Covid-19 discussion

Friend of mine who was a Ukrainian refugee to the US as a child had TB and she said it was brutal, she was in hospital for several months.

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Went ahead and scheduled my Pfizer booster since apparently I qualify now? High blood pressure is listed as underlying condition that qualifies me at my age.

My 6 month shot anniversary is exactly 2 weeks before we are getting on a plane, so that works out well and I don’t want to put it off. Though, is it 2 weeks for full effectiveness on the booster too? It is, right?

It was super easy to get an appointment, the Walgreens down the street had 34 appointments open that day. Not sure if that is a good thing, there being less demand…

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AFAIK it hasn’t been studied specifically, but with general immune system stuff it’s safe to assume so. If you had even had true loss of immunity anyway- both individual variation there, and debate on who/when/how much on that.

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I thought the Pfizer study said that immunity does begin to wane after 6 months? It makes sense that it would depend on the person though.

If I weren’t getting on a plane to a low-vaxx state I would be less concerned.

I also saw that they have done away with the rule that you can’t have had another vaccine within 14 days - though, my flu shot is this week so I am outside that window anyway.

Okay. I’m back to being super frustrated as an immunosuppressed person who got J&J.

they’re doing third shots for pfizer and moderna for immunosuppressed people, and boosters for pfizer and moderna for a large group of people.

And immunosuppressed people that got J&J are just…waiting. Despite J&J having worse immune response in the 1 study that included J&J data for people on TNF inhibitors…

Makes me feel like I should just go get a whole round of an mRNA vaccine as originally rec’d by my doc and get the $150 incentive. :joy:

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It’s… complicated. For one, there’s the question of whether immune titers actually reflect functional immunity. There’s a lot of moving parts. It’s a little controversial in the medical community whether the boosters are actually needed or not. Were very much working with incomplete data and trying to extrapolate.

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Yeah, the friend I visited over the weekend is in the same boat. It is so frustrating how people who got J and J are still waiting.

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Do folks in the medical community think getting a booster would be harmful, if it ends up not strictly being necessary?

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Has anyone seen any updates on how insurance companies are going to approach Covid in 2022? I’m thinking specifically of higher premiums for unvaccinated or… I saw a story a couple weeks ago about one company (cannot remember which one) that was going to charge an extra $200/month for their insurance plan if someone is unvaccinated. Just curious if this will finally get some people moving towards getting vaccinated.

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It’s not going to hurt the individuals that get it. The harm would be more of a health equity/ending the pandemic won’t happen until low income countries are highly vaccinated and keeping vaccines in high income countries like the US/Israel is (part of the reason) restricting access in countries without their own supply.

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Precisely this. There’s a small risk of side effects with the booster, just like with the first doses. But otherwise, it’s more about health equity.

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Why not go ahead and get an mRNA vac series if your doctor recommended it? It doesn’t seem like guidance for J&J recipients will be coming any time soon.

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Mostly because I’ll have to like scam it? I.e. insurance won’t approve me getting a 2nd round of the vaccine so I’ll have to pretend I don’t have insurance/haven’t gotten it before. I struggle with the ethics of it. The doctor was simply taking a guess, too, it’s not really based on hard data. I.e. we have no idea if I have already developed vaccine antibodies or if I’ll be more likely to from a MRNA vaccine.

She was initially doing it because I had planned international travel in September and we expected no J&J guidance before then. travel was cancelled and I don’t have int’l travel again til December, and I kinda hope we’ll know more by then?

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I know Delta airlines is going to be charging an extra insurance fee for those who are unvaccinated. Similar to how many companies treat smokers. I also know in Minnesota some insurance companies are going back to standard coverage for those needing COVID care. They had been waiving all cost sharing previously.

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This is my concern as well. NYT put out a morning newsletter sometime last week or the week before talking about this, too. Some folks in the medical community are doubling up. Some folks are having to scam the system to get one. Others are just asking around to find a site that are willing to give an mRNA dose to someone who has already had J&J.

and still no guidance.

I would actually consider asking around if I thought I could spare the potential downtime from school due to the side effects. there isn’t a shortage of vaccines here now. the medical industry is corrupt and doesn’t serve individuals. I don’t feel that it’s unethical to scam it.

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This seems to be most insurance providers, from what I can tell. It’s just normal coverage now.
I mean, I didn’t expect it to last forever, but imagine having a toddler who gets covid and going bankrupt when they couldn’t be vaccinated. But there are lots of things you can’t be vaccinated against that happens for.

Our system is so messed up.

Our daycare has it’s first positive in a kid. A school age, before/after school. My daughter is in the gym with them in the morning, so that is a bit worrisome, but they are fairly good about masks.
Over a quarter of Iowa schools have outbreaks now, so it’s no surprise school age brought it into the daycare.

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Nooooooo they just backed down and said they’ll be doing weekly testing instead. Fuuuuuuuuu

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So, my cousin’s kids just came down with high fevers. My kid was playing with one of them this past Monday. On Monday my poor little pal was tested for covid. Ofc that wouldn’t pick up anything on that day.

I’ve let his pediatricians office know and we are scheduling a virtual visit but I am so fucking mad and about HAD IT with this stupid virus. My kid already took two days off daycare this week.

My cousin is flying up for this weekend to see our grandmother, who isnt well, in hospital. So we probably wont go since they are meeting at the house where that cousins sick kids are and all the adults there have been exposed.

I am just so mad at everything.

Also - I want to ask my cousin to ask for a rapid test since we have such a big house, but everyone in my stupid family thinks that covid isn’t a big deal/we need to value feelings over anything else.

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Everyone’s feelings but yours it sounds like.

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:sob: :sob: :sob: :heart:

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