but as I’m currently on chemo, I must admit I am concerned with the new health advice!
  • arpie
    arpie Member Posts: 8,010
    edited October 2022
    It is a real worry, isn't it @Ellamary98?  I was quite anal about keeping my husband away from anyone who could possibly pass it to him (he was Stage 4) .... he had one bad reaction to the 4th shot ....

    I am not really sure they've thought this fully thru with the elderly and those who are ill/on chemo etc ... THEY are the ones who will pay for this decision. :( 

    We get RAT tested going into Nursing Homes .... 

    take care xx
  • Afraser
    Afraser Member Posts: 4,419
    The new ‘health advice’ turns commonsense on its head. Pushed by Perrottet, those with the virus are now free to act as they choose, those who want to avoid the virus are those in masks, missing out on normal activities and often most at risk. Personal responsibility? More like no responsibility at all. 
  • iserbrown
    iserbrown Member Posts: 5,692
    Not sure if any are aware of this.

    My youngest sister is now Stage 4.  She also is under an Immunologist and he wants her to have these injections however the Stage 4 diagnosis is in planning stage as to appropriate treatment so her Oncologist has suggested she wait

    https://www.tga.gov.au/tga-provisionally-approves-astrazenecas-combination-therapy-tixagevimab-and-cilgavimab-evusheld-pre-exposure-prevention-prophylaxis-covid-19


  • Mez_BCNA
    Mez_BCNA Administrator, Staff, Member, Moderator Posts: 1,069
    Hi all,

    The My Journey articles related to COVID-19 have been recently updated. The updated info includes:
    • Information about second
      (winter) boosters
    • Current surge in Covid
      cases in Australia, with the emphasis on keeping up to date with
      vaccinations and self-protection
    • Updated links for
      accessing vaccinations
    • Changes to financial
      support
    • Long COVID

    COVID-19 information

    COVID-19 Vaccinations 

  • Mez_BCNA
    Mez_BCNA Administrator, Staff, Member, Moderator Posts: 1,069
    Hi everyone,

    There are three COVID-19 related articles that have been recently updated in My Journey, reflecting the government announcement regarding access to another booster from 20 Feb 2023. Please see below:

    COVID-19 Information

    COVID-19 vaccinations

    COVID-19 oral antiviral treatments


  • AllyJay
    AllyJay Member Posts: 957
    For myself, unfortunately, these generic categories of advice regarding boosters is not so cut and dried. According to ATAGI, I should not have the Astra Zeneca one as I have antiphospholipid antigen syndrome...one of the few exceptions when everybody was trying to get the Pfizer one a year or two ago. The advice from them also states that anybody who has had pericarditis shouldn't have the Pfizer one. My doctor tossed up the pros and cons of each at the time, and the Pfizer was decided to be the lesser of two evils as each were contra indicated for two different reasons. The first jab was okay...just a slight temperature and headache. The second one gave me pericarditis (which I'd had before) as well as a deep purple petechial rash on my lower legs. The third one almost had me in hospital with, again, pericarditis and a worse petechial rash than the previous one. I ended up getting covid in August last year, after having three vaccinations altogether, and had thenstarted taking the antiviral medication for a full 24 hours before I ended up in ICU in any event with my blood pressure crashing to 58/ 34. I'm too scared to take any further boosters in the light of my previous severe, and worsening side effects with each dose. I'm also very worried about getting it again but it seems I'm damned if I do and damned if I don't. My doctor admitted to me that he's also very conflicted as I don't fit neatly in any particular box. He tried to speak to one of the panel at ATAGI, but was told that personal or one off advise was not their policy to partake in.
  • Afraser
    Afraser Member Posts: 4,419
    Moderna? Or Novovax? 
  • AllyJay
    AllyJay Member Posts: 957
    The Moderna has apparently a higher risk for the pericarditis and the same for the Novovax...both have had reported cases of either pericarditis or myocarditis and I have had at least three (that I know of...possibly more in the past that I just thought was a sore chest) episodes of pericarditis, with subsequent thickening of the pericardial sac, so I really don't want another session of it. A real conundrum...
  • Keeping_positive1
    Keeping_positive1 Member Posts: 555
    edited February 2023
    @Allyjay I have had 3 shots, and my GP is not suggesting I have any more for similar reasons you mention.  I agree with you. 

    I see it that are we not robots, and it isn't one size fits all in regards to the value of the vaccine!
  • AllyJay
    AllyJay Member Posts: 957
    @Keeping_positive1, I'm not at all against vaccinations on the basis of any kind of principle, but that just in my case (and I'm sure others too), what is available is very risky for me. Balanced against that is the risk of getting it again and perhaps that being the endgame for me. The pericarditis problem has been highlighted for a far younger cohort of men in particular, but unfortunately for me, even although I'm neither male, nor in my 20-40s, but am a 64 year old female, I have a significant risk. I'm by no means anti vax, but I just wish there was a safer one available for me and others in my situation.
  • Keeping_positive1
    Keeping_positive1 Member Posts: 555
    @Allyjay I am not anti vax also, so I totally understand your predicament, and I also would like a safer one that doesn't cause the side effects I experienced.  I happily have the flu vaccine each year and have never had a problem with that vaccine.  Not everybody can safely take this covid vaccine that is for sure.