FDA Approves Booster Shot for People with Weakened Immune Systems

[Live Free]

Scheduled a Moderna booster and flu shot for next week. The half dose one. Lots of available appointments at pharmacies here in Atlanta area. With the holidays coming and the mingling with family and friends at Thanksgiving, it is a good time for the booster. I am 8+ months from last dose.

[11522914]

My wife, daughter and I got our Moderna boosters 2 days ago. Scheduled an appointment at Publix and we were all done in 15 minutes. No lines at all.

We all had slightly sore arms for a day. Yesterday all of us felt fatigue most of the day. Daughter still went to work and was fine.

Today daughter and I feel great. Wife a little bit tired but feeling fine.

Scheduled our flu shots for this Friday. Pharmacist suggested not getting flu and booster at same time. Said it was safe to do it but if any reactions wouldn't know if booster or flu shot.

[MuirWannabe]

Just trying to confirm. My brief research on the Moderna booster seems to show it only being approved for 65+, or those younger with some immune compromised condition. Or younger who work in health care.
I’m waiting on the Moderna booster but don’t qualify under any of these conditions. Assume it will open up for others at some point. Do I have this correct? Thanks.

[Calico]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MuirWannabe Just trying to confirm. My brief research on the Moderna booster seems to show it only being approved for 65+, or those younger with some immune compromised condition. Or younger who work in health care. I’m waiting on the Moderna booster but don’t qualify under any of these conditions. Assume it will open up for others at some point. Do I have this correct? Thanks.

From CDC(dot)Gov, the eligibility criteria for ages 18-64 (not including underlying conditions) are shown below. Multiple occupations besides health care are eligible (not just health care workers).

[11522914]

My understanding is if you have an underlying health issue, i.e. high blood pressure, bmi greater than 30, etc you can get any available booster if under 65.

And for Pfizer or Moderna it must be at least 6 months after your last dose.

[MuirWannabe]

Thanks. That matches what my research had found. I don’t qualify on age, health issues, and I’m happily retired. So, for now I must continue to wait on the booster until it’s approved for all. It’s been 9 months since my last jab.

[Time2]

Quote:

Originally Posted by braumeister Great feeling this morning -- completely back to normal. When I got the original vaccinations in February it took two weeks before the fatigue was gone. After the booster it only took five days, I guess partly because of the half dose. So good to be past that!

My arm was a little sore for a day, but, I didn't have any body aches or fatigue after my booster, I hope it did it's job.

[aaronc879]

I got the Pfizer booster yesterday morning. I started feeling feverish just before bed around 12 hours post shot. I slept from 10:30-11:30 then laid in bed for 7 hours feeling miserable. I had a fever, chills, and a bad cramp in my foot. Now, 28 hours post shot, the fever is gone and I just have a really bad headache. One of the worst headaches I have ever had. For those still working fulltime you better take at least one day off work after the shot.

[aaronc879]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MuirWannabe Thanks. That matches what my research had found. I don’t qualify on age, health issues, and I’m happily retired. So, for now I must continue to wait on the booster until it’s approved for all. It’s been 9 months since my last jab.

Do you know your BMI? Anyone with 25 or higher is considered overweight and the majority of people fall in that category. Have you ever had a high blood pressure reading? You could justify getting the booster if you wanted to. They don't ask for any proof of a health issue.

[audreyh1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MuirWannabe Thanks. That matches what my research had found. I don’t qualify on age, health issues, and I’m happily retired. So, for now I must continue to wait on the booster until it’s approved for all. It’s been 9 months since my last jab.

The medical conditions listed are very broad and sufficiently vague. I didn’t wait when I hit the 6 months after 2nd dose. I’m 62 close enough.

[Koolau]

Quote:

Originally Posted by harllee I did have to have an appointment for CVS and they were turning away anyone without an appointment

Yeah. What is THAT about? Many places locally are simply "show up" and get your booster - but not CVS. YMMV

[aaronc879]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Koolau Yeah. What is THAT about? Many places locally are simply "show up" and get your booster - but not CVS. YMMV

Not sure how that works. They have to be frozen and prepped before use. Not sure how soon after being taken out of the freezer that they are usable but it's not immediately.

[11522914]

Interesting article about booster effectiveness.

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/l...249-2/fulltext

Vaccine effectiveness evaluated at least 7 days after receipt of the third dose, compared with receiving only two doses at least 5 months ago, was estimated to be 93% (231 events for two doses*vs*29 events for three doses; 95% CI 88–97) for admission to hospital, 92% (157*vs*17 events; 82–97) for severe disease, and 81% (44*vs*seven events; 59–97) for COVID-19-related death.


