I doubt that many people are getting third shots at present. I think this is one of those “most people aren’t on Twitter, or College Confidential, or whatever social media” things. Most people got their shots and think they are good. If the CDC or the FDA suggests and approves third shots it will be different, but most of the people I know aren’t following what is happening in Israel or Germany or the United Kingdom all that closely.
What is happening in Israel, Germany,or the United Kingdom ?
They are offering third shots to certain groups of people. Primarily those over 60 but the details vary.
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I am sorry you went thru all that, @Publisher. Our stores have signs up, drop in vaccines available, stop by and get a small gift. They are trying to encourage vaccines. I wonder why your stores are not?
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I know several people who want a booster, some of them immunocompromised, but who do not want to do it without, at least, their MD approval. No doubt there are studies about the effectiveness and side effects. But there are still questions. If we were to go ahead and get a 3rd shot 6 months after our last one (2nd mRNA), is it better to get a different vaccine? Is it better to wait for a vaccine tweaked for variants? If we have a third shot now, will we not be able to get the tweaked version due to possible side effects? Etc.
My town does not ask for ID or insurance and I could walk right in, but not going to. And I am fully aware of the situation in Israel and UK. If we all go for a booster, the result will be chaos with no tracking of side effects or effectiveness. Pfizer is working on getting them approved.
No doubt all of us would prefer an approved booster which has been studied extensively and is easily available and targeted to the latest variants. Since that does not appear to be imminent, those whose immunity may be waning right now and are at risk may be reasonably reliant on studies and approvals done by other developed countries, which may have handled pandemic response better.
The tracking and reporting system for both covid and vaccines is broken now, and seems unlikely to be fixed soon.
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@Publisher what state? Here where I am in CT, anyone can walk into pharmacies giving the Covid shot and get one on the spot.no appointments needed.
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Currently,it is easy to get Covid shots. I described my experience of several months ago–even though it was supposed to be easy then,it was not.
The signs were up, but the process was not as easy as suggested.
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Moderna data
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Link to the Moderna page with that image? It is not clear whether the chart is for a third dose of the same vaccine against the ancestral virus, or a third dose that is specifically for B.1.351 / Beta.
Sorry, no reference provided at