Vaccines currently approved in the UK At present, there are three Covid-19 vaccines approved for use in the UK: Pfizer/BioNTech Oxford/AstraZeneca Moderna How do these vaccines work? Messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines: Both the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna vaccines are mRNA vaccines. These vaccines give our body the instructions to make the ‘spike protein’, which is a harmless piece found on the surface of …
Ataxia UK has recently been made aware that some people with ataxia are not being ‘flagged up’ on their GP’s systems as being in the appropriate priority group for the Covid-19 vaccine. Our Medical Advisory Panel strongly advise people with ataxia to have the vaccine when it is offered to them. Priority Group 4 should include the following: Over 70 years of age with ataxia Ataxia with …
Friday 5 February 2021 Paola Giunti has confirmed that patients from the London Ataxia Centre are being called by text for vaccination by UCLH. If you receive this text and take up the invitation, you will receive the Pfizer vaccine.
With the availability of the vaccines in the UK, Ataxia UK has had a number of enquiries from people with ataxia about it. We, therefore, discussed this with our Medical Advisory Panel who said they would strongly advise people with ataxia to have the vaccine, when it is offered to them. Prof Giunti and Suzanne …
The NHS guidance states anyone with a chronic neurological condition should be offered the flu vaccine for free. The guidance indicates that your GP should assess to take into account the risk of flu making any underlying illness worse, as well as risk of serious illness from flu itself. Any infection makes ataxia worse, therefore most GP’s …
The Government guidance on meeting up with others changed from 4 July. You can find it here. However it still does not permit people from more than two households to meet up indoors. Consequently, Ataxia UK’s advice is that Branches and Support Groups should not meet face to face at this time. The Government has …
Now that is what I call Lockdown Ataxia UK have created weekly activity sessions you can access from the comfort of your own home. These sessions will be held every Friday from 1pm-2pm, so you can even participate in your lunch break if working from home. The sessions will be based on a separate theme …
Registering as extremely vulnerable to qualify for extra support Many people with underlying health conditions have already received notifications to advise staying inside for 12 weeks to self-isolate. You can find a list of different conditions that class as ‘extremely vulnerable’ here. If you were expecting to be included in this, and are not, you …
This guidance is based on information from the lead neurologists at the London UCL/UCLH and Sheffield Ataxia Centres. We are monitoring the situation and will update our guidance accordingly. Covid-19 is a new virus and there is much that we do not know/understand about it, however we do know that people with ataxia can experience …
Mental health and wellbeing Talking to children about illness NHS Living Life is a free and confidential telephone counselling service based on a Cognitive Behavioural Therapy approach. The service is available to anyone over the age of 16 suffering low mood, mild to moderate depression and/or anxiety. The service can be accessed by referral from a …