Booster shots appear to be quite effective .

[CardsFan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Koolau Yeah. What is THAT about? Many places locally are simply "show up" and get your booster - but not CVS. YMMV

We just got ours today at CVS. Scheduled yesterday. Plenty of spots available, and no one else was there for shots when we were.

I think CVS wants appointments for 2 reasons:

1. To make sure there is not a long line, but more important to them:

2. When you make the appointment on-line you fill out all the paperwork. Insurance info, agree to all the caveats, select the shot (Moderna, Pfizer), etc. When you get there you then check-in with a link from a text. You sign one piece of paper and get your shot. So, they simplify their work by having you do it on-line. Personally, I have no problem with that. My 90yo MIL would not be able to handle it this way.

[Koolau]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 11522914 Interesting article about booster effectiveness. https://www.thelancet.com/journals/l...249-2/fulltext Vaccine effectiveness evaluated at least 7 days after receipt of the third dose, compared with receiving only two doses at least 5 months ago, was estimated to be 93% (231 events for two doses*vs*29 events for three doses; 95% CI 88–97) for admission to hospital, 92% (157*vs*17 events; 82–97) for severe disease, and 81% (44*vs*seven events; 59–97) for COVID-19-related death. Booster shots appear to be quite effective if I read this correctly.

Yes, everything I've seen suggests that boosters are an important part of protecting individuals AND (hopefully) blunting Covid 19 to manageable levels for the entire "herd." Let us hope so.

[harllee]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Koolau Yeah. What is THAT about? Many places locally are simply "show up" and get your booster - but not CVS. YMMV

Well the CVS where I got my booster is very busy. They usually only have 2 or 3 people working. When I got my shot there was a line of people getting Covid boosters and flu vaccines. If they did not require appointments it would be chaos.

[Koolau]

Quote:

Originally Posted by harllee Well the CVS where I got my booster is very busy. They usually only have 2 or 3 people working. When I got my shot there was a line of people getting Covid boosters and flu vaccines. If they did not require appointments it would be chaos.

That's the way it was when I went for my 1st and 2nd shots. In fact, I had to drive across the Island to get those shots because only 2 or 3 of our many Longs Drugs (CVS) were doing shots back in March/April.

But the Longs which turned me away recently had NO customers with two med-tech-type folks sitting - waiting for their next appt. to arrive, I guess. All the time I waited in line for a script (about 10 minutes) nothing was happening in the booth. After "spending" my Extra-Care coupons in the store, I checked back - just for fun. The booth had no customers and the same 2 shot-givers chatting with one another.

CVS has a right to their policy and I have a right to look elsewhere. YMMV

[ElizabethT]

Quote:

Originally Posted by aaronc879 I got the Pfizer booster yesterday morning. I started feeling feverish just before bed around 12 hours post shot. I slept from 10:30-11:30 then laid in bed for 7 hours feeling miserable. I had a fever, chills, and a bad cramp in my foot. Now, 28 hours post shot, the fever is gone and I just have a really bad headache. One of the worst headaches I have ever had. For those still working fulltime you better take at least one day off work after the shot.

It continues to fascinate me how varied responses are to the vaccine. My first Pfizer resulted in a full week of crushing fatigue, but no flu-like symptoms whatsoever. My second Pfizer shot delivered a mild case of 24 hour fatigue, as did the Moderna booster I got just last week.

My spouse, conversely, had awful flu symptoms after Moderna #1, mild flu symptoms after Moderna #2, and zero symptoms of any sort after Moderna booster.

In other news, beyond thrilled that the vaccine has just been approved by the CDC for 5-11 year olds, the age bracket of my GD's. An enormous relief on so many levels, both small (my family) and large (everyone else!) scale.

[eytonxav]

DW and I received our Moderna boosters today, no problems. I can't help but think this is going to become an ongoing event in the future

[explanade]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DFW_M5 I can't help but think this is going to become an ongoing event in the future

Let's hope not. Because it could mean there's a variant that's even more transmissible than Delta.

If not for the Delta variant, we might not have needed boosters at 6 months.


Also maybe some alternative vaccines will have a chance to be developed including nasal vaccines.

The problem is, Pfizer may have created a moat with sheer manufacturing capacity.

The Novavax vaccine had some promising clinical trial data but they have had all kinds of production problems.