COVID-19 vaccines: medical concerns and recommendations

[Sensei]

@Sensei, always appreciate your input on medical matters.

so what are your views on boosters and their necessity? Say for someone who had their last booster in September--the booster being the bivalent one?

thanks

Boosters make sense for older adults and those with chronic illnesses. Again, we are now in the endemic phase where the circulating strains are not as virulent as 2 years ago. For example, I’d take every booster offered to me if I was over 65 with CHF, cancer, diabetes, etc. On the other hand, I’m a virile 50ish guy who runs circles around people half my age and haven’t gotten jabbed since the 3rd shot more than a year ago.

[45dotACP]

My experience mirrors Sensei.

Last time we had someone die of COVID on my unit was probably over a year ago. We still see it, but it's nowhere near the problem it was in 2020/2021

I haven't opted for a booster and did catch it last fall and it was basically a runny nose for a day or two, and I didn't even miss a day of work.

But then again, my resting heart rate averages <50bpm

Sent from my SM-A326U using Tapatalk

[UNK]

I don’t know how you were able to intellectually tie your post to mine. 🤔 Completely different times and context. What I posted was from quite a while ago and WAS TRUE at that time. See Sensei’s post for comment on current vaccine ideas.

Im pretty gifted that way 😁

[Hambo]

My experience mirrors Sensei.

Last time we had someone die of COVID on my unit was probably over a year ago. We still see it, but it's nowhere near the problem it was in 2020/2021

My pulmonary doc said the same thing: RSV and flu were far more of a problem over the winter. He didn't admit anyone with Covid who wasn't a cancer or transplant patient. He told me to wait and see what's going on in the fall with cases and newer boosters.

[0ddl0t]

From the latest CDC mmwr, here is the bivalent vaccine's current effectiveness against hospitalization:

18-64 years old
7-59 days after dose: 61%
60-119 days after dose: 25%
120-179 days after dose: 16%

>65 years old
7-59 days after dose: 64%
60-119 days after dose: 51%
120-179 days after dose: 27%

Immunocompromised >18 years old:
7-59 days after dose: 28%
60-119 days after dose: 41%
120-179 days after dose: 13%


Bivalent Vaccine effectiveness against ICU admission or death >18:
7-59 days after dose: 69%
60-119 days after dose: 46%
120-179 days after dose: 50%

[HeavyDuty]

From the latest CDC mmwr, here is the bivalent vaccine's current effectiveness against hospitalization:

18-64 years old
7-59 days after dose: 61%
60-119 days after dose: 25%
120-179 days after dose: 16%

>65 years old
7-59 days after dose: 64%
60-119 days after dose: 51%
120-179 days after dose: 27%

Immunocompromised >18 years old:
7-59 days after dose: 28%
60-119 days after dose: 41%
120-179 days after dose: 13%


Bivalent Vaccine effectiveness against ICU admission or death >18:
7-59 days after dose: 69%
60-119 days after dose: 46%
120-179 days after dose: 50%

I’ll take it. It’s a vaccine, not a magic wand.

[0ddl0t]

The Cleveland Clinic just released estimates that the bivalent vaccine's effectiveness against disease was 29% while the BA.4/5 variant was dominant, but just 4% with the later XBB variant.

Again, that is vaccine effectiveness against disease/infection NOT effectiveness against hospitalization or death.

[0ddl0t]

The CDC estimates the recent monovalent booster's effectiveness against symptomatic infection is 60% against XBB 1.5 variants within 2 months of boosting and 49% against JN.1 within 4 months of boosting. https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/73/...cid=mm7304a2_w


Vaccine effectiveness against unsymptomatic infection was not measured. In 2022, vaccine effectiveness against infection was 83% after 1 month while vaccine effectiveness against symptomatic infection was 94%. Effectiveness against infection dropped to 22% after 5 months vs 64% against symptomatic infection after 4 months.

[entropy]

Sample size of 1. Actually 2. Well...more like 6.

In our new locale, there is a range of ages. Most however, are leaning towards the older end of the spectrum at 50+. Pretty much everyone has been fighting respiratory stuff since before Christmas. It lingers. Can’t get rid of it. My wife and I have been fine. Never even a touch of anything. We hang out with these folks, visit their homes, have dinner etc... Maybe it’s that we’re lucky. Maybe that it’s were Polish. Of the entire lot, we’re the only ones unvaccinated.

Kids all unvaxxed too. They live around the Midwest. They all travel for a living or have lots of public contact in their day-to-day lives. They’ve been heathy as well.

[YVK]

We are seeing a ton of it around here, mixed with non-covid respiratory illness. A lot of people test positive though. Some people have significant subjective symptoms but we are not seeing the same severity of illness as with alpha and delta. The main nonsense around here is how difficult it is to get the paxlovid.
I took a booster Pfizer shot in mid December. I had a stronger reaction to this one than the first rounds of vaccine. Wasn't really concerned with catching covid per se but I had two international trips planned for January and didn't want to get sick just before or during. Everyone in my circle who flew around Xmas came down with something. I either got lucky, or my flu and covid shots got me covered.