Who Should Get a Covid Booster Now? New Data Offers Some Clarity/NY Times

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Lethe200

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tl;dr:
  • For people who are high-risk (adults age 50 and older and people who are immunocompromised or have an underlying condition): If you haven’t gotten the bivalent booster, you should. Just make sure it’s been at least three months since your last shot or Covid infection.
  • The monovalent (previous) booster was 25% effective at preventing hospitalization or death in the hi-risk group, while the bivalent (newest) booster are 62% effective.
  • Consensus is if you are high risk regardless of age, getting a vaccine booster at least annually, and possibly more frequently, continues to be valuable.
  • For young, healthy people, the decision of when to get a booster, or whether to get one at all, is for now, an individual choice.
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Who Should Get a Covid Booster Now? New Data Offers Some Clarity.
If you are high-risk, the answer is straightforward. If you are low-risk, there is less consensus.
NY Times Feb. 2, 2023
Free link: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/02/covid-bivalent-booster-omicron.html
 

Question. If newest Covid "booster" is more effective then previous ones, why can't those who haven't had the previous ones just get this new one?
 
Becky1951 said:
Question. If newest Covid "booster" is more effective then previous ones, why can't those who haven't had the previous ones just get this new one?
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I think they probably can. Not sure if also getting the original is necessary at this point. If the article addressed that I missed it.
Teacher Terry said:
I have had 3 covid shots and each time I was very sick with chills, etc and spent 4 days in bed. Then I got covid and was barely sick. The new strains aren’t nearly as lethal as the original so I will pass just like I do on flu shots.
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Everyone is different.

In my case I now have gotten 5 shots total, without any real negative reactions. I got Covid after getting the shots, but like you I was not very sick at all. I'll probably keep getting boosters along with my annual flu shots, we'll see. If I had the negative reactions to the vaccine you describe I might have made a different decision.

The good news is the virus is getting less virulent, and seems to be getting treated more and more like a regular cold or flu.
 
I have had the two initial vaccinations and one booster. Got sick each time. Now I am learning of friends who have died or been hospitalized from receiving the vaccine. This started about 2 years ago so I suspended taking the boosters until I was more convinced of the vaccine’s safety. I just learned another friend of mine had a stroke, all-be-it weak, but was hospitalized for three days, so I am going to pass on any further boosters.

When COVID first hit us, I was very ill. I spent time in the hospital and also was sent to Johns Hopkins. I was never so confused in my life about everyday things. I couldn’t even remember the names of my kids. My friend who also posts here, 911, had Neurologist issues. I thought I was going to die and then I thought he was going to die. We both agree that we feel very lucky.

When the vaccine came out, we both got the initial shots. I took the one booster and became ill, my friend at first wouldn’t take the first booster and I told him it’s his choice. He took it and like me, he became sick. We have both decided no more.
 
Teacher Terry said:
I have had 3 covid shots and each time I was very sick with chills, etc and spent 4 days in bed. Then I got covid and was barely sick. The new strains aren’t nearly as lethal as the original so I will pass just like I do on flu shots.
Click to expand...
I was in the local hospital with a broken leg during the height of the government pushing Covid vaccines. I asked the hospital if they could give me the vaccine. They said no, the vaccine clinic was in the hospital building across from me. I asked if an aid could wheel me over to the clinic to get the vaccine and they said no. I asked if a tech from the clinic could come to my hospital room and give me the vaccine. They said no. So I said to heck with it. I’ve never gotten any vaccine at all and never gotten Covid. But all my friends and relatives who did get the vaccine, got Covid.
 
The Cleveland Clinic completed a recent study that has not yet been peer reviewed or officially released. But early reports are saying it shows that vaccinated folks are more likely to get covid. The Clinic did not require its staff to be vaccinated. Evidently they are learning a lot from that decision.
 
When I got covid last November, as I have mentioned, after multiple close exposures, I'm surprised how sick I didn't get. Two days feeling like a bad cold/flu feeling. I didn't take my temperature, if anything very low grade.

That's with the original two shots and one booster. Did they help? They say they do. I never got short of breath. I didn't think to take my pulse oximeter. I don't want another booster. I'm over 60 and overweight.
 
TabbyAnn said:
I was in the local hospital with a broken leg during the height of the government pushing Covid vaccines. I asked the hospital if they could give me the vaccine. They said no, the vaccine clinic was in the hospital building across from me. I asked if an aid could wheel me over to the clinic to get the vaccine and they said no. I asked if a tech from the clinic could come to my hospital room and give me the vaccine. They said no. So I said to heck with it. I’ve never gotten any vaccine at all and never gotten Covid. But all my friends and relatives who did get the vaccine, got Covid.
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Interesting. And that's patient centered care at work isn't it. Heavy sarcasm of course.
 
oldman said:
I have had the two initial vaccinations and one booster. Got sick each time. Now I am learning of friends who have died or been hospitalized from receiving the vaccine. This started about 2 years ago so I suspended taking the boosters until I was more convinced of the vaccine’s safety. I just learned another friend of mine had a stroke, all-be-it weak, but was hospitalized for three days, so I am going to pass on any further boosters.

