Vax Whalloped

[MisterH]

My 70-yo mother caught Covid back in December, survived it, and then got the first Moderna shot in early February. She had redness, swelling, and arm pain at the site of the injection for a week, and now she's really hesitant about getting the second shot. Having already survived Covid once, she's thinking about skipping the second shot and taking her chances.

On 2/15/2021 at 10:37 PM, denibug72 said:

My oldest had a major reaction to his 6 mo shots, to the point that we stopped all his shots.  Years later we found out that Guillain-Barre Syndrome is a horrible disease to go through.  My oldest son contracted a rare variant of it (Miller-Fischer) as a young teenager.  We still don't know how or why he got it, and probably never will.  So thankful for IVIG plasma treatments, and a neurologist that had a pretty good guess as to what it could be (since the spinal tap & blood workups took weeks to come back).  At the time, the doctors told him never to get a flu shot...

Finally, someone else who went through this! My father had a similar reaction to a flu shot he got back in '99 when he was in his early 50's. What he came down with looked a lot like Guillain-Barre, but in the end wasn't exactly. He ended up having to retire early on disability. I've been very circumspect about getting flu shots ever since.

[RememberSchiff]

On Wed, got my Pfizer 1st shot by luck. Only 10% of shots at this site were allocated for 1st timers, albeit OLD timers. Thurs I was dog tired, spent most of day asleep. Have more energy today, hope my mind returns soon.

[RememberSchiff]

Vaccination hesitancy... Could it happen that by the end of 2021, the US covid vaccination rate will be less than our flu vaccination rate (about 50%)?

 

[jr56]

I have had both injections (Pfizer).  Arm was a little sore for a few hours.

[Eagle1993]

My 2nd dose of Pfizer was really rough ... but probably better than getting the virus.

I understand the vaccination hesitancy here, especially with mRNA versions.  I hope most will get a vaccine when more of the public is vaccinated (or more traditional vaccines are approved) and we (hopefully) see limited adverse reactions.  I don't think we need to hit 100% ... 80% would be big win.  I am concerned that if not enough people get the vaccine, more variants will be produced until one breaks through the existing vaccines.  At minimum, perhaps we can turn Covid into a mild cold or flu vs what it was or could be.

Note that I just got off a call with my team in India.  It is pretty bad there with multiple team members having close relatives die from the virus.  While our healthcare system is much better than theirs, I really think some of these variants are much worse than the initial strain.  The good news is it seems that vaccines help against their variant. 

[mashmaster]

My daughter is getting her masters degree in Public Health.  She has told me the percentage of vacinated people to reach herd immunity is >70%.  So we are looking for a simple majority here.   

The India situation is horrible.  Lots of different factors in play, very little access to vaccinations, health care access, new strain, higher density population...... Prayers go out for them, hopefully we can divert some of our vaccine to them since at least here in Texas the vaccines are plentiful.

[JoeBob]

Update:

Still no Covid vaccine for JoeBob.  I had Covid for 3 weeks in its first August.  Despite hundreds of exposures, I have not gotten Covid again.  (I work in hospital renovation/construction - we get a wave of infections through our 1200 person jobsite about every 4 months.)

Natural immunity seems to be working fairly well.

Edited December 31, 2022 by JoeBob

[yknot]

38 minutes ago, JoeBob said:

Update:

Still no Covid vaccine for JoeBob.  I had Covid for 3 weeks in its first August.  Despite hundreds of exposures, I have not gotten Covid again.  (I work in hospital renovation/construction - we get a wave of infections through our 1200 person jobsite about every 4 months.)

Natural immunity seems to be working fairly well.

... for you.

Experiences with Covid seem to be very individual. I think the key lesson with Covid is that what works for you, works for you, and not necessarily for someone else. 

I'm very glad you are doing well. For myself, I don't think I won that same genetic lottery and have been thankful that the vaccine and boosters have so far apparently done their job to keep me and the other high risk individuals in my sphere healthy. 

[qwazse]

Both immunization and natural immunity have a limited duration. How long? It depends. Also, although excess deaths in general have decreased in the US, it seems to be a regional thing ... up in some regions, down in others. If you've tolerated the boosters, it's not a bad idea lining up for the next one. If they've thoroughly exhausted you, no one should judge if you take a pass. It's a roll of the dice. But how people respond to the jab does not seem to correlate with how they'd respond to the actual disease.

Anyway, my pandemic guy is all tied up treating RSV. That's all the rage these days -- esp. for the youngns.

Here's to a healthy New Year!

[qwazse]

If some of your scouts or family are enduring a prolonged loss of taste (an effect of the disease, not the vaccine) you might want to put them onto a stellar ganglion block.