All About Vaccines

[useridgoeshere]

This year, I asked when getting my flu shot, and my doctor said they used to recommend two weeks but not any more. Maybe it was a warning the first year just because they didn’t know what might happen.

[numberthirty]

This year, I asked when getting my flu shot, and my doctor said they used to recommend two weeks but not any more. Maybe it was a warning the first year just because they didn’t know what might happen.

The way it was explained to me went a little something like this...

If someone was to have a negative reaction, you cant really sort out what they are having said negative reaction to if you give someone two vaccines at the same time.

They also ask pretty clearly if you have had the shingles vaccine in the paperwork you fill out before they will give you a "Covid..." booster.

Actual reactions to the "Covid..." shot have apparently not been enough of an issue to seriously warrant that concern this far in.

That said, they absolutely pointed out that I needed to stay in the drug store for ten or fifteen minutes on the off chance that I could have a negative reaction just a couple of weeks back.

[Kirby101]

I believe it is okay to get any booster. I have seen some suggested getting a booster from another company might improve immunity.

[Tami]

I believe it is okay to get any booster. I have seen some suggested getting a booster from another company might improve immunity.

I'd like to add a little advice. If you are not sure, and if you are able to, ask your family Doctor or whatever medical professional you see on a regular basis. I doubt that there would be a problem in switching vaccines, but your medical professional can answer your questions better.

[Jim Kelly]

My first two shots were Astra. But then by the 3rd shot, the province decided that wasn't good for my age group and gave me Moderna. That hit me hard (much worse than Astra) and it took a week to get back to normal. But then my 4th shot was also Moderna and I had no ill effects. Also had my flu shot last month and was perfectly fine. I'm essentially Superman now.

[Catlady in training]

My first two shots were Astra. But then by the 3rd shot, the province decided that wasn't good for my age group and gave me Moderna. That hit me hard (much worse than Astra) and it took a week to get back to normal. But then my 4th shot was also Moderna and I had no ill effects. Also had my flu shot last month and was perfectly fine. I'm essentially Superman now.

My mother also got Astra-Zeneca for first two shots, then Pfizer for boosters. I got Pfizer for all four, but I doubt it makes much difference now, I assume the original immunity is gone by now and we're protected by the latest booster, but I could be wrong about that.

[Phoenixx9]

My mother also got Astra-Zeneca for first two shots, then Pfizer for boosters. I got Pfizer for all four, but I doubt it makes much difference now, I assume the original immunity is gone by now and we're protected by the latest booster, but I could be wrong about that.

Well, it is called a "Booster" because it is supposed to reactivate and/or increase your protection already present.

Otherwise, it would just be another injection, much in the sense of a Flu-Shot. Each year you get a new Flu-Shot, not a booster, because there is nothing left to boost. You require a new injection for Flu for protection.

[Kirby101]

You get a new Flu shot because each year the virus is different. And the COVID booster is also for variants.

[CaptainEurope]

Immunity debt — the idea that our immune systems become weak if we're not exposed to pathogens — isn't a real thing

Some on social media are explaining this phenomenon — the surge in flu and RSV cases — as something called "immunity debt," which is not a widely accepted scientific term and does a poor job of clarifying the underlying causes of this "tripledemic." Others even argue that we should have never locked down from COVID in the first place, which is why we are so ill equipped to handle flu and RSV.

The underlying idea behind "immunity debt" is that the immune system is a muscle that needs working out or it will become flabby and weak. If you don't regularly expose yourself or your kids to viruses, bacteria and other pathogens, then the next time you get sick it will be especially bad.

This "immunity debt" rationalization has been used to argue against COVID protection measures like masking or even vaccinations. But some experts see it differently: the immune system is not a muscle — it's far more complex than that — and they warn that framing this situation as "debt" can have serious consequences.

"By calling it a debt, there is the implicit argument that catching these viruses is part of our social contract. It's a debt that must be paid to reengage into society," Dr. Anthony Leonardi, an immunologist specializing in T cells and a master of public health student at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, told Salon. "And that is somewhat brutish, archaic, and social Darwinist."

