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COVID-19 vaccine discussion


Texas Jeff

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7 hours ago, South Austin said:

If the new boosters kick my ass like the O.G. vaccine did (shot No. 1 wasn't bad at all, but Shot Nos. 2 and 3 gave me flu-like symptoms for about a day and a half), then fuck that.  I'm not feeling like that multiple times a year if this virus has truly evolved to something like a bad cold.  I was a champion for vaccines in 2021.  This year, I don't fault folks who keep getting the shots, especially those who are elderly or have other significant risk factors.  But I'll continue to sit on the sidelines for a while longer while the new vaccines roll out.

I'm supposed to wait 3 months from my July infection, but I'll go get the stick of the now-available, updated shot next month.  Even if it puts me down for a day, that's better than the fairly tame infection that messed with my 4th of July and kept me from being able to do anything cool or otherwise go anywhere for the better part of a week.  I get to plan the 1 day down after the shot.  But an infection makes its own plans and could ruin mine.  So I'd rather do what I can to avoid that to whatever degree that's possible.

Edited by dcbc
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11 hours ago, dcbc said:

I'm supposed to wait 3 months from my July infection, but I'll go get the stick of the now-available, updated shot next month.  Even if it puts me down for a day, that's better than the fairly tame infection that messed with my 4th of July and kept me from being able to do anything cool or otherwise go anywhere for the better part of a week.  I get to plan the 1 day down after the shot.  But an infection makes its own plans and could ruin mine.  So I'd rather do what I can to avoid that to whatever degree that's possible.

As your last sentence suggests, it assumes the new shot works against this and perhaps the next variant.  It might.

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50 minutes ago, HouTex said:

As your last sentence suggests, it assumes the new shot works against this and perhaps the next variant.  It might.

Yeah.  Kind of like the flu shot, which I also will be getting.  I generally operate under the assumption that there are no guarantees.  I'm just trying to push the odds in my favor as much as possible.  When it's so little work on my end and the downside really isn't much of anything (booster didn't bother me much), it's a pretty easy decision in my case.

Edited by dcbc
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44 minutes ago, Hate said:

Just got my booster for the omicron variant. This was Pfizer after the first 3 being Moderna. I got my flu shot while I was at it as well. I’ll have to have a few bourbons tonight to make sure I feel ok in the morning.

I’m you tomorrow at noon, exact same shots and it will be my first Pfizer also, but will celebrate by day drinking beers.

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5 hours ago, justhookit said:

I’m you tomorrow at noon, exact same shots and it will be my first Pfizer also, but will celebrate by day drinking beers.

Well, I'm still up and getting drunk/stoned.  I don't know if that is good or bad, but I wanted to report in.

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On 9/13/2022 at 7:45 AM, Anastasis said:

Guess that I will be slow playing the bivalent booster.

 

Got my 4th cares draw. S still >2500, but new observation is that N positive at 25.4.  Apparently I caught an very mild or asymptomatic case somewhere along the way. 

My 4th CARES draw was also a couple weeks ago.  Last shot for me was 2nd Moderna almost a year ago.  S still > 2500 as well.  

The N number jumped from 13.4 back in March to 28 now.   I tested positive in January which explained the March N number, but was surprised that it jumped up that much since then.

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18 minutes ago, South Austin said:

For anyone who can get behind the paywall, is this suggesting waiting on the booster?

Spoiler

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that everyone over 12 receive a “bivalent” Covid-19 vaccine as a booster dose. But only a select group are likely to benefit, and the evidence to date doesn’t support the view that a bivalent vaccine containing omicron or its subvariants is better than the monovalent vaccine. The CDC risks eroding the public’s trust by overselling the new shot.

The existing Pfizer and Moderna mRNA vaccines were designed to protect against the original strain of the novel coronavirus, known as Wuhan-1. The strain that left China, however, was D614G, the first variant. Between January 2020 and December 2021, D614G was replaced by the alpha variant then the delta variant. At the end of 2021, Oxford conducted a study to determine whether the mRNA vaccines still provided protection against severe illness and death caused by the variants. They did. 

Then things changed. At the end of 2021, the omicron variant (BA.1) and its subvariants (BA.2, BA.3, BA.4 and BA.5) supplanted delta. Not only was omicron more contagious than delta; it also evaded immunity. Even the fully vaccinated were at risk of mild illness, and some of severe illness. A third dose was recommended, then a fourth. The CDC foundthat both a third and fourth dose reduced hospitalizations.

 

But not everyone benefited. Those who did fell into three groups: the elderly, people with serious health problems and people who were immunocompromised. As the CDC launches its fall booster dose campaign, it would be wise to focus on those at risk rather than the young and healthy.

The new bivalent vaccine contains mRNA from the ancestral strain and BA.4 and BA.5, the subvariants that account for virtually all currently circulating SARS-CoV-2. How does it compare with the old monovalent one? We don’t know for sure, because the Food and Drug Administration authorized the new shot without clinical trials. (As a member of the FDA Vaccine Advisory Committee, I voted against the authorization.) But in June Pfizer and Moderna presented data on bivalent vaccines containing the ancestral strain plus BA.1. Those shots were properly studied, and the results were underwhelming. 

Participants who had received three doses of the original vaccine were given a fourth dose of the original vaccine or the bivalent one. The virus-neutralizing antibody responses against BA.1 were greater following the bivalent vaccine, but not at a level that was likely to be clinically significant.

