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  • COVID-19 vaccine discussion


    Texas Jeff

    I thought it might be helpful to have a separate topic related to the vaccine.  If this is too much duplication, mods please delete this thread.  I thought it would be good to talk about who can get the vaccine, where they can get it, what side effects people are seeing, and in general what is going on with distribution.

    The CDC has published vaccine distribution guidelines, and if you care, they are worth reading.  They are dividing the timeline into:

    • Phase 1 - Potentially limited supply of COVID-19 vaccine doses available
    • Phase 2 - Large number of vaccine doses available
    • Phase 3 - Sufficient supply of vaccine doses for entire population

    Who you are will determine if you are eligible for a vaccine in the various phases.

    Phase 1 is divided into a Phase 1a and a Phase 1b:

    • Phase 1a - Mostly healthcare workers
    • Phase 1b - Other essential workers, people with higher risks, people over 65

    If you are eligible to get the vaccine and they have in in stock and you want to get it, it is important to go get it.  Both of the first two vaccines can spoil, so if a dose is sitting there and you aren't there to get it, they might have to throw it away.

    Both vaccines require two shots.  It is important to go get that second shot.

    Who fits in phase 1b and who has to wait until phase 2 might be a sticking point.  The "people in higher risks" category includes a lot of folks, maybe more than you would think might be in that category.  Hopefully we can quickly get to phase 2 so that we don't spend too long arguing about who is or is not in Phase 1b.

    Anyway, I'm interested in everyone's experience with the vaccine and especially getting the word out for those that can go get it, so that every dose ends up in an arm rather than in the trash.

     

     


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    6 minutes ago, Deej said:

    UT study blood draw scheduled for Friday. Booster shot scheduled for Tuesday if the results come back low. 

    Why are you scheduling it?  Why not just walk in, tell them your with the study, and be out in 10 minutes?

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    12 minutes ago, atomheartbevo said:

    Why are you scheduling it?  Why not just walk in, tell them your with the study, and be out in 10 minutes?

    I was just following their damned instructions.

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    10 hours ago, Liquor and Poker said:

    Semi anecdotal but my MD said that if you switch you should think of it as starting over and get 2 rounds of the new one rather than just 1 “booster.”

    Another confirmation of what I did.

    J&J shot in April.

    "Boosted" that with a Moderna shot in July.    I lied on the form and told them I had no insurance.  They auto-set an appointment for me for the second shot,  which I fulfilled on Friday.  No serious side effects.  Sore arm, and extra sleepy on Friday.  Which has been my pattern for all of the shots so far.  So, two vaccine cards now.   Figure I'm on the Moderna train from now on until told otherwise.

     

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    1 minute ago, smoky said:

    What's the reasoning for boosters at this point? 

    Antibody levels are or will eventually drop to levels low enough to not offer protection.  Boosters re-stimulate the creation of more antibodies. 

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    1 minute ago, smoky said:

    What's the reasoning for boosters at this point? 

    Antibody levels seem to start dropping  around 6 months after the second shot.  Probably too early to be definitive about that, but there seems to be no harm in taking the booster.

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    28 minutes ago, Deej said:

    I swear it said to schedule an appointment and linked me to Clinical Pathology Labs.

    It did.  I’m going in Wednesday morning, meaning I’ll be waiting forever surrounded by hungry and pissed off people waiting for their fasting blood draws.  I plan to bring in some breakfast tacos to enjoy in the waiting room.  

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    3 minutes ago, conVINCEd said:

    Antibody levels seem to start dropping  around 6 months after the second shot.  Probably too early to be definitive about that, but there seems to be no harm in taking the booster.

    4-6 months for Pfizer, longer for Moderna, but we don't know how much. We'd be fine against OG Covid, or Alpha, but Delta spreads faster and infects faster. 

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    8 minutes ago, Homercles said:

    It did.  I’m going in Wednesday morning, meaning I’ll be waiting forever surrounded by hungry and pissed off people waiting for their fasting blood draws.  I plan to bring in some breakfast tacos to enjoy in the waiting room.  

    LULZ. I went at noon for this reason and there was zero line. 

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    13 minutes ago, Pods said:

    4-6 months for Pfizer, longer for Moderna, but we don't know how much. We'd be fine against OG Covid, or Alpha, but Delta spreads faster and infects faster. 

    Omega Mu variant gonna smother us.