Dr. T. Ryan Gregory, an evolutionary and genome biologist at the University of Guelph in Canada, described the term immunity debt as "confusing" and a "distortion" of the hygiene hypothesis, a widely criticized concept that dates back to 1989, positing that childhood exposure to pathogens is necessary to prevent allergies, asthma or other conditions.

"The argument there is let your kids play in the dirt. Let them get exposed to microbes. It's not 'let them run around in a biohazard lab,'" Gregory told Salon. "Suggesting that unless you're getting infected regularly with pathogenic viruses, your immune system will be weakened, just runs into a logical problem."

In other words, it's smart to protect against certain illnesses, especially those as severe as COVID-19. Widespread COVID infections may also explain why other diseases are surging. While SARS-CoV-2 isn't "airborne AIDS," as some alarmists have described it, there is something unique that the virus does to damage immune memory. SARS- 2 can devastate the immune system, especially harming T cells, a type of white blood cell that helps the body recognize an infection, among many other functions.

Compared to 2018, "children up to the age of six months are seven times more likely to be hospitalized by RSV," Leonardi said, which cannot be entirely explained by an immunity debt. "They're only six months old. What could have happened is that COVID, in mild infections, it'll wipe out, it'll bring to the floor, the plasmacytoid dendritic cells that are responsible for secreting a lot of interferon alpha, which is responsible for dampening the severity of RSV and even preventing infection of RSV."

Meanwhile, politicians latch on to the bad science and are doing everything to get every child infected with covid.

[Tami]

Omicron offshoot XBB.1.5 could drive new Covid-19 surge in US

For weeks, scientists have been watching a slew of Omicron descendants duke it out for dominance of Covid-19 transmission in the United States, with the BQs – BQ.1 and BQ.1.1 – seeming to edge out all the others to claim a slight lead.

The result has been a gradual rise in cases and hospitalizations that never seemed to reach the peaks of this summer’s BA.5 wave and was certainly nothing like the tsunami of illness caused by the original Omicron strain a year ago.

But on Friday, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Covid-19 variant dashboard revealed a new dark horse that could soon sweep the field: XBB.1.5.

The CDC estimates that XBB.1.5 has more than doubled its share of the Covid-19 pie each week for the last four, rising from about 4% to 41% of new infections over the month of December. In the Northeast, the CDC estimates, XBB.1.5 is causing 75% of new cases.

“For a few months now, we haven’t seen a variant that’s taken off at that speed,” said Pavitra Roychoudhury, director of Covid-19 sequencing at the University of Washington School of Medicine’s virology lab.

[CaptainEurope]

I got my bivalent booster (original strain and Omicron B.A4 and 5) 10 days ago, no side effects,

[Tami]

I got my bivalent booster (original strain and Omicron B.A4 and 5) 10 days ago, no side effects,

I'm still amazed that there are people out there who never even got their first vaccination, much less the booster.

[Gray Lensman]

I got my second booster in October - my new job involves a lot of flying for training, and I wanted a fresh booster before hopping into a metal tube with over 100 intimate strangers. I'm wondering when I should consider the next one.

[useridgoeshere]

In rapid succession, I heard about multiple folks with cases of shingles. I’ve had chicken pox, so I was like, I don’t want that and got the first Shingrix shot yesterday. Folks said the side effects were bad, but so far so good. Just site injection tenderness. Nothing major.

[Tami]

In rapid succession, I heard about multiple folks with cases of shingles. I’ve had chicken pox, so I was like, I don’t want that and got the first Shingrix shot yesterday. Folks said the side effects were bad, but so far so good. Just site injection tenderness. Nothing major.

I've had the previous version of the Shingles Vaccine about 5 years or so ago, and last year I got the Shinrix vaccine (2 doses), and had no problems with either. I had already gotten shingles when I was 50 (it caught me off guard), and I was told to get the vaccines to make sure that I didn't get it again.

To those in your late 40's, ask about the vaccine asap and and get it as soon as your doctor allows.