Booster doses for Moderna’s vaccine contained half an adult dose each of the ancestral vaccine and BA.1. Moderna will be giving two vaccines at booster doses typically given to children. So will Pfizer.

Most worrisome, Moderna recently published a study on the clinical efficacy of the bivalent vaccine containing BA.1. Sixteen cases of SARS-CoV-2 infections occurred: 11 in the bivalent group and five in the monovalent group. For those who suffered clinical illness, five were in the bivalent group and one in the monovalent group. In other words, although the numbers were small, the monovalent vaccine performed better than the bivalent vaccine. 

Heading into the fall, it would make sense to boost those at greatest risk of hospitalization with Covid-19. We should be careful, however, about overselling the bivalent vaccine as something better than the existing vaccine until more data are available.

 

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9 minutes ago, PenelopeWitherspoon said:

It is a WSJ OpEd piece.  I would read with a grain of salt.

Stop posting OpEd articles as fact.  

This was my initial response, but then I read up on Paul Offit.  He's no hack.

But his point is more about the CDC maintaining its credibility and getting shots into the arms of the most vulnerable populations. 

That said, I'll be scheduling my bivalent shot along with flu next week (3 months post Covid).  With my antibody count as of my 4th Cares draw, I don't see the point of getting another OG booster.

Edited by dcbc
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4 minutes ago, dcbc said:

This was my initial response, but then I read up on Paul Offit.  He's no hack.

But his point is more about the CDC maintaining its credibility and getting shots into the arms of the most vulnerable populations. 

That said, I'll be scheduling my bivalent shot along with flu next week (3 months post Covid).  With my antibody, I don't see the point of getting another OG booster.

Understood, but considering Humble Beast is ImmaculateVibes/GruHorn, who is a known antivaxxer, well...

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2 minutes ago, PenelopeWitherspoon said:

Understood, but considering Humble Beast is ImmaculateVibes/GruHorn, who is a known antivaxxer, well...

I get it.  But it was posted without comment in response to South Austin's request.  And despite South Austin's mom's loose morals, he's mostly proven to be a force of reasonableness, at least in the gumbo thread. ;)

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17 minutes ago, dcbc said:

I get it.  But it was posted without comment in response to South Austin's request.  And despite South Austin's mom's loose morals, he's mostly proven to be a force of reasonableness, at least in the gumbo thread. ;)

My judgments on other Surly posters is derived solely from the gumbo thread.

For me getting the latest booster is more about timing.  In case it hasn't been obvious, I'm not a mouth-breather who's worried about the gubmit injecting me with the plague or a tracking device.  I'm not sure how effective this new variant booster will be or how long that effectiveness will last, but I figure it can't hurt.  I just need to determine when it's best for me to feel like complete shit for a couple days (which is what the second and third shots did to me), and when my antibodies could use the best surge -- thinking just before Thanksgiving so I'm boosted right before the holidays and a big mid-December trial setting.

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21 minutes ago, Redneck Mutha said:

My 4th CARES draw was also a couple weeks ago.  Last shot for me was 2nd Moderna almost a year ago.  S still > 2500 as well.  

The N number jumped from 13.4 back in March to 28 now.   I tested positive in January which explained the March N number, but was surprised that it jumped up that much since then.

I don’t think we have any idea what the numbers mean, even now.

For example, I had OG covid Feb 2021, therefore never felt the need to get the vaccine, 1st Texas Cares draw Aug 2021 - S 347   N 184.0

My latest draw last month, a year later and 1.5 years after being infected  - S 242   N 76.0

My S numbers have been much lower than most vaccinated that post their results on here, whereas my N numbers have been much higher than most of the infected that post here.

Seems like relatively low S numbers for me, but I haven’t caught covid a second time despite taking very few precautions over the last year+. I know lots of vaccinated - presumably S 2500+ people, like most that post results on here seem to be - that have caught a case in the last few months.

Small sample size, luck of the draw, who knows?

That’s what Texas Cares is endeavoring to ascertain, I think. But to this point, they have not published any sort of definitive results. Nor has any other organization that I am aware of.

I hope they can give us some insight at some point. I look forward to their conclusions.

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1 hour ago, South Austin said:

For anyone who can get behind the paywall, is this suggesting waiting on the booster?

Humble Beast is the latest iteration of long time covid misinfo account GR Horn.  You can disregard anything he/she posts because it's bullshit.

Edited by kevwun
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7 minutes ago, Marcusshelton said:

Is there a flow chart somewhere about what shots one needs right now? Vaccinated with two Modernas in April 2021. I got Covid in early November 2021.

45 years old and in pretty good shape with no medical issues. 

I had two Pfizers in May 2021, had the booster in November 2021.  Had Omicron in December 2021 (it was less than a cold for me), and have been fine since (and have been exposed to it multiple times).  I am planning on getting the new Booster and flu shot soon, so take that for what you will.  

 

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Not sure why anyone is bitching about the WSJ article being posted (regardless of who posted it).  Sure it's an opinion piece but the opinion is supported by quite a few facts if you bother to read it.  Certainly not in any hurry to get this booster (currently 5 months past a very mild Omicron) although might consider in winter/spring.  Particularly if anyone is actually able to present some data that it actually materially reduces transmission and I have a trip coming up.

Edited by Skipper
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I think I’m going to pass on the boosters. I had Covid about a month ago and while unpleasant, it was also pretty mild for the most part. I’m going to assume I’m immune for 8 months or so anyway, but what’s the rationale for those of you that don’t get very sick from Covid? It seems unnecessary. 

Edited by Poe It Up
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