From everything I understand, ain’t no one turning you away if you want more vaccines. The key is if it makes sense to do more now, vs later
8 Likes
My sister just got her 4th because no one in DC is bothering to check if you’re eligible
I might be considering it if I hadn’t gotten covid in may. I might still do it this fall.
1 Like
On this topic, I have to admit I have felt a sea change in myself - I have gotten so so relaxed and over covid. I have even stopped wearing a mask at the skating rink most of the time as of last week, because it’s so humid it gets sweaty and terrible and is awful for my skin to wear a K95 when working out for 90 minutes.
I dunno if it’s burnout, having caught covid after 2 years of vigilance and it being mild for me (I’m sure thanks to access to paxlovid). But I feel very much resigned to the fact that covid has a much low mortality and hospitalization rate than it did when my uncle died from it - given vaccines and treatments now - and that I put myself at risk for plenty of other diseases that I take small amounts of precautions for (anti-malarials, flu shots). The fact that many many people I know have gotten covid in the past month despite being generally cautious tells me that either they are also burnt out or the most recent variants are just infectious af.
I feel a lot of the “health precautions” at this point are just theatre that don’t actually protect anyone much (i.e. wearing a mask to a table at a restaurant, then removing it when you sit down). It also feels really discouraging that mask mandates were supposed to be able to “come back” when case numbers rose, but case numbers have been sky high and the most the health department said was gently tweet that they recommend them inside now.
13 Likes
I think anyone in MI can get a 4th shot so I asked my doctor. My 3rd was back in November so plenty long ago. He said I can if I want to, but he is personally waiting until fall when he thinks there will be a new better vaccine possibly mixed with the flu shot so you only need one shot. I’m not traveling anywhere though, so different circumstances than some of you.
4 Likes
North of Denver and I planned to get a second booster before an upcoming trip to visit relatives, but when I called I was told I wasn’t eligible. On the other hand, if I put even the most marginal effort into lying, I suspect no one would blink twice.
5 Likes
Ontario Canada here! If we are 6mo out we can!
Maybe I’ll just pretend to be Canadian! 
1 Like
Ponder would have been due another booster, over-30s were just made eligible for theirs here a short time ago, but it is winter. And then we all caught it. If you have a big event coming up I’d get the booster, but otherwise wait until Autumn in your region to be protected going into Winter with high indoor exposure. I had COVID 3 weeks after my first booster and I’m mild compared to both Ponder and my unvaxxed 17 month old.
I need to test Duckling again. If hes positive, he cant get his second vaccine for 3 months. If hes negative on a saliva RAT, which we’ve found to have a high false negative rate, do we book his vaccine? 3 of us down with it makes me think he had it last week.
5 Likes
I think it only opened up within the past few weeks though - I think we will end up on every 6mo boosters until they can make it annual. I guess it depends on variants and waves
Oh and since we all just got it, i am booking in to experiences we’ve avoided the last 2.5 years. Making hay while the immunity is high.
9 Likes
Last I heard the new boosters are coming in mid-September, but that’s assuming everything goes according to plan.
I am technically eligible for a second booster due to my job, but I’ve held off since I’m young with no risk factors (and just got covid again in June).
However, my brother is getting married at the end of September (his wedding will have no covid precautions of any kind) and I have a Very Important Paid Thing I have to test negative for 9 days later. So I’m planning to get whatever they’ll inject me with on September 15th and pray it works.
5 Likes
Haha yep Latte started gymnastics right after we left quarantine. ALRIGHTY THEN may as well.
10 Likes
Anecdotally I think a lot of pregnant people are claiming to be immunosuppressed in order to get 4th shots to hopefully protect their newborns. That was my reasoning!
12 Likes
I’m 49.5 and got a script from my doc to get a 2nd booster, but the pharmacy said they couldn’t do it. So then I lied and said I was immunocompromised. I figure I’ll be 4 months out from my booster by the time the new one comes but who knows when that will be really. Don’t they need to do trials and stuff still?
6 Likes
They’ve already done some smaller trials to show the mixed booster produces a more effective antibody response to omicron than the original booster: https://www.fiercepharma.com/pharma/modernas-updated-omicron-booster-proves-high-neutralizing-antibody-responses-trial
And recently Moderna and Pfizer agreed that they can manufacture quickly enough to deliver in September instead of October or November: New Omicron COVID Boosters Coming Soon: What to Know Now
I’m guessing that since the overall design of the vaccine is so similar to the original - it just has some extra mRNA with the omicron sequence - that the FDA doesn’t need to see a full blown trial again. Hopefully this already means we’re approaching a similar process to the annual flu shot, where we can swap out the specific genetic material based on what’s circulating and be more nimble about updating the shots.
6 Likes
my quiet back of the head worry: the way vaccine guidelines are muddy and how people are lying about immunosuppression to get access could result in one of these
-
no one believes you really are immunosuppressed anymore , I.e. goes the same way as service dogs due to fake service dog vests
-
they remove access to vaccines for people with immunosuppression, and it gets harder to access things like non-live vaccines needed for immunosuppressed people
15 Likes
Yeah… I know so many people who are double boosted and are being super cautious re masking indoors and avoiding crowded events (like me, on both counts) and got it anyway. So I’ve kind of arrived at: OK, so, either I can continue saying no to events and eating/drinking indoors - which means I’m turning down a fair amount of stuff these days as a lot of folks don’t want to eat outside in the heat, also it rains daily - and probably still get covid, OR I can loosen up my restrictions a bit - and probably still get covid.
So, once Boyfriend gets thru his colonoscopy in a couple weeks (because he is overdue and it’s important since his mom died of colon cancer so we do not want to lose that appointment because we get covid and then it gets pushed out for many months again) we are probably going to relax some of our rules. Like, we’ll probably mask indoors in stores and public places and on public transport, because that costs us nothing. But it’d be nice to be able to say yes to drinks at a bar even though it’s raining or they don’t have a patio. Or dancing! At a club! OMG. I miss it so much.
We probably still won’t fly, though.
Yeah, the Chicago health officer was quoted as saying something like, “well, we want to wait on putting mandates back unless shit gets REALLY bad” and it’s like… OK, when exactly would that be, because shit seems pretty bad everywhere now. I think their barometer is whether or not hospitals can function. And, apparently they can, technically, so, no mask requirement?
10 Likes
I am actually very surprised that the lying works! Here for any special status that isn’t age you needed proof - doctor’s notes or prescription; for healthcare early access I needed proof of active employment at least 1 day per week
8 Likes
I am actually not worried about this for now because demand for vaccines is so low 
I qualify for another booster already but I’m planning to wait til September because I want the new formulation.
7 Likes
I actually tried 3 pharmacies and got a prescription when they told me that’s the only way they could give me the jab. Then I showed up and was told they couldn’t give it to me even with the script. I really did try to not have to lie, but it was the only way I could get it. Meanwhile how many Paxlovid scripts are they filling each day?? Insanity
3 Likes