     

    EJPR.gif

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    I’m confused by the antibody measurements. Sister in law measured 249 on a scale of 250. What does that mean in relation to these 1-2,500 range scores discussed in this thread??

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    45 minutes ago, conVINCEd said:

    Antibody levels seem to start dropping  around 6 months after the second shot.  Probably too early to be definitive about that, but there seems to be no harm in taking the booster.

     

    47 minutes ago, SydneyCarton said:

    Antibody levels are or will eventually drop to levels low enough to not offer protection.  Boosters re-stimulate the creation of more antibodies. 

    Ok, but I keep seeing this type of stuff from my twittersphere as to why we don't necessarily need boosters.  I need more cartoons to tell me what's correct.

     

    spacer.png

    How Long Does Immunity To COVID-19 Last? : Goats and Soda : NPR

     

     

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    Just now, smoky said:

    Well, what's the CDC say?

    Get a booster now if you are immune suppressed, unless you've just been vaccinated. 

    Everyone else, currently 8 months. This will likely change to 6 soon, possibly 5 months for Pfizer. 

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    7 minutes ago, Pods said:

    Get a booster now if you are immune suppressed, unless you've just been vaccinated. 

    Everyone else, currently 8 months. This will likely change to 6 soon, possibly 5 months for Pfizer. 

    Are we seeing a bunch of vaccinated folks from 8 (or 6, or possibly 5) months ago hit the hospital?

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    6 minutes ago, smoky said:

    Are we seeing a bunch of vaccinated folks from 8 (or 6, or possibly 5) months ago hit the hospital?

    No, we are seeing a fair number of breakthrough cases, where people test positive. Many are asymptomatic, many have symptoms similar to the cold/flu that our disinformation merchants say Covid has always been. 

    We are seeing some hospitalizations from vaccinated, mostly elderly and/or immune compromised.

    The vaccines stop almost all ICU visits and deaths. 

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    24 minutes ago, Pods said:

    No, we are seeing a fair number of breakthrough cases, where people test positive. Many are asymptomatic, many have symptoms similar to the cold/flu that our disinformation merchants say Covid has always been. 

    We are seeing some hospitalizations from vaccinated, mostly elderly and/or immune compromised.

    The vaccines stop almost all ICU visits and deaths. 

    Ok, based on that answer, only the olds or the immunocompromised should be getting boosters?

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    13 minutes ago, smoky said:

    Ok, based on that answer, only the olds or the immunocompromised should be getting boosters?

    For now, yes. But the idea of the boosters is to apply maximum pressure against COVID to diminish the possibility of further mutation - and to enhance your own protection against other yet-unknown or yet-to-exist variants. Going with half measures is what enables the virus to mutate and continue to simmer. Gotta attack COVID with every available and safe mechanism

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    15 minutes ago, smoky said:

    Ok, based on that answer, only the olds or the immunocompromised should be getting boosters?

    I am not a doctor disclaimer...

    Depends who you ask, we are in a liminal phase. It also depends on your goal. If you are fully vaccinated, and not old/immune compromised, you have excellent protection against severe cases, or death. Booster shots would be to reduce transmission (definitely) and reduce odds of contracting long covid (likely, but not enough data to say yet). 

    Personally, I think the rollout is far too slow, but I took a lot of shit for saying they were inevitable back in June. I understand the CDC is working on a much slower timeline and  waiting for concrete data, with larger sample sizes, while I was working off probabilities. This is actually much faster for them to come around than I was expecting.  

    Again, just my personal opinion. I think people with Pfizer need to be getting that booster before month 6, definitely by 6. If I was a teacher, or clinician, I would not wait for the CDC. I would get my antibody levels checked and take a booster if low. I understand it goes against the CDC currently. I expect they will change it in the near future. Biden mentioned 5 months a day or so ago. I want to stress again though, I'm not a doctor and this is not medical advice. I recommend talking it over with your doctor. 

    I think Moderna is good through at least 6 months, but we don't know how long yet. I've been assuming ~7 months against Delta, but that's a hunch and I don't have any data to back it up yet. 

    I got my second Moderna at the beginning of April and have not yet gotten a booster. I wear an N95 and have kept my exposures low. 

    In the meantime, mask up and get your antibodies checked with the UT study. They'll give you some idea of rough protection level. 

