Vaccine reasonable adjustments

Reasonable adjustments are small changes that can help people with a learning disability be treated equally.

You can find out about reasonable adjustments on our reasonable adjustments webpage.

If you are going for a vaccine appointment, here are some extra reasonable adjustments that you might want to ask for.

If you find waiting for your appointment hard, ask if they can make sure you do not have to wait, or if you can wait somewhere else.

If you find it hard to wait in a busy or noisy area, ask if they have a quieter room you can wait in before and after the vaccine.

You could also bring some headphones with you, to cancel out the noise or to listen to music.

You may want to ask if you can have your vaccine at a time of day when there will be less people around, and it will be quieter.

You might want to bring something with you that makes you feel relaxed. For example a stress ball.

Let the nurse know if you do not like needles, or if you are afraid of them. This is sometimes called needle phobia.

The nurse might have some ideas on how to make you feel more relaxed.

For people who are very scared of needles, you may be able to have the flu vaccine as a nose spray. 

The COVID-19 (Coronavirus) vaccine and pneumonia (Pneumococcal) vaccine can only be given as injections.

If you don’t want to feel the needle, ask if the nurse can put some numbing cream on your arm.

If you are afraid of needles, ask them to hide the needle when you come in so you don’t see it.

Or you could ask if they could put a screen around your arm so you don’t see the needle.

You might find it helpful to play a game or listen to some music on an iPad or mobile phone to help distract you.