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Asthma UK petition to get all asthmatics jab in next cohort

danny la rouge

danny la rouge

More like *fanny* la rouge!
action.asthma.org.uk

Help us make your voices heard

We need your help to urge all four governments to make sure the needs of everyone with asthma are taken seriously and they are prioritised in the next roll out of the vaccine. Sign Asthma UK's petition today and help make our voices heard.
action.asthma.org.uk action.asthma.org.uk

We need your help to urge all 4 governments to make sure the needs of everyone with asthma are taken seriously and everyone is vaccinated in the next roll out of the vaccine.
 
I thought some were and some weren’t, based on new evidence:

www.bmj.com

Covid-19: People with mild asthma won’t get early vaccination

People with mild asthma will not be included in the UK’s sixth priority group for covid-19 vaccination, it has emerged. Those left out of early vaccination plans include people with well controlled asthma who take regular inhaled steroids, such as budesonide, and who would normally receive a...
www.bmj.com www.bmj.com
 
The petition wants to change that so all are. Either sign or don’t. (It’s a petition: probably futile and the exact opposite of direct action).
 
Deleted. I posted too much personal information. I think I have to stay away from this thread.
 
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I have mild asthma (but very occasionally, like every few years, it is really NOT mild) - and I think like a lot of mild asthmatics I don't really manage it well and ignore it most of the time. If science says I'm not really any more at risk than anyone else I suppose I need to accept that - but the fact that I've spent a number of times in my life gasping for breath thinking I might die means I'm fucking terrified of Covid. I know what it's like to run out of breath already - so I'm hugely more risk-averse than most people I know. No way I'm going anywhere till I'm vaccinated - but at current rate the calculator says I should get it during May which is starting to get closer.
 
I don't know if anyone is familiar with epilepsy but for for most of this whole thing until recently "the science said" most people with epilepsy were not more at risk from coronavirus. Except that was obviously bollocks because fever is such a common trigger for seizures, and seizures, are, you know, really dangerous. I was really disappointed in charities that were supposed to be advocating for people I love parroting such a blatant lie rather than questioning it.

That experience leaves me suspicious of whatever's gone on with asthma here to be honest.

I think maybe people might intuitively push back against the idea of this petition because throughout the pandemic, often where the government have gotten away with doing something shit it's because we've all started fighting on special-interest grounds. imo the death knell for the furlough scheme was when self employed people fought for their income as a small group of people rather than in solidarity with the UC claimants they were getting lumped in with. Remember how lockdown was taken so much more seriously before people decided their particular job or industry was the most important? There's already been rumblings about who gets the vaccine first now we're thinking about re-opening things and I think people really don't want that which results in a high amount of tension with stuff like this.
 
muscovyduck said:
I don't know if anyone is familiar with epilepsy but for for most of this whole thing until recently "the science said" most people with epilepsy were not more at risk from coronavirus. Except that was obviously bollocks because fever is such a common trigger for seizures, and seizures, are, you know, really dangerous. I was really disappointed in charities that were supposed to be advocating for people I love parroting such a blatant lie rather than questioning it.

That experience leaves me suspicious of whatever's gone on with asthma here to be honest.

I think maybe people might intuitively push back against the idea of this petition because throughout the pandemic, often where the government have gotten away with doing something shit it's because we've all started fighting on special-interest grounds. imo the death knell for the furlough scheme was when self employed people fought for their income as a small group of people rather than in solidarity with the UC claimants they were getting lumped in with. Remember how lockdown was taken so much more seriously before people decided their particular job or industry was the most important? There's already been rumblings about who gets the vaccine first now we're thinking about re-opening things and I think people really don't want that which results in a high amount of tension with stuff like this.
Click to expand...

This is a really good post but I'm left wondering what the rational would be for not moving asthmatics up the list if their was evidence. I suppose you could argue the lack of evidence doesn't mean anything in itself beyond more study required. Maybe this is something that will become more important after they have worked through all the really high risk groups?

My g/f is asthmatic and relies on inhalers though she doesn't need them every day. She is also a scientist and has had a good look into it and couldn't find anything that bothered her, not so far anyway. Of course she was looking at this through the prism of being lower risk because of other factors (female, mid 30's etc).
 
I had asthma really badly when I was a kid, then from age 16 to 40ish it went away and I didn't take preventative inhaler (I don't think they'd developed them by then anyway). The asthma came back after that and the specialist told me that I should have been treating it anyway which was a reason it came back worse.

I can imagine a fair few people with 'mild' asthma also aren't taking brown (and similar) preventative inhalers so won't have that covid protection. With lung complications coming from covid & long covid I think not vaccinating 'mild' asthmatics is likely to store up severe problems for them (us) in later life.
 
yeah I'm tempted to just get a brown inhaler online (pretty sure you can do so without seing your GP, you certainly can with the blue) and start taking it to build my lungs up a bit (and possibly benefit from steroid protection). Just hate them though, the sore throat, the thrush, yuck.
 
