Everything I've read to date says Omicron is nowhere near as bad as the Delta varient. My step-daughter is barely sick. I wouldn't be concerned about contracting Omicron if I was fully vaxxed. Delta would still make me a bit nervous.
In the UK they have said that the early analysis on Omicron indicates it is 50-70 less likely to lead to hospitalization, and that the time needed in hospital seems to be far shorter as well. But it is considerably more infectious so the overall number of hospital beds could well be similar.
I have just one question for all of you... how long are you going to continue getting boosters (every 4 months)? Is there a point when you think you might say it's enough?
I don't believe any of the in use vaccines call for boosters every four months, I took mine eight months after my second shot. Pfizer booster schedule has now been cut to a five month minimum and Moderna remains at six. The question that needs to be answered before considering getting more boosters is what will future experience show as the longevity of the immunity provided by the vaccines. Boosters have been commonplace in controlling both viruses and bacterial infections for decades; I have no idea how many tetanus shots and boosters I have received over the years. Another factor, of course, is the emergence of new strains of Covid 19; that may or may not be affected by current vaccines so a booster with a variant directed at a new strain may be required to combat transmissibility as well as alleviate harmful effects. One should also remember that a decision to take or not take boosters can affect the overall transmissibility rather than simply protect the user. We could be in serious trouble if the next strain has the transmission traits of Omicron and the potency of Delta and the resistance to taking vaccines increases or even remains the same. In the second grade I was a "polio pioneer" who took part in the Salk vaccine trials; I took all the common childhood disease vaccines (or I would not have been permitted in school), I got decades worth of shots while I was in the service for two years so it's really no big deal to me at all to take a few more where it makes sense. On the other hand I have never taken a flu shot or the pneumonia or shingles vaccines which are all recommended for people in my age group because I never felt the personal need or put anyone else at risk by not doing so. I believe in getting as much fact based information from reliable sources as possible and making informed decisions so until that information goes a different way, I don't expect to be bothered enough by getting boosters to say "enough is enough" when I can help fight Covid as I helped fight polio as a seven year old, although I don't remember being given the choice..
Probably as long as my doctor thinks it's a good idea. I will give an update to my booster experience. The Moderna booster hot me like a ton of bricks yesterday. I went almost two days with nothing more than a sore arm and some mild aches. Yesterday afternoon I really started to feel shitty. The aches intensified and I got a bad headache. I ended up taking NyQuil and going to bed around 7:00 pm. I woke up around 10:00 pm when my wife came to bed and had a lump under my armpit. I went back to sleep until 8:00 am this morning. I'm still feel tired and the pain in my armpit is still there.
Perhaps you could point us plebeians to what encyclopedia we can use to research the Covid-19 vaccine?
All 3 of mine were Pfizer and I had zero effects minus a sore arm. I was also told that mixing was okay.
I suspect it will become a once a year seasonal jab not unlike the flu. How long it takes to get to that I can't say.
