Letter template from The ME Association for people with M.E. so they can contact their GP regarding vaccine priority if they are wanting to be vaccinated.
Dear XXXXX,
I am writing to ascertain if, due to having ME/CFS, I have been added to the ‘group 6’ list for Covid vaccinations
The ME Association have advised people with ME/CFS to check this with their GP surgeries, as not all GP surgeries have been adding people with ME/CFS to group 6 of the JCVI priority list.
They have also provided the following background information for health professionals and have confirmed that people with ME/CFS are reporting that they have been placed in group 6 as a result of receiving this information.
1 People with a chronic neurological disease are listed as having an underlying health condition in group 6 in the JCVI guidance. See page 9 in Chapter 14a of the ‘green Book’ guidance on Covid vaccine:
Click to access Greenbook_chapter_14a_v6.pdf
2 Both the World Health Organisation (in ICD10 section G93.3) and NHS England classify ME/CFS as a neurological disease:
3 Even though ME/CFS is not included as a specific disease in the ‘green book’ list of neurological conditions, the guidance makes it clear that the list is not exhaustive
4 The ‘green book’ guidance (page 10) states that:
The examples above are not exhaustive, and, within these groups, the prescriber should apply clinical judgment to take into account the risk of COVID-19 exacerbating any underlying disease that a patient may have, as well as the risk of serious illness from COVID-19 itself.
5 New infections are probably the commonest cause of exacerbation or relapse of ME/CFS – as noted in section 3.3.2 of the Chief Medical Officer’s Working Group Report on ME/CFS
Click to access CMO-Report-2002.pdf
and in section 1.6.4 of the new (draft) NICE guideline on ME/CFS:
https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/gid-ng10091/documents/draft-guideline
6 Patient evidence to the MEA also indicates that almost everyone with ME/CFS who has caught COVID-19 has had a significant and/or prolonged relapse of their ME/CFS.
I would therefore be very grateful if you could confirm that I have been added to the Group 6 list.
To ensure that I can be contacted as soon as I am eligible, please add my mobile number to my file to be contacted by this, if not already saved there.
Thank you very much in advance for your time and indeed for everything you and your other NHS colleagues are doing during this pandemic.
Kind regards,
XXX Full name
XXX Full address
XXX Mobile number
XXX Date of birth
Dr Charles Shepherd
Hon Medical Adviser, MEA
6 February 2021
M.E. myself and I 
Thank you! 🙌🏼
I’ve been researching this all through January and nothing was really available. Just seen your heads-up via Insta. Perfect. I’m actually terrified of contacting my gp as they are not very sympathetic but with the formal letter I will now be brave enough.
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