CDC has approved 4th vaccine dose for some people

[Scuba]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dtail Kind of where I am.

Ditto. We had our booster in October 2021. Never contracted Omicron as far as we know, but not anxious to get another booster so soon. The shots seem to be at least one variant behind anyway.

[pacergal]

Same here.
Unless BA.2 or another variant starts spreading like wildfire, I will get my 4th (maybe beginning of annual?) booster in the Fall with my flu vaccine.
That is if CDC recommends a 4th to everyone.
Still wearing masks and distancing. Probably masks forever, really like no colds or illnesses for the past few years!

[Turbo29]

This is interesting: " Macaque monkeys were dosed twice, four weeks apart, with the standard Moderna coronavirus vaccine, and then 41 weeks later one group of them got a booster of the same shot, while another got a booster of the new one with an Omicron variant sequence. Subsequent tests for neutralizing antibody levels, B-cell expansion, and response to a challenge with the Omicron virus itself showed that there was no difference between the two treatments at all."


Omicron Boosters and Original Antigenic Sin

[Sojourner]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Turbo29 This is interesting: " Macaque monkeys were dosed twice, four weeks apart, with the standard Moderna coronavirus vaccine, and then 41 weeks later one group of them got a booster of the same shot, while another got a booster of the new one with an Omicron variant sequence. Subsequent tests for neutralizing antibody levels, B-cell expansion, and response to a challenge with the Omicron virus itself showed that there was no difference between the two treatments at all." Omicron Boosters and Original Antigenic Sin

Thanks for posting this. Very interesting article.

[audreyh1]

Thanks for that article. I’ve been wondering about that.

Quote:

My own take is that if a variant comes along that's horrific enough to show major immune evasion, that very property will make it something that a new vaccine booster is likely to be able to target usefully. Omicron isn't it, though. It's different enough to be much faster-spreading, but it's similar enough for the current vaccines to still provide a huge amount of protection.

I’m still wondering about the waning of the current booster protection over time with respect to hospitalization or worse. And I would like to see it addressed for those of us >4 months out.

[Sojourner]

Quote:

Originally Posted by audreyh1 I’m still wondering about the waning of the current booster protection over time with respect to hospitalization or worse. And I would like to see it addressed for those of us >4 months out.

Here is a quote from a WebMD article from 4 days ago.

Quote:

Fauci pointed to CDC research that found vaccine effectiveness after two doses of mRNA vaccines -- either Moderna or Pfizer -- drops to 58% after 4-5 months. After a booster dose, the vaccine is 91% effective, at first, at preventing hospitalizations. But that drops to 78% at months 4 to 5. "Nonetheless, the level of 78 [%] is still a good protective area," Fauci said. "The future requirement for an additional boost, or a fourth shot for mRNA or a third shot for [Johnson & Johnson], is being very carefully monitored in real time," he said, adding that recommendations will be updated as needed.

It's useful to keep in mind that the 78% number included many elderly folks, as well as people with multiple comorbidities, etc. I would suspect the level of protection is substantially higher among younger, healthier folks.

[audreyh1]

Yes, I’ve read the reports.

I agree that 78% is still good at 4 months, but it continues to drop - that’s the point!

[zinger1457]

For those interested in getting a measure of their covid antibody levels a company called Serimmune is doing a covid immunity research study and still looking for participants, no cost involved. I signed up about 3 months ago, they send out a blood collection kit and you mail it back for analysis, about 3 weeks later you'll get a report back with your results. The blood collection is painless, similar to a prick when checking your glucose level at home except it's done on your upper arm. This is a long-term study and they will send you a collection kit every 6 months and provide you the results.
They also offer an optional expanded report that isn't covid related but will check your antibody levels against 5 different tick or mosquito borne diseases like lyme and report the likelihood if you've ever been exposed to any of those diseases. They use the same blood sample used for the covid test.
https://serimmune.com/covid19study/

[Turbo29]

"As people across the world grapple with the prospect of living with the coronavirus for the foreseeable future, one question looms large: How soon before they need yet another shot?Not for many months, and perhaps not for years, according to a flurry of new studies.
Three doses of a Covid vaccine — or even just two — are enough to protect most people from serious illness and death for a long time, the studies suggest.
“We’re starting to see now diminishing returns on the number of additional doses,” said John Wherry, director of the Institute for immunology at the University of Pennsylvania. Although people over 65 or at high risk of illness may benefit from a fourth vaccine dose, it may be unnecessary for most people, he added."


Got a Covid Booster? You Probably Won’t Need Another for a Long Time

[audreyh1]

The beef I have with articles like that, is:

Quote:

“Memory responses can last for ages,” said Wendy Burgers, an immunologist at the University of Cape Town who led one of the studies, published in the journal Nature. “Potentially, the T-cell response is extremely long lived.”

They are speculating for Covid-19, they don’t know.

