Carers vaccination

Katykat · 5 February 2021 at 11:03PM

I’m lucky enough to have had my first vaccine as I’m CEV. My daughter gets Carers allowance for looking after me. Apparently, she should be in group 6 ( it says unpaid Carers, is that the same as Carers who get Carers allowance?) But how does the government know she’s in that group? Are we supposed to inform someone?

poppy12345 · 6 February 2021 at 1:05AM

I'm my daughters carer and without me she won't be able to get through a day on her own, she has a learning disability and Autism. Her GP rang me about 2 weeks ago and i mentioned my concerns about this to her and she agreed with me. She told me that she would find out and let me know. Less than an hour later she text me and told me it would be between mid feb and early March for me in my area and i would be contacted. It's not the Government that contacts people, it's the NHS. Speak to your GP.

Katykat · 6 February 2021 at 9:21AM

poppy12345 said:

It's not the Government that contacts people, it's the NHS. Speak to your GP.

I rang my surgery ( didn’t get past the receptionist- perhaps I should be more assertive!). She told me she had no information about it & advised my daughter to contact her own GP. I told her that my daughters surgery was the same. She just said “ sorry, I can’t help”. We are being told not to contact surgeries with vaccine enquiries but I’m not sure what else to do. Maybe I should ring DWP Carers dept to ask if Carers are automatically put in group 6.

poppy12345 · 6 February 2021 at 9:25AM

To be honest the GP i spoke to didn't know the answer either and she had to contact someone else. DWP will not know the answer to that question, that's not what they are there for.

silvercar · 6 February 2021 at 10:20AM

(England)
Your GP should make a note that you are an unpaid carer, that should put you in group 6 on the list. You should be supplying your GP with enough information to verify this, easy if you and the person you care for are registered at the same surgery, more difficult if not, but doable.
For anyone over 65, it makes no difference as that age group is group 6 or above. Same for anyone with health conditions that put you into group 6. So it is only worth pursuing if you would otherwise be in a lower group.
GPs are going to have to verify this information, as pushing anyone up a group or more has a knock on effect on people lower down the list, who are statistically more likely to become ill from covid etc

Snakes_Belly · 6 February 2021 at 2:52PM

All I can say to your question is that myself and a friend who were the primary carers for relatives received flu vaccines each year.

There are two issues here. If you fall ill you will not be able to care for your relative and/or you could pass the virus on to a very vulnerable person.

silvercar · 6 February 2021 at 4:38PM

Snakes_Belly said:

All I can say to your question is that myself and a friend who were the primary carers for relatives received flu vaccines each year.

There are two issues here. If you fall ill you will not be able to care for your relative and/or you could pass the virus on to a very vulnerable person.

Flu vaccines are different, there is an organised system in place already, supply meets demand and there isn’t an urgency to get everyone done as soon as possible.
For your two issues, the second shouldn’t be a great problem as the vulnerable person would have been vaccinated, so at far lower risk of contracting covid or becoming seriously ill with it. For your first issue, it’s a valid point but that would apply if you became ill from anything not just covid, and by prioritising you over someone higher up the list, you are putting someone else in the position of risking becoming seriously ill/ hospitalised or even dying. The government acknowledges your situation by moving you up to category 6.

Lad · 7 February 2021 at 2:04PM

Katykat said:

I’m lucky enough to have had my first vaccine as I’m CEV. My daughter gets Carers allowance for looking after me. Apparently, she should be in group 6 ( it says unpaid Carers, is that the same as Carers who get Carers allowance?) But how does the government know she’s in that group? Are we supposed to inform someone?

I'm a carer to my parents and when I asked this same question to the nurse that administered the vaccination to them, she said that I need to contact my GP so that it is in their notes. I did this and a week later had confirmation from my GP that it was done and I will be in category 6. We're at the same surgery and our GP knows I'm a carer so probably made it easy to update the records. Just for clarity, I asked the receptionist to arrange for my notes to be updated and I didn't speak directly to my GP. It wasn't done there and then as I got the confirmation from the practice a week later.

Snakes_Belly · 8 February 2021 at 6:09AM

I don't think that people realise how difficult it is for a carer. I am no longer in that position but I can empathise because you have to stay healthy otherwise the person you care for will have to go into a home and at the moment that would be horrendous.

GHolmesAdmin · 8 February 2021 at 12:47PM

No body can possibly imagine what it is like minute to minute to be an unpaid sole carer, especially if your parent (or whoever) has dementia. We were all locked down long before covid.

Vegastare · 8 February 2021 at 1:24PM

I am glad to have found this....I have just advised my brother in law who is carer for Mum to write directly to his GP - he was told nearly 10 days ago to speak with GP practice as advised when he took Mum for vaccine that he should be in group 6. has got no where with the GP practice. Despite referring them to Covid website etc. It is indeed hard to imagine the concerns when looking after anyone.