Covid booster

What is the validity of the covid booster shot? In terms of effectiveness? Since Pfizer /Moderna are expected to bring out a more tailored to the times vaccines by Mar/Apr and the more resistant to the vaccines variant IHU has been announced, does taking the booster make sense vs waiting another two months for the updated vaccine?

I am in the Netherlands. Here the government/media has said if your last vaccine or covid infection is more than 3 months ago you're not sufficiently protected against omicron and should go for a booster. They also anticipate boosting us again in the spring with an updated vaccine (i.e. modified for omicron).

Yes we have been told the similar. I am not too worried about Omicron though because it has already spread very rapidly here and almost every second person has it by now though all with very mild /moderate symptoms only and no hospitalizations. our government has announced a third wave but have asked people to isolate at home only if they suspect covid or mildly symptomatic and not head to the hospital unless critical or in severe emergency. Since I am not prone to viruses and infections normally I am therefore wondering if it just makes more sense to skip the booster and wait for the next updated vaccine that arrives by spring . Our government doesn’t seem too concerned around the omicron variant since it is mild but has stated we will loose vaccination status from Feb onwards if we are more that 6 months since the last vaccine dose. Losing vaccination status would mean not being able to move around freely, shop for groceries etc. Though if you catch covid it will anyway bring in the 90 day period before vaccine eligibility again which would work fine with the next vaccine rollout timeline. I am hoping to rough it out for the interim month (Feb) especially since I read about IHU today which is anyway likely to be resistant to all the current vaccines and the booster as being hinted in the emerging news. Quite fed up with this jab after jab after jab business with no end in sight I must say. I would rather not take anymore since my second dose set me on a mini flare. Are people able to claim medical exemptions on this basis or will they need more justification than that?

poopydoop said...
Thanks for mentioning about IHU, I hadn't heard of that. Looks like the jury is still out on whether it will prove more infectious than omicron (hopefully not) as it has been documented since November and not yet spread as fast as omicron.
I've just been boosted yesterday and have been tempted to let myself get infected with omicron once the vaccine kicks in since it appears to be milder than delta and previous variants. But I am still a bit shaken up seeing super-fit friends my age who got severe long covid and that tends to make me cautious.

I’d definitely hold off on that plan for a few weeks until you’re at peak antibodies from the booster. I’d really wait until they have enough of the antiviral pills designed specifically for Covid, just in case something goes wrong.

I have a cousin who just got Covid for the second time. She was vaxxed and boosted, wore a mask everywhere, and scaled back her holiday plans due to omicron. She said that this Covid infection is just as brutal and miserable as her previous infection in the summer of 2020.

I was reading an article this morning that ER's are seeing patients who have underlying medical conditions and Omicron is worsening the conditions like diabetes. The breathing conditions from prior covid variants aren't showing up as much as symptoms.

I am not willing to jump out there just yet and take my chances. I'd like to have some more tools available to me if and when I get infected.

The antivaxxers are the ones spreading it around - if you want to get infected then hang out with them. You'll be guaranteed to get it.

Poopydoop, fwiw, I have been reading that contracting Omicron will not necessarily protect you from a new variant. There are people who contracted the first version of COVID (would that be Alpha??) or more recently, Delta, who are now contracting Omicron.

Maybe having contracted and recovered from one version will give you a less severe case of a new variant? Plus combined with the help of vaccines it will be even less severe? I don't think they really know until it happens.

I vary between resignation that everyone will catch COVID so you are just trying to make it a less severe outcome, to renewing my resolve not to catch it all. I also swing between being exhausted from it all to just taking it in my stride and carrying on.

Serenity Now said...
I vary between resignation that everyone will catch COVID so you are just trying to make it a less severe outcome, to renewing my resolve not to catch it all. I also swing between being exhausted from it all to just taking it in my stride and carrying on.

Yep -- that pretty much describes me. Knowing how bad dying from Covid can be (I have a friend who is an ICU nurse in California) that is the absolute last thing I ever would want to die from. People tell me that I am living in fear. I say that I am living in reality and completely respect what this virus can do.

ks1905 said...
I'm hoping for the treatments to come available soon, that will make me feel a little more comfortable going forward in this new Covid World.