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    I'm in the Moderna trial and had my first shot a year ago on Aug. 18th.  I had my blood drawn for the Texas Cares study yesterday and my antibody level is 390. 

    Anything above 0.8 is positive,  so it doesn't seem as bad when you look at it like that.   :)

    I was also negative for prior infection. 

     

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    Booster recommendations are coming.  The Admin front ran the regulators on it already. It's just a matter of when they make the announcement and whether the recommended interval is 5/6/8 months. I think that they end up with 6, but for some reason Fauci is stuck on 8.  Maybe influenced by Moderna data, cause the PFE data suggests waning Ab levels at 5-6. 

     

    Anyways, what the FDA/CDC jerks it, we sit here waiting for another inevitable authorization by stalling regulators in terms of an EUA for children. 

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    SIAP, this thread moves fast. But paying people to get vaxxed seems to have been pretty effective:

    https://abc13.com/harris-county-vaccine-incentive-ending-money-for-covid-shot/10987048/

    According to Hidalgo, three weeks prior to the incentive, the public health department was administering an average of 431 first doses per day.

    On Aug. 17, the day the incentive was announced, the average number of first doses per day almost doubled to 914. The next day, that number shot up to 1,596 people who got their first dose.

    "And it's just gone up from there," Hidalgo said.

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    12 minutes ago, Buzzrock said:

    SIAP, this thread moves fast. But paying people to get vaxxed seems to have been pretty effective:

    https://abc13.com/harris-county-vaccine-incentive-ending-money-for-covid-shot/10987048/

    According to Hidalgo, three weeks prior to the incentive, the public health department was administering an average of 431 first doses per day.

    On Aug. 17, the day the incentive was announced, the average number of first doses per day almost doubled to 914. The next day, that number shot up to 1,596 people who got their first dose.

    "And it's just gone up from there," Hidalgo said.

    Totally unsurprising. I think that a much larger percentage of the unvaccinated are just lazy fucks than most of us believe. Got into a conversation with a guy in a waiting room while at an appointment for my daughter. This was the exact type of guy you'd peg as against the vaccine only for political reasons. He said he'd had COVID and since tested negative but his work was requiring two negative tests before returning so he was there for the second one (I haven't heard of other places doing that but whatever).

    Anyway, he said that he got it after the first shot but before his second and he'd be getting the second as soon as the doctors let him. Said it was terrible, then told me his wife had been begging him to get the vaccine since it came out and he had only recently done it. No real reason other than just hadn't gotten around to it. Then he joked about how he did so right before the payments were announced, but said he'd go back and get it even sooner because it "sure as hell wasn't worth $100 to deal with COVID."

    He also apologized for having to ask the front desk for a mask instead of having his own and said after having it he'd never want to be the one who gave it to someone else. Possibly because he saw me eyeing him to make sure he sat on the other end of the waiting room. Again, this guy basically fit the stereotype of the people who are politically against the vaccine in dark red areas perfectly but it was just plain laziness more than anything else.

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    11 hours ago, Pods said:

    I would get my antibody levels checked and take a booster if low.

    My issue is I'm not sure I've seen data reflecting what "low" really is and what level increases your risk of an infection that may not put you in the hospital but might knock you on your ass for a several days.  I'm Pfizer and it will be 6 months since 2nd shot later this week with antibody levels @558 as of last week.   I'm contemplating getting a booster over the next few weeks before a big rush once officially authorized.  Particularly given I have a bunch of October travel planned.  Of course, if there was some data indicating you are good above say 300 or so then I might be fine waiting another couple of months.

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    Another datapoint:

    I'm in the Moderna trial and initially got the placebo.  Ended up getting Covid (not the Delta variant) in January.  Recovered after a couple of weeks of feeling like shit, then got my vaccine on March 1 and March 31.  Just tested yesterday and antibody level >2500.

    Fuck yeah Moderna!  Maybe I should buy stock.

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    OK I just filled out the TX Cares survey.  When I went to choose a blood draw location there was an option to book an appointment, but the appointment page doesn't have AB or COVID testing available as an option.  Just routine labs, glucose tolerance testing, and pediatric draws.  Am I supposed to make an appointment using routine labs or just show up at one of these places once I get confirmation text from UT? 