When COVID first hit us, I was very ill. I spent time in the hospital and also was sent to Johns Hopkins. I was never so confused in my life about everyday things. I couldn’t even remember the names of my kids. My friend who also posts here, 911, had Neurologist issues. I thought I was going to die and then I thought he was going to die. We both agree that we feel very lucky.

When the vaccine came out, we both got the initial shots. I took the one booster and became ill, my friend at first wouldn’t take the first booster and I told him it’s his choice. He took it and like me, he became sick. We have both decided no more.
Click to expand...
A friend of mine had Covid vaccines & disagreed with my decision not to have them & got a little angry at me.
After his first vaccine, he told me, "See? No problem." Then he got Covid anyway.
His doctor said, "Get your booster; it will increase your immunity."
After his first booster, he had a heart attack. He told me, "No more."
 
Wigglestein said:
The Cleveland Clinic completed a recent study that has not yet been peer reviewed or officially released. But early reports are saying it shows that vaccinated folks are more likely to get covid. The Clinic did not require its staff to be vaccinated. Evidently they are learning a lot from that decision.
Click to expand...
I read that.

Large Study’s Disturbing Results: Questionable Bivalent Booster Performance--the Greater the Previous mRNA Doses the Greater the Risk for Infection > https://www.trialsitenews.com/a/lar...s-the-greater-the-risk-for-infection-b468bbce

"Cleveland Clinic researchers, led by physician and infectious disease specialist Dr. Nabin K Shrestha, conducted a large retrospective cohort study tapping into robust data associated with the Cleveland Clinic Health System (CCHS) involving 51,977 study subjects and a total of 10,804 employees that were bivalent vaccine boosted. How effective were these vaccines in stopping COVID-19? 89% of those (9595) were vaccinated with BNT162b2 (Pfizer-BioNTech), and the remaining 1,178 with mRNA-1273 (Moderna). By the 13th week of this study, 2542 employees (5%) contracted COVID-19. The observational study involving CCHS employees involved evaluation of those employees who received the bivalent COVID-19 vaccine released September 2022. The investigators embraced a methodology treating bivalent vaccination as a time-dependent covariate, allowing for determining vaccine effectiveness in real time. With a majority of SARS-CoV-2 cases in Ohio involving BA.4 and BA.5 Omicron sub-variants during the first 10 weeks of the study (Ohio Department of Health data), by December, the most active sub-variants become BQ.1, BQ.1.1, and BF.7 lineages. The CCHS investigators conducted a range of statistical analyses, from a Simon-Makuch hazard plot comparing the cumulative incidence of COVID-19 in the bivalent vaccinated and non-vaccinated states (bivalent vaccination treated as a time-dependent covariate), as well as multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression models fitted to evaluate the association of various study variables with time to COVID-19 (Bivalent vaccination included as a time-dependent covariate). Two models were constructed, including a primary model (all study subjects) and secondary model (persons with prior SARS-CoV-2 infection of vaccination). All analyses were crunched in the survival package and R version 4.2.2. The study authors found that the current bivalent vaccines were only about 30% effective overall in protecting against SARS-CoV-2 infection when the Omicron BA.4/BA.5 lineages were predominantly in circulation in Ohio. Furthermore, the data reveals the greater number of mRNA doses, the greater the incidence of SARS-CoV-2 infection. Unfortunately, this isn’t a great look."

Bella ✌️
 
I prefer to be advised my my political leaders. The folks with a particular political leaning seem to follow the same patterns. Obviously, their understanding of the dangers or benefits of the "shots" are a step above medical professionals but more on a plain with their particular political leaders. Interesting perspective.
 
According to the latest CDC statistics the odds of someone between the age of 65 to 79 dying from the virus are about:
  • 80 in one million for the unvaccinated,
  • 10 in one million for vaccinated without boosters, and
  • 3 in a million with boosters.
Lower for younger folks, higher for older. https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/...accination-status?tab=table&country=~All+ages . Data from many other sources all seems to tell about the same story.

And there is little evidence of any increase in death rate as a result of getting the vaccine. See for example https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-35653-z and https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/safety/adverse-events.html

Given those odds, and my lack of much adverse reaction to the shots, I have chosen to get the boosters so far. However if I had a sever reaction I might choose differently. The odds of dying of Covid either way are low...

These odds are similar to the death risk reduction of wearing vs not wearing a seatbelt. https://injuryfacts.nsc.org/motor-vehicle/occupant-protection/seat-belts/

I think most folks should get the shots, but can respect those who choose not to. I know some very intelligent reasonable people who have chosen not to, but in my experience more appear to choose the shots than not. I believe it would be best that we all make those decisions based on best available data.
 
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Teacher Terry said:
I have had 3 covid shots and each time I was very sick with chills, etc and spent 4 days in bed. Then I got covid and was barely sick. The new strains aren’t nearly as lethal as the original so I will pass just like I do on flu shots.
Click to expand...
I must say I too was so unwell after the fourth booster, I cannot face that again. Covid itself was not too bad. I obeyed all they said but I just never feel well any more.
 

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