I agree. For now I am just continuing isolation as much as possible. The concern I have about treatment options is that if they work as well as Tamiflu does that isn't going to say much. about 10 years ago, I had the flu shot and still got the flu. I wasn't tested but had all the symptoms. Since I had a big project that I had to do I called my doc within 24 hours of getting symptoms. Tamiflu didn't really help at all. I struggled to get the project done, collapsed as soon as it was over and was out of work for a week. This was pre-UC so really don't want to test it out again. After that bout with the flu I became a complete germaphobe during flu season and if it was really bad in this area I wore a face mask even back then.

I got a booster a little over a month ago. I figured I might as well do what I can to stay protected. I am hoping these boosters don't become the norm.

I think the validity is that people have low or no antibodies from their original vaccines, so you get the booster and it gives you a higher level of protection. None of this is perfect, you may still get sick, but hopefully, you at least won't be hospitalized. I know a lot of people have trouble understanding that you can still get Covid while vaccinated. I hear from a lot of family and friends "a vaccine that doesn't fully prevent the illness?" and I guess for me, I will just be happy if I don't end up in the hospital. It's a relatively small inconvenience to get a shot, but I do not intend to get it yearly - I don't even get a flu shot.

I also do not go out regularly and I work from home. I don't go to concerts or events, I don't go to big gatherings... don't feel some big need to travel... I don't mind "missing out" on these things.

You could wait a few months, but by then there will probably be another variant and there will be another booster being developed. It could put you into a waiting game for however long.

I got a breakthrough case of Delta and have not been boosted. I know 15 people that got omicron over Christmas including my husband. I didn’t get it and I’m hoping it’s becAuse of antibodies. Half of my family was boosted and it didn’t help at all. My sister is over 65, not boosted and had the mildest symptoms of omicron of all. All of their symptoms were like colds. I also want to wait for the next vaccine. I don’t see the point in getting boosted. If I get Omicron oh well then I get it and I pray it does not delay my Remicade infusion . If you are in remission, you have to live your life! I spent enough time stuck inside with past flares.

notsosicklygirl said...
You could wait a few months, but by then there will probably be another variant and there will be another booster being developed. It could put you into a waiting game for however long.

So true

I made an appt for my booster (4th dose) on 1/12. That puts me right in the middle between my remicade infusions. It's a little over 5 months from my last shot on 8/19 if counting 4 weeks per month. Going just by the date it would be a week early. I doubt they will be that anal about the date.

For Michelejc & 3TC especially, it seems like every COVID wave the NYC metro area gets since March 2020, it "invades" here right after London UK reports a surge. So I wonder why our public health officials don't seem to act on this recurring pattern of apparent surge transmission! Can't the U.S. suspend air traffic between UK & NY for a couple weeks? Could doing that quickly break a major chain of COVID transmission? Something is obviously getting by our coasts and then spreading over the U.S. In the case of Ebola virus about 6 yrs ago, the U.S. govt acted very quickly to contain it at coastal port cities. Something crucial keeps going wrong with these repeat waves of COVID! (Just venting my frustration at this recurrent nuisance ... ) / Old Hat (40+ yrs with left-sided UC; in remission taking Colazal)

Old Hat said...
For Michelejc & 3TC especially, it seems like every COVID wave the NYC metro area gets since March 2020, it "invades" here right after London UK reports a surge. So I wonder why our public health officials don't seem to act on this recurring pattern of apparent surge transmission! Can't the U.S. suspend air traffic between UK & NY for a couple weeks? Could doing that quickly break a major chain of COVID transmission? Something is obviously getting by our coasts and then spreading over the U.S. In the case of Ebola virus about 6 yrs ago, the U.S. govt acted very quickly to contain it at coastal port cities. Something crucial keeps going wrong with these repeat waves of COVID! (Just venting my frustration at this recurrent nuisance ... ) / Old Hat (40+ yrs with left-sided UC; in remission taking Colazal)

Old Hat,

By the time they realize it the virus was already here so it’s kind of a mute point. Just like suspending travel from South Africa at the end of November- it was already rampant in South Africa the first couple of weeks in November (or earlier) and it had escaped. Viruses do not care about borders.

If we had 80% of the population boostered then we wouldn’t spread like this; Antivaxxers are the worst and they are killing people and infecting others with blatant disregard for the people they infect.