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    5 minutes ago, DDD Dad said:

    OK I just filled out the TX Cares survey.  When I went to choose a blood draw location there was an option to book an appointment, but the appointment page doesn't have AB or COVID testing available as an option.  Just routine labs, glucose tolerance testing, and pediatric draws.  Am I supposed to make an appointment using routine labs or just show up at one of these places once I get confirmation text from UT? 

    I just walked in no appointment and gave my name and DOB.  They had it on file.

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    Totally unsurprising. I think that a much larger percentage of the unvaccinated are just lazy fucks than most of us believe. Got into a conversation with a guy in a waiting room while at an appointment for my daughter. This was the exact type of guy you'd peg as against the vaccine only for political reasons. He said he'd had COVID and since tested negative but his work was requiring two negative tests before returning so he was there for the second one (I haven't heard of other places doing that but whatever).
    Anyway, he said that he got it after the first shot but before his second and he'd be getting the second as soon as the doctors let him. Said it was terrible, then told me his wife had been begging him to get the vaccine since it came out and he had only recently done it. No real reason other than just hadn't gotten around to it. Then he joked about how he did so right before the payments were announced, but said he'd go back and get it even sooner because it "sure as hell wasn't worth $100 to deal with COVID."
    He also apologized for having to ask the front desk for a mask instead of having his own and said after having it he'd never want to be the one who gave it to someone else. Possibly because he saw me eyeing him to make sure he sat on the other end of the waiting room. Again, this guy basically fit the stereotype of the people who are politically against the vaccine in dark red areas perfectly but it was just plain laziness more than anything else.

    There were some predicting in this and the CR thread that money wouldn’t move the needle. This seems to be pretty good anecdotal evidence that it can. Let’s just pay everyone else and drive some better adoption.
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    15 minutes ago, DDD Dad said:

    OK I just filled out the TX Cares survey.  When I went to choose a blood draw location there was an option to book an appointment, but the appointment page doesn't have AB or COVID testing available as an option.  Just routine labs, glucose tolerance testing, and pediatric draws.  Am I supposed to make an appointment using routine labs or just show up at one of these places once I get confirmation text from UT? 

    You choose routine lab and give them the ID number the TX Cares survey texted you when you arrive. 

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    So, the boy is 5 months out from shot 2, but will be out of the country for the next 4 months, so we're sending him to get his "booster" today (Walgreens near our house has walk-ins).  Should he just say "yep, it's my first shot," or should he say he is immunocompromised (he kind of is -- his physician definitely recommended that he get his first shots in that group) and needs a booster, even though he's not at 6 months?  Or will they say "nope, gotta wait till 6 months" (which will do no good, as he'll be gone by then)?

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    14 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

    So, the boy is 5 months out from shot 2, but will be out of the country for the next 4 months, so we're sending him to get his "booster" today (Walgreens near our house has walk-ins).  Should he just say "yep, it's my first shot," or should he say he is immunocompromised (he kind of is -- his physician definitely recommended that he get his first shots in that group) and needs a booster, even though he's not at 6 months?  Or will they say "nope, gotta wait till 6 months" (which will do no good, as he'll be gone by then)?

    There are times in life when lying is acceptable.  When you are planning the wife’s surprise birthday party and are running all over town finalizing the details and you tell her you are at the driving range, that’s ok.  This is one of those times.

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    1 minute ago, conVINCEd said:

    There are times in life when lying is acceptable.  When you are planning the wife’s surprise birthday party and are running all over town finalizing the details and you tell her you are at the driving range, that’s ok.  This is one of those times.

    What about when you get drunk and have wild sex with one of her hot friends?

    Asking just in case.  For a friend.

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    22 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

    So, the boy is 5 months out from shot 2, but will be out of the country for the next 4 months, so we're sending him to get his "booster" today (Walgreens near our house has walk-ins).  Should he just say "yep, it's my first shot," or should he say he is immunocompromised (he kind of is -- his physician definitely recommended that he get his first shots in that group) and needs a booster, even though he's not at 6 months?  Or will they say "nope, gotta wait till 6 months" (which will do no good, as he'll be gone by then)?

    I'd go for the immunocompromised angle.  It's closer to the truth. 

    As conVINCEd said, nobody is going to judge you when you lie for the sake of your child's well being.  I know several folks who got their kids vaccinated a month or two before their 12th birthday.  I'm guessing the providers might suspect there is some fibbing, but I think they're fine getting shots in arms.

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    there/their/they're/thar
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