DH's rheumatologist says that is too late for DH to be tested to see if the vaccine worked--if he were going to be tested he should have been tested about a month after the 2ned vaccine which would have been in March but the studies were not out hen so he did not know to get tested then. DH and his doctor are looking into getting him a third shot of the vaccine but that has not been approved by the FDA yet.
Interesting you mentioned a rheumatologist. Might I ask if DH has a form of rheumatoid arthritis and/or on retuxamab? My chemo treatment included the immunotherapy of retuxamab and is the primary cause of my non-existent immune system. However, the doses I got, every month for 6 months, is typically many times more than someone being treated for RA. To treat my type of NHL, not only do the B-cells have to be destroyed, so do the stem cells they come from. Those stem cells come from bone marrow. My oncologist tells me it will take a year for my body to rebuild it's B and T cells to the point they were prior to my treatment. It MIGHT be that if your DH was treated for RA, that the dose was less and just once every 6 months, then timing for the vaccine is paramount. It's recommended that someone on a retuximab therapy every 6 months, time their vaccine to the end of that 6 months and try to delay the next treatment by 4 weeks. I realize the discomfort of the delay, but it's suggested that antibodies have the most likely chance under those terms.
I wish all well who have a compromised immune system. Myself included! Ha! I have had to weigh the risks of social activity to my diagnosis and prognosis to exposure to the virus. I won't NOT see my grand children. They know Papa can't hug them, but we can play games, like chess, from across the room. Or enjoy a movie from Disney+ when I sit behind them a ways, etc. Everyone has the right to determine their own risk assessment with their vulnerability to either virus or vaccine, but we all also need to respect the other's choice.
Cheers!
Oh, and I want to comment on the 3rd shot, a booster. I asked my doc if I should get one or one of the other vaccines. He said NO. Do not until it's been authorized for that use. He also told me that it's just as likely I am protected by the vaccine as not. That the tests developed are looking for specific spike proteins and nothing else. It could be I have had a reaction to the vaccine that simply wasn't anticipated so wasn't discovered in their very limited test. Because there is so much uncertainty, the 'booster' isn't authorized, nor mixing vaccines. It's not hard to see why someone who is cautious is adverse to getting a vaccine to begin with. There's just so much that isn't known at this point.
And just one last point. With a compromised immune system, it's not just CV19 that has to be cautioned. A simple scratch from a kitten can cause an infection that could result in sepsis and kill just as fast as CV19. Any elderly person needs to realize it's not just CV19 they need fear of contracting. While CV19 is more contagious, it seems, it's not alone in it's risk to those immune compromised folks.
