Have you ever had antibody tests done on them? Prior exposure is definitely an element that shifts probabilities, hence all the uncertainty about the South African observation of low severity, when damn near 75% of the population has already been exposed to a previous variant.
1 Like
Antibodies only show in the system for 6-8months. I had my test done 9 months after being sick and it came back negative (early Nov 2020). This is why I’m not surprised that boosters are being pushed right now.
I suspect we are looking at a more powerful concept of an influenza-style annual booster requirement for 8 billion people every year.
Note…I’ve never had an influenza shot. but like I said, I got 2x vaccinated against Covid.
-
Long COVID. 1 in 7 children who caught SARS-CoV-2 may have symptoms linked with the virus 15 weeks later
-
Viral RNA shedding in the respiratory tract is similar in children, adolescents and adults. The vaccine reduces the chances of transmission. No it’s not 100% reduction, but nothing ever is.
1 Like
Yeah, I was wondering if you had done the testing at the time, but early 2020 was not exactly a time when we were doing that kind of thing.
I got flu and booster at the same time, not a big fan of the flu one because it kicks the crap out of me about as badly as a flu usually does, but this year it seemed like the right thing to do.
1 Like
ironically, there was almost zero reported cases of influenza over the past year. no point in getting an influenza vaccination at this time. social distancing does work, just a low R-value for influenza.
There is one likely flu circulating here - doesn’t seem too serious, but no one has any antibodies left because of the past year. My kids missed close to 2 weeks of school because the symptoms took forever to clear. I would guess very few cases are being reported, because the populations that usually produce most of the reported flus are already observing significant restrictions.
1 Like
Not getting it because it “doesn’t stop the spread” is like turning down a gift of $100k because your mortgage is $150k. We cannot refuse to do what we know has a significant impact just because no individual step provides 100% protection.
Right now there are challenges from the combined effects of Omicron, waning immunity from the original dosing, and the persistently unvaccinated. These things are even more reason to go and get the shots now so as to help minimize the spread. There is also the reality that while your child might not die, the overwhelming evidence suggests that their experience with exposure is going to go better if they’re vaccinated than if they are not.
5 Likes
Goddamn, there goes the UK record for most covid cases reported in a day…and broke it by 10k with 78k.
1 Like
How is the hospitalisation rate there? Have they still got it in check?
Creeping up, but definitely not the same sort of slope observed in prior waves, still way below earlier peaks. Of course, it is also a lagging indicator. Data across European countries is definitely showing the shifted relationship caused by the vaccines, slope for Poland and Slovakia is about the same for cases/hospitalization/death, quite a bit different for Denmark and Portugal. Two low vax countries compared to two high vax countries.
1 Like
I understand this. like I said, we’re 2x vaccinated. I have my concerns about this particular vaccine in my 7yo. he has all of his other vaccinations already, plus other ones for our travelling. and while my wife and I are actively discussing this, his appt is booked for Dec 23. We have 8 days to decide if we push his date back and wait.
1 Like
Yeah, it is tough. I looked at probabilities, thought it through as carefully as I could, and still had a huge lump in my throat taking my youngest in. We don’t just assess the risks of action versus inaction imperfectly, we feel it that way too. He, on the other hand, was absolutely overjoyed. We have been fighting his anxiety levels for months, he was in tears when he found that he wasn’t getting vaccinated this summer when his brother did.
2 Likes
The UK’s 4th highest single day of vaccinations given yesterday at just under 730,000. 656,711 of those being boosters.
Currently of the population aged 12 and over, 89.3% have had a first dose, 81.5% have had a second, and 43% have had boosters.
1 Like
It’s a real tough one. I don’t think anyone above was having a go at your decision making. I know I would be very hesitant in getting my 10yo son a jab at this point in time if it was allowed here in the UK.
I think the discussion was more about the notion that vaccinations in children don’t have benefits, which I think they do.
1 Like
I think we’ll end up doing it anyways, and pretty sure the swing factor will be that the shot really only seems to be effective for ~8months? otherwise, why would we be doing boosters? If it’s a non-genetic-changing shot (according to what I’ve read) then there shouldn’t be any long-term effect.
There’s just not enough long-term studies on this to make it an easy decision.
Dr Louis Pasteur, I wonder how he’s viewing all this right now.
There is an interesting effect of the age of the person at the their time of first exposure to a pathogen, in that when it comes during childhood both the immune memory and strength of response tend to be much greater than when exposed as an adult. That’s part of the reason why Coronavirus has been such a bastard and why kids have held up better to a novel pathogen (because they’re used to novel exposures).
No one knows quite how it’s going to work out, but it wouldn’t be that remarkable (short of a new variant with more immune evasion) to see kids do really well of a routine dosing and not need boosting for years.
1 Like
Just got my booster shot through the local pharmacy (rather than wait until Jan-2022). Will see if this dose knocks me out like the last Moderna shot. The booster is 1/2 the dosage of the regular.
Pharmacies in Ontario were instructed Monday to get as many doses done as possible, I am underwhelmed by what the province is doing in total, but a booster sprint has a valid logic.
1 Like
My mum had the worst cold of the life. Probably the same one I had for over a month. The cough was so bad today she was hospitalised with such a bad infection on her lungs it caused pleurisy. She’s OK now and back home again. It’s an absolute bastard.
When I had it I was gutted when I found out it wasn’t covid. Like really? That was a cold? And I’ve still got Covid to come?
1 Like
I am fairly sure that the severity with which people are getting it and the long recovery time are a function of how few bugs were spread around in 2020. For me, the cold I got was not much more unpleasant for two days, but the sniffles just would not go away for a week.
1 Like