I’m going to try to keep as objective as I can.

For many of us whose asthma isn’t mild, but who have various criteria that move us in and out of priority or concern, the situation has been very confused and confusing. Do you take beta-2 agonist, but have only been on one course of oral steroids in the last two years, not the three that now pushes you over the line, have you been clinically diagnosed to have “severe asthma” yet haven’t had a recent hospital admission that is clear cut caused by an asthma attack, but nevertheless is lung related? Early on we were told getting called up for flu jabs each year was a criterion, and now it isn’t. And on and on. For those of us who sit just on those lines the constant changing of goal posts has caused us more anxiety, not reduced it. It is the uncertainty more than anything that causes the suffering.

Now, I don’t want the vaccine ahead of someone who needs it before I do, but I’ve also read studies that asthma - not just asthma inside the redrawn lines - increases the chances of long Covid, increases the risk of hospital admission. And concerns that the studies they are currently using are at the cusp of statistical reliability.

I’m not young, I have had other illnesses, my asthma is not described at my reviews as “mild” or “under control”, but still I have been pushed out of the priority cohort I thought I was in. This is the problem, and frankly I don’t think Asthma UK have previously taken us all seriously enough. So I’m glad to see them finally doing something, no matter how lame.

That’s me taken a step back from the rawness of the post I had to delete. I hope people can understand. I don’t think I’m being an annoying “worried well”. I’ve fought for breath this year. It’s not a distant fear for me. And I feel ignored. So I feel fighting for all asthmatics is the right way, having sat on too many moving lines myself.
 
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lazythursday said:
yeah I'm tempted to just get a brown inhaler online (pretty sure you can do so without seing your GP, you certainly can with the blue) and start taking it to build my lungs up a bit (and possibly benefit from steroid protection). Just hate them though, the sore throat, the thrush, yuck.
Click to expand...
I had brown inhaler and it did nothing at all for me, I was quite indignant at the time that I'd be prescribed something so useless :( then I had seretide which was brilliant but then tried fostair which is as good as seretide. Then I found out that fostair has the same preventative as brown inhaler :oops:

It's a bit complicated because the brown inhaler steroid that was announced is slightly different from the steroid that was in my brown/fostair inhalers but I was reassured by someone on urban that they're similar.

I've not had throat problems but actually read the inhaler instructions again and they recommend cleaning teeth after having had inhaler and I'm doing that now, wonder if that might help. The only real problems I've had were with the powder seretide inhaler - I lay down at night and felt like I was choking - moved to the gas inhaler and it was fine.

All of mine are on prescription, didn't think you could buy online (uk anyway).
 
two sheds said:
I had brown inhaler and it did nothing at all for me, I was quite indignant at the time that I'd be prescribed something so useless :( then I had seretide which was brilliant but then tried fostair which is as good as seretide. Then I found out that fostair has the same preventative as brown inhaler :oops:

It's a bit complicated because the brown inhaler steroid that was announced is slightly different from the steroid that was in my brown/fostair inhalers but I was reassured by someone on urban that they're similar.

I've not had throat problems but actually read the inhaler instructions again and they recommend cleaning teeth after having had inhaler and I'm doing that now, wonder if that might help. The only real problems I've had were with the powder seretide inhaler - I lay down at night and felt like I was choking - moved to the gas inhaler and it was fine.

All of mine are on prescription, didn't think you could buy online (uk anyway).
Click to expand...
You can get them online, you just fill in a form that counts as a private GP consultation. With the blue inhaler it works out hardly any more than getting it via the NHS. These look pricer though - seretide £30, fostair a whopping £85 on the first sites I looked at.
 
Aside: I've had a lot of success removing gluten from my diet. I still use the brown inhaler as wheat is in sooo many things the more you exclude it the worse eating bread can make asthma. Ate a pizza for lunch, cycled home, and nearly couldn't go up the stairs.

But I was cycling to work in the cold for weeks without using any medication. This has never happened in my life. I was totally skeptical till this happened. Gluten removal has so many 'benefits' it comes across as snake oil. But anyone can not eat something for a month or two, see what happens. The body is a complex thing we really don't fully understand.

I do miss bread.

1614086791623.png
 
Sunray said:
Aside: I've had a lot of success removing gluten from my diet. I still use the brown inhaler as wheat is in sooo many things the more you exclude it the worse eating bread can make asthma. Ate a pizza for lunch, cycled home, and nearly couldn't go up the stairs.

But I was cycling to work in the cold for weeks without using any medication. This has never happened in my life. I was totally skeptical till this happened. Gluten removal has so many 'benefits' it comes across as snake oil. But anyone can not eat something for a month or two, see what happens. The body is a complex thing we really don't fully understand.

I do miss bread.

View attachment 255768
Click to expand...
Interesting - I also stopped eating gluten, maybe about six or seven years ago now, for IBS reasons rather than asthma, and noticed all sorts of additional unexpected health benefits - and actually, though I haven't thought about it until now, I'd say my asthma has been much improved since then. The only time when I've had a bad episode it has been entirely my own fault.
 
danny la rouge said:
I’m going to try to keep as objective as I can.

