From what she said this is a third dose rather than a booster. I don’t know what the difference is, if anything.
2 Likes
I just don’t know what to think about how things are going. As far as I can tell, everyone thinks this is over. No one in my rowing group wears a mask for indoor workouts except me. This is a liberal leaning group, that includes multiple doctors, one a pulmonlogist. Those same people do wear masks inside grocery stores and the like, but 90% of shoppers don’t, many stores the staff aren’t wearing them anymore. Gymnastics still requires masks, but the teachers pull theirs down when giving directions, so what’s the point? Same with school, masks are required for the kids, but they just sent out a group photo with them down, and they all eat lunch together.
The state says this:
There have been 4,389,478 vaccine doses administered in Iowa, with 69.6% of those 18 and older fully vaccinated and 73.1% of those 12 and older with at least one dose.
Which seems decent for a red state. But then we also have our highest hospitalized total of the year. 30% of those hospitalized were fully vaccinated.
I just feel like I have no idea how to judge risk tolerance. Do I need to wear a mask to erg and weight lift? I feel like I should to protect my unvaccinated kids, but is it really doing anything? Seems like masks on other people actually protect you more than a mask on yourself. (Assuming it’s the ‘other people’ who have an infection they maybe don’t know about.)
3 Likes
3rd dose is the same as the first 2, booster is a lower strength version. She might have more luck scheduling the appointment as a 1st dose and then explaining the situation to the pharmacist when she gets there.
6 Likes
Ohhhhh I had no idea. I told them I needed a booster but then I think when I told them why he was like “third dose” and I was thinking he was just being fussy about the terminology!
2 Likes
She’s speaking with live people on the phone and they don’t have it in stock. Online if she books the appointment it looks like they would have the dose but then staff the say they don’t actually have it, which seems nuts.
Oof, triple-moderna’d coworker is positive for covid. Got it from her vaxxed kid who got it at school. 
She says she doesn’t feel that sick though, so I guess that is good.
6 Likes
I think Pfizer is the same dose, but Moderna is half strength. (Although that still puts a Moderna booster as having higher active portion than Pfizer).
1 Like
I think that is where the vaccine is so important. It greatly increases the number of “doesn’t feel sick” cases, even if people get infected.
That’s hugely important too. I hope she stays well.
9 Likes
Can confirm if the guy who put the Pfizer booster in my arm yesterday was telling me the truth. Same dosage for the booster Pfizer
5 Likes
Personally I am glad that weight was mentioned as a possible contributor because it motivated me and 2 of my friends to change the one thing we could. We couldn’t change our medical conditions ( although I went from taking 2 pills for HBP to 1) or our age. If it turns out it was wasted effort that’s fine. The thing is no one really knows how weight contributes to illness on a individual basis. My grandma was severely obese and a doctor told her that she would be dead by 50 because her heart would give out. No she died from cancer at 77. If I am remembering correctly predictions are more accurate for groups of people versus one individual.
1 Like
as someone who is immunosuppressed, I’ve been just sitting there waiting for useful studies to come out - is vaccination effective on TNF inhibitors? which vaccines? Is my risk higher with an autoimmune disorder? Is it higher immunosuppressed? It’s frustrating that good science takes a long time with a novel virus when we’re all stuck living here.
ETA: there’s also a lot of ableism inherent in the way these studies have been covered/not covered, because there’s a perception you just stop living your life if you’re immunosuppressed/have an autoimmune disorder/have cancer. but in fact, most of us have been making these calculations for years prior to the pandemic. At some point I need to know more to make my own risk calculations
15 Likes
i am not glad they mentioned weight as a problem because they always mention weight as a problem without looking at it thru any other lens besides “weight is a problem.”
of course it’s all complex and varies from person to person but anti-fat bias is so baked in to almost every aspect of our lives that people accept it as truth and treat fat people like shit and act like losing substantial amounts of weight in a healthy and sustainable way is possible and we’re all just too lazy to do it. none of that is ok.
the science on covid keeps changing, for sure, but one thing that doesn’t change is that it all gets filtered through the biased lenses of the folks conducting it and reporting on it.
7 Likes
It especially sucks for people in your situation because many people can’t work from home, have to earn a living to survive and I don’t think people should have to choose between paying their bills and/or possibly illness or death. I spent my career working with people with disabilities so I know how difficult their lives can be for a variety of factors.
1 Like
So, our first test (4 days with symptoms) is negative. Get the 5 day tomorrow. 
Daycare closed til 1/3. Fine and good. Whatever.
We live in an apt building with no shared vents but do share unmasked hallways. There’s never like, a CRUNCH of people and we try to mask up. But like…
…
Are we all just gonna get omnicron? I despair if reaching a vaccine for my 3yr old before he gets it.
10 Likes
Even if we do, the bright side is that evidence keeps seeming to point to omicron being less severe. and the vaccine still helps make it less severe still.
5 Likes
For awhile I wondered if we would all just get the Delta variant. So now it’s will we all just get omnicron.
It’s good news omnicron has evolved to be less severe. If it becomes the dominant variant, this coronavirus may eventually be like the many human coronaviruses we already know: the common cold.
So it might be that we all get it, but it’s just not that big of a deal, except in highly susceptible populations, and then because most of us don’t need treatment, medical care is open and available for them. And maybe we will be able to have a vaccine, like the flu, where more of us don’t get it than would have if we didn’t have one. But because it’s not seasonal like the flu, it seems like we are going to need a shit ton of boosters, and the people who won’t get them are probably not getting flu shots annually either…
My pediatrician is fairly confident an under 5 vaccine will be available early next year.
7 Likes
I was watching an interview with a South African medical director at the Johannesburg public hospitals. She’s saying the symptom presentation is different on omicron vs delta and original recipe. They’re not seeing many coughs and they’re not seeing loss of taste and smell. And they’re not seeing the nasal congestion that was more common with delta. They’re seeing muscle aches and joint pain, and headaches. Severity is generally low across the board for vaccinated and unvaccinated patients, the main difference seems to be that the intensity of symptoms is higher for unvaccinated patients. (Worse headache, worse muscle aches). And they’re seeing far more unvaxxed patients of course. And SA is heavily J&J (although they also have Pfizer).
Anyway, one doctors experiences, but it’s early enough that’s what we’re looking at. Increasingly seeming like it’s watered itself down to reach more people (as Trevor Noah put it, “like Ice Cube!” Then showed a pic of an NWA album and then the movie poster for “are we there yet” 
)
13 Likes
I saw a male doctor from South Africa who said the same thing as BJ reported. He said previously his hospital was full of people with delta and now he showed it half empty. If omicron becomes like the cold it’s probably a good thing. Personally I make my decisions about vaccines on a individual basis. I don’t get the flu vaccine but do get the Covid vaccines.
2 Likes
Yes, it’ll likely get to point where unfortunately the burden of personal safety falls heavily on vulnerable groups, but most people will be able to return to status quo.
4 Likes
Hard agree. Sigh…
6 Likes