Light at the End of the Tunnel?

The gaps between posts are getting gradually longer and I have little excuse as I've been at home since March save for a brief, COVID-secure, sojourn to Dorset (UK, South Coast) in September. Fortunately my day-job  is intact for the moment and I've avoided COVID (except possibly last Easter - see previous post). So now in the UK we are fortunate to have a vaccine roll-out in progress although who gets which vaccine and when is hard to predict. Broadly speaking, the elderly and those who look after them in a care-setting are high up the list. I haven't been contacted to get a jab yet - the so-called "clinically extremely vulnerable" are in the fourth priority group of nine in recent advice which I notice has just been withdrawn. (In case there is any doubt, yes I will be getting the vaccine at the earliest opportunity.)

Hot off the press is some updated advice to the UK government on vaccine priorities. The full document is here: advice on priority groups for COVID-19 vaccination, 30 December 2020. Some interesting extracts for "clinically extremely vulnerable" people  i.e. including CLIPPERS patients being treated with steroids and/or steroid-sparing immunosuppressants include:

"the overall risk of mortality for clinically extremely vulnerable younger adults is estimated to be roughly the same as the risk to persons aged 70 to 74 years"

 "Many individuals who are clinically extremely vulnerable will have some degree of immunosuppression or be immunocompromised and may not respond as well to the vaccine. Therefore, those who are clinically extremely vulnerable should continue to follow government advice on reducing their risk of infection."

 "Consideration has been given to vaccination of household contacts of immunosuppressed individuals ..." (but until evidence is accrued ) "... the committee is not in a position to advise vaccination solely on the basis of indirect protection."

"Once sufficient evidence becomes available the committee will consider options for a cocooning strategy for immunosuppressed individuals, including whether any specific vaccine is preferred in this population."

So it sounds like the case for vaccinating immuno-suppressed people early is being strengthened and they are considering whether to also vaccinate other members of those households if there is evidence that the vaccines also reduce transmission. They also don't know which vaccine if any is a better fit for vulnerable groups. So no magic bullets yet and of course the UK government does not have a brilliant record for "following the science" whatever they may say publicly. Fingers-crossed for 2021.

Read other articles in this series at Living With CLIPPERS.


Living With CLIPPERS by Bill Crum is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Life in Lockdown

The daily "commute"

The UK is emerging from coronavirus lockdown - too soon? - and as one of the "clinically highly vulnerable" due to immunosuppression I have been advised (the UK government *advises* the vulnerable rather than instructing them) not to even leave the house for the last 3 months. Having carried out my own risk assessment I decided that it was better for my sanity and physical well-being to take a daily walk around the nearby park and field. Some days a bit of planning is required to avoid dog-walkers but going before work (I'm working at home) means there's very few folk about. So far so good and a world away from my usual two-train journey into and across London. Whether I ever go back to that commute is a discussion for another day, but work are currently saying we shouldn't expect to be back in the office this side of Christmas - I won't argue with that.

The future is a bit less certain for us "shielders" as we continue to be at risk with the virus in circulation. The big question is how much risk? I may be classed as vulnerable but I am not unwell or unfit so who knows how I would deal with COVID? An effective vaccine may be the only way to get some certainty while the virus is still around. There are many teams working on different kinds of vaccines including a trial currently in it's early stages at Imperial College in London. Vaccines which rely on live virus (not the IC one) may not be suitable for people like me despite their likelihood of  being most effective. For the time being it's a case of keeping my head down until the picture is clearer.

Like many others in the UK I've had a couple of bad viruses this year already. One was cold-like and knocked me out for two weeks plus at Christmas. I had another around Easter - not sure how I caught that! - which was more sore-throat and cough. No temperature on either occasion but had some episodes of breathlessness including one particular evening at Easter where my heart was pounding and I couldn't get to the kitchen and back without panting. Were either of those COVID - I've no idea but they weren't classic symptoms and I wasn't tested. When they get the antibody tests sorted out I will try and get tested just to see .... in any case it currently isn't known whether a positive antibody response guarantees resistance. We continue to live in interesting times. Stay safe!

Read other articles in this series at Living With CLIPPERS.


Living With CLIPPERS by Bill Crum is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.