For many of us whose asthma isn’t mild, but who have various criteria that move us in and out of priority or concern, the situation has been very confused and confusing. Do you take beta-2 agonist, but have only been on one course of oral steroids in the last two years, not the three that now pushes you over the line, have you been clinically diagnosed to have “severe asthma” yet haven’t had a recent hospital admission that is clear cut caused by an asthma attack, but nevertheless is lung related? Early on we were told getting called up for flu jabs each year was a criterion, and now it isn’t. And on and on. For those of us who sit just on those lines the constant changing of goal posts has caused us more anxiety, not reduced it. It is the uncertainty more than anything that causes the suffering.

Now, I don’t want the vaccine ahead of someone who needs it before I do, but I’ve also read studies that asthma - not just asthma inside the redrawn lines - increases the chances of long Covid, increases the risk of hospital admission. And concerns that the studies they are currently using are at the cusp of statistical reliability.

I’m not young, I have had other illnesses, my asthma is not described at my reviews as “mild” or “under control”, but still I have been pushed out of the priority cohort I thought I was in. This is the problem, and frankly I don’t think Asthma UK have previously taken us all seriously enough. So I’m glad to see them finally doing something, no matter how lame.

That’s me taken a step back from the rawness of the post I had to delete. I hope people can understand. I don’t think I’m being an annoying “worried well”. I’ve fought for breath this year. It’s not a distant fear for me. And I feel ignored. So I feel fighting for all asthmatics is the right way, having sat on too many moving lines myself.
Click to expand...

I hear you, danny la rouge . I expected to be in Group 6, given I have moderate to severe asthma depending on the day, and take 4 puffs a day of a fairly hefty long-acting beta-2 andrenoceptor agonist, and every slight cold results in prednisolone, additional inhalers at best, pneumonia or pleurisy at worst. I'm ashamed to admit I've been quite angry and jealous to see that people in their 30s who just have 1 ventolin a year for when they're playing 5-a-side being called up because they're on an 'asthma list' at their practice, or everyone on a 'flu list' getting one, whilst here I am in my late 50s, scared to death to leave the house since March 14th, and my husband having to give up work on the same date because we wouldn't have been able to isolate from each other in our tiny house.

I'm assuming I'm going to be in group 8 now, and really I am thankful for every single person that gets the vaccine, but it is difficult to be patient some days. Asthma UK were caught out by the government's volte-face and are now trying to get more info, but in truth, it's a postcode lottery, and entirely at the whim of local trusts (at least in England). Hang on in there. If they stick to their promises, we'll all get one. Who knows, we might even get a better one :p if it's far enough in the future.
 
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The vaccine rollout seems me to be the one thing that is actually being done right, pick a few significant criteria and plough through the at-risk population as fast as possible. But muscovyduck makes an excellent point. Once you get one group clamouring (and especially if they get it) for special treatment then you will get others doing the same. We don't really want to end up the position where the primary criteria for getting the vaccine first is whoever can shout the loudest.
 
Not sure, wouldn't have thought so. Can you not register in the area of <your new flat :)> and say you're <about to move to the area :)> and can you register and enter the queue for the vaccine? They might want doctor's appointment by phone?
 
I had my jab a month ago but it was my cancer wot did it not the mild asthma. My son, perfectly healthy, had his jab yesterday. My daughter, a few years older and mild asthma has not been called yet. They live at the same postcode. How does that work.
Often you will hear one scientist saying one thing then another scientist saying something completely different, so I've tended not to listen to it. I have just been exceptionally careful.
 
moose said:
I hear you, danny la rouge . I expected to be in Group 6, given I have moderate to severe asthma depending on the day, and take 4 puffs a day of a fairly hefty long-acting beta-2 andrenoceptor agonist, and every slight cold results in prednisolone, additional inhalers at best, pneumonia or pleurisy at worst. I'm ashamed to admit I've been quite angry and jealous to see that people in their 30s who just have 1 ventolin a year for when they're playing 5-a-side being called up because they're on an 'asthma list' at their practice, or everyone on a 'flu list' getting one, whilst here I am in my late 50s, scared to death to leave the house since March 14th, and my husband having to give up work on the same date because we wouldn't have been able to isolate from each other in our tiny house.

I'm assuming I'm going to be in group 8 now, and really I am thankful for every single person that gets the vaccine, but it is difficult to be patient some days. Asthma UK were caught out by the government's volte-face and are now trying to get more info, but in truth, it's a postcode lottery, and entirely at the whim of local trusts (at least in England). Hang on in there. If they stick to their promises, we'll all get one. Who knows, we might even get a better one :p if it's far enough in the future.
Click to expand...

They are into the over 50’s now so you should have had yours or it will be soon. Depends where you live to some degree. They are probably still doing the over 80’s in Littlehampton.
 
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