Thanks for all the useful feedback. After weighing all the comments: bottom line: I decided to go with the 15.
Okay, now seriously. There are at least a few of you who think that any vaccine recommended by the CDC is A-OK. That if there was a problem with a new vaccine taken by millions, we'd know about it after a year or so. I mean how could there be a problem with the Prevnar 20 since it seems there were no problems with the P-13?
One of Google's first site recommendations was very pro-vaccine (https://www.goodrx.com/prevnar-20/comparing-prevnar-20-with-pneumonia-vaccines). It discusses side effects which can be severe. Even when mild, they didn't sound like something I, in perfect health, want to spend a weekend with. It also says this:
"Serious side effects are rarely seen with Prevnar 13. Lower respiratory infection, gastroenteritis (stomach infection), and pneumonia are the most common ones. But they occurred in 1% or less of children who received Prevnar 13"
Hey only one out of a hundred or so see these serious side effects - at least in children, it doesn't even mention adults. But I'm not so sure I like those odds in light of the testing organizations' checkered pasts regarding such studies.
In talking health with a sixty year-old business associate last week, he told me that he was recently diagnosed with a rare blood disorder. An ex amateur athlete, it took doctors a while to figure out why he had an enlarged heart, and when they inserted something in it, he developed a blood clot. So now he's taking several medicines to thin his blood and he's not too happy with the results. And I'm guessing he'll NEVER be able to stop taking them. Of course, he took the Covid Vaccine (yes, I know, an mRNA vax).
It's been my experience that even the most popular prescription medications have minor side effects which make you feel just a little off kilter. How do multiple drugs interact in any given person? I think it's just a roll of the dice. The new Prev 20 has been out about a year or so, I guess. I think I'll roll my own dice, try to avoid compromising situations, and give the jury another year for a verdict on it.
Thanks for all the input. Will probably end up taking it next year. Depends on how sick I get this year. Looking forward to this year's new variation of Covid, one of which will come around every year for the rest of our lives. No post on health would be complete without thanking the NIH and Wuhan for their contributions.