Don’t miss out on getting your jab
If you haven’t had your Covid vaccine yet, there’s still time. We talk to people who were worried about the jab – and find out why they changed their minds
Every adult in the country now needs to get a Covid-19 booster vaccine, because two doses does not give you enough protection against catching Omicron.
But don’t worry: if you haven’t had your first dose of the vaccine, it’s not too late to get it. It’s important that you have both jabs as well as the booster, because over time, the protection wanes.
It takes minutes to get your Covid-19 booster, but it can take much longer to recover from a Covid-19 infection – an estimated 1.3 million people are experiencing self-reported long Covid. Shortly after having the booster, though, you’re at least 85% less likely to end up in hospital than if you are unvaccinated.
Covid-19 remains highly infectious, so it’s more vital than ever for you to get vaccinated – and book your booster on the nhs.uk/ covidvaccination website or find a local walk-in centre. Don’t take the risk. Get boosted now.
“I was worried about the effects on the baby, but I decided to have the vaccine”
Rhian Thompson, 32, from Hertfordshire was initially hesitant about getting the jab when she was pregnant last year, but changed her mind after doing careful research
“By the time it was my turn to get the vaccine I was pregnant with Finley, who’s now four months old. I felt quite nervous because I didn’t understand how scientists would know its impact on a foetus when it couldn’t possibly have been tested on someone pregnant through to having given birth because of the timelines.
“It was April and the world didn’t feel particularly scary then. We were coming into the summer and I felt quite confident that I could probably avoid situations and people. My daughter, Evie, 3, wasn’t in nursery. I work from home running my childrenswear business, Bibevie, and
I could meet people outside. So I thought I could manage my risk until October, when my second baby was due. “I came across information from Pregnant Then Screwed and they had an immunologist who specialises in pregnancy, Dr Victoria Male, who gave such clear advice. “That gave me the confidence to go for it and I went to have my first vaccine in July. I was due to have my second in October, but coincidentally I went into early labour on that day. “Although I was only singlejabbed when I gave birth, I’ve now had two vaccines and a booster. I caught Covid in December and I wouldn’t really have known I’d had it if it hadn’t come up on a lateral flow test. I was breastfeeding Finley and he didn’t catch it – and
“I was concerned about my fertility”
When a friend questioned the safety of the vaccine, Marianna Michael, 28, from Enfield, north London, began to wonder if it would affect her fertility
“I booked in to have my vaccine and mentioned it to a friend on the phone.
She said, ‘Have you looked into it?’ Then she hit me with: ‘How do you know it won’t make you infertile?’ She said she’d heard there could be an issue.
“A small alarm bell rang in my head. I know I’ve always wanted at least one child by 35. For a few days that thought was in my mind. I know how much misinformation there is online so I was careful about what I read.
“Then I began to think how I’d lost my gran during Covid – I couldn’t see her or go to the funeral – and I’d lost a good job at the theatre because of lockdown. That was potentially a lot more important than what I could do in the future.
“So I decided that I’d take every moment as it comes and trust science and have the vaccine. There’s no evidence that it affects fertility. I’ve now had three jabs. And if I find I can’t have children in the future, I won’t blame the vaccine.”