Meanwhile waning protection is being measured, for real.

The CDC is looking at who shows up in urgency care centers, emergency departments and hospitals. Their waning protection indications aren’t based on antibody measurements, but on those needing treatment. https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/71/wr/mm7107e2.htm

[Turbo29]

Quote:

Originally Posted by audreyh1 The beef I have with articles like that, is: They are speculating for Covid-19, they don’t know. Meanwhile waning protection is being measured, for real. The CDC is looking at who shows up in urgency care centers, emergency departments and hospitals. Their waning protection indications aren’t based on antibody measurements, but on those needing treatment. https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/71/wr/mm7107e2.htm

Problem is, there may be problems from continual boosting. Whether or not boosters become harmful or helpful after a certain number of them is also speculation at the moment. If one booster is good, and it seems that it is, it remains to be seen if repeated boosters every [insert time period here] will be helpful or harmful.

[Born2BRetd]

Quote:

Originally Posted by zinger1457 For those interested in getting a measure of their covid antibody levels a company called Serimmune is doing a covid immunity research study and still looking for participants, no cost involved. I signed up about 3 months ago, they send out a blood collection kit and you mail it back for analysis, about 3 weeks later you'll get a report back with your results. The blood collection is painless, similar to a prick when checking your glucose level at home except it's done on your upper arm. This is a long-term study and they will send you a collection kit every 6 months and provide you the results. They also offer an optional expanded report that isn't covid related but will check your antibody levels against 5 different tick or mosquito borne diseases like lyme and report the likelihood if you've ever been exposed to any of those diseases. They use the same blood sample used for the covid test. https://serimmune.com/covid19study/

Thanks Zinger! I signed up

[audreyh1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Turbo29 Problem is, there may be problems from continual boosting. Whether or not boosters become harmful or helpful after a certain number of them is also speculation at the moment. If one booster is good, and it seems that it is, it remains to be seen if repeated boosters every [insert time period here] will be helpful or harmful.

Now I’m reading some other things that there isn’t such waning, and that the CDC report results were strongly influenced by a high number of immunocompromised individuals in the study. The limitations of the study explained this, that the results probably weren’t valid, but they published anyway.

[Koolau]

Quote:

Originally Posted by audreyh1 Now I’m reading some other things that there isn’t such waning, and that the CDC report results were strongly influenced by a high number of immunocompromised individuals in the study. The limitations of the study explained this, that the results probably weren’t valid, but they published anyway.

Sounds like "equity market research."

[ExFlyBoy5]

Quote:

Originally Posted by zinger1457 For those interested in getting a measure of their covid antibody levels a company called Serimmune is doing a covid immunity research study and still looking for participants, no cost involved. I signed up about 3 months ago, they send out a blood collection kit and you mail it back for analysis, about 3 weeks later you'll get a report back with your results. The blood collection is painless, similar to a prick when checking your glucose level at home except it's done on your upper arm. This is a long-term study and they will send you a collection kit every 6 months and provide you the results. They also offer an optional expanded report that isn't covid related but will check your antibody levels against 5 different tick or mosquito borne diseases like lyme and report the likelihood if you've ever been exposed to any of those diseases. They use the same blood sample used for the covid test. https://serimmune.com/covid19study/

I also signed up for this a day after you posted it and the first test kit was shipped yesterday. I also signed up for the "extra" tests as well. I will be interested to see what the results show.

[Freedom56]

Now that they are lifting indoor masking requirements, they are literally giving away N95 masks in quantities greater that than the 3 per person. My wife was at Rite-Aid today and while she was at the cash, the cashier asked if she wanted some N95 masks. She said okay and was expecting three of them but the cashier gave her fifty 3M Aura N95 masks. Last year fifty of these masks would have cost over $250 and about $100 today. How times have changed.

[audreyh1]

Hmm - will start collecting!

[harllee]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Freedom56 Now that they are lifting indoor masking requirements, they are literally giving away N95 masks in quantities greater that than the 3 per person. My wife was at Rite-Aid today and while she was at the cash, the cashier asked if she wanted some N95 masks. She said okay and was expecting three of them but the cashier gave her fifty 3M Aura N95 masks. Last year fifty of these masks would have cost over $250 and about $100 today. How times have changed.

I will have to start looking for these free masks, have not seen any locally yet except through the health dept and the limit is 3. My DH and I plan to continue to wear masks in indoor crowded situations since DH has an immune compromised so we need a lot of masks.

[Koolau]

Yeah, they were offering them at CVS the other day. I didn't use them when masks were required (I just used the cheap surgical masks) so why would I take home a bunch to gather dust? YMMV

[braumeister]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Koolau Yeah, they were offering them at CVS the other day. I didn't use them when masks were required (I just used the cheap surgical masks) so why would I take home a bunch to gather dust? YMMV

Dust is the reason. As a woodworker, I generate a lot of sawdust at times.