Including the pluses and minuses of boosters, and why more boosters isn't necessarily better.

https://www.theatlantic.com/sc...ooster-shots/621132/

Katherine Wu has been writing some very good articles on COVID. The points she's raising are the ones I've been considering in deciding whether to get boosted or not.

Yeah. I was dining with friends when the subject of boosters came up. One lady said she would take a booster every day if that’s what it takes. I also know someone who lost his vaccination card and just got a third shot and fourth shot rather than figure out how to replace the card.

Mmmm, I dunno. The article Quirt linked is concerning.

I made an appointment for a booster in early January, but maybe I’ll cancel.

After trying to teach 6 year olds to read during remote learning, I’ll get a booster as often as they tell me to if it gives us a chance of being able to stay in person.

Like Dol, I want to be able to teach in person. I don’t ever want to go back to fully online, or worse, hybrid.

I’ve had two Moderna shots and one Moderna booster.

But I’m concerned about the health/immune system implications of over-vaccinating.

If there’s a recommendation for a fourth booster in a short time frame (say, less than a year after shot #3) I want to know how that is safe and not going to cause serious problems for my immune system.

This Atlantic article didn’t go far enough into that question AFAIC.

For a lot of reasons, I don't think we're going to booster our way out of this. And it may well be that we won't need to.

Some things to consider:

The rules that applied with delta and other variants simply aren't applicable to omicron; this isn't March 2020 and omicron isn't the original virus or delta. We need to stop viewing infection, especially with omicron, as a failure. Our public health officials are beginning to do just that with the recent rollback regarding quarantine/isolation rules.

Everything we're seeing says that omicron is much less serious than previous variants. It's so transmissable that it's displacing the more dangerous delta variant. There is a short term crush of people getting sick but delta being gone is a good thing in the long run.

Our collective immune systems aren't in the same vulnerable state that they were when the virus was new to the planet. A lot of people have already been vaccinated and/or actually had the virus.

As we can see from what's happening around us, omicron is blowing through vaccines and boosters and infecting people. The vaccine that we have was designed for the original virus and held up against delta pretty well, but a year and a half later is not a very good match for the currently circulating variant, so the antibodies that it produces aren't nearly as effective at preventing infection. That first line of defense is short lived; they peak a couple of weeks after a shot but decline fairly rapidly, like 8 or 10 weeks.

We're always going to be three or four months behind when it comes to a new formulation of vaccine if a new variant warrants it. And it takes months and months to distribute and administer the vaccine; most of the world hasn't been vaccinated yet with the first version. Some percentage of the population will be unwilling and/or unable to get vaccinated. Which means the virus will keep circulating.

The good news is that our immune systems have multiple layers of protection and those defenses (T cells and such) are holding very well. People are getting infected, but generally speaking are not getting horribly sick. And they may be much better prepared for future variants.

The crush that hospital systems are seeing is the unvaccinated. Few breakthrough cases are hospitalized, and if they are, hospital stays are shorter and less intensive than with previous variants.

On a personal note....Mr wtg and I both got our Pfizer boosters last week.

I had my antibodies tested about six weeks ago and still had reasonable levels then but knew they would continue to drop and in the numbers I had, not effective against omicron. The test did reassure me that a) I had mounted an immune response to the vaccine and b) it was holding well, especially considering my age. That was something.

Community spread here is through the roof and we knew it would get worse with people traveling and getting together for the holidays. The virus is everywhere. We were both 9 months out from our initial vaccination and we figured there was still the more dangerous delta variant floating around.

I'm in the over 65 category, as is mr wtg. He was scheduled to get another round of BCG treatments for his bladder cancer starting next week, so we wanted him to be in the best shape possible going into those. So we got the boosters.

Things rarely turn out as you plan....he got a call yesterday that there is a new shortage of BCG (his immunotherapy treatment). Since he is in remission and heading into his third year of maintenance treatments, he's way down the list when it comes to allocation of BCG. They cancelled all of his appointments.

We're laying low for another week to let our antibodies build up. After that, I'll be out and around as much as I ever am, which isn't much. I'll be masked and shopping during non-busy hours (as I have been throughout the pandemic) but I won't feel like I failed if I come down with omicron. I know I will get COVID someday, and omicron might not be the worst thing to happen to me.

edit: Katherine Wu on why she was on the fence about boosters. It was written in early December.

As it turns out, it seems the omicron is not the threat that it might have been. But there was no way to know that at the onset....

https://www.theatlantic.com/he...cine-booster/620936/

quote:

Originally posted by ShiroKuro:

But I’m concerned about the health/immune system implications of over-vaccinating.

If there’s a recommendation for a fourth booster in a short time frame (say, less than a year after shot #3) I want to know how that is safe and not going to cause serious problems for my immune system.

This Atlantic article didn’t go far enough into that question AFAIC.

I think that's because we don't have the answer.

And we may not before we're called upon to make the decision as to whether to get another shot or not.

edit: Some additional info about boosters.

https://www.theatlantic.com/he...den-8-months/619789/

And one more thing...the antivirals (especially the Pfizer, I think I'd avoid the Merck) could well be game changers....for those of us in countries that are wealthy enough to have them available....

I have resigned myself to the idea that I will eventually get Omicron. It probably won't be bad, since I'm boosted; the chances that it will require hospitalization are small. However, since those chances are not so small as to not be worth considering, and since the coming hospital wave looks to be very bad (there are people who cannot find a hospital bed in their state), I'd like to postpone contracting Omicron until the wave passes. I'll take mine on the back end, please.

Yup on all counts. The email from the chief medical officer at my local hospital a couple of weeks ago was one last factor that kicked us over the edge.

quote:

I'd like to postpone contracting Omicron

Yes, for as long as possible!

Yes, agree with WTG that getting COVID should not be seen as a failure of the person or the vaccine.

People have gone off the deep end. You tell them you had a mild or a symptomatic case, and they look at you as though you told them you only have hours to live.

The only impact that COVID has on me is it prevented me from traveling to a court hearing.

I’ll survive.

I expect to get the omicron variant at some point as well. It is just so crazily contagious. I've done, or am doing, all the right things: avoiding unnecessary groups, wearing a mask, vax'd and boosted, but I still feel like it's just a matter of time. I mean at this point most of us do have to leave the house every now and then.

The news about omicron is all over the place. It's either not a big deal (for vax'd/boosted) or we're all gonna die. I'm not sure about the theory that omicron will "win" the battle against delta, either. It's just too soon to tell.

I'm just tired of all of it. I'm tired of having to get tested, and the anxiety of trying to time your test based on the crazy ridiculousness of all these rules set up that are impossible to follow. A negative test the day before your travel? Um, good luck in getting results that quicklyk (assuming you can even get a test).

Harrumph.

quote:

Everything we're seeing says that omicron is much less serious than previous variants. It's so transmissable that it's displacing the more dangerous delta variant. There is a short term crush of people getting sick but delta being gone is a good thing in the long run.

That displacement effect is only true if getting Omicron confers good immunity to Delta. Otherwise the two variants could happily coexist, giving people a one-two punch.

Preliminary indications.

https://www.msn.com/en-xl/afri...udy-shows/ar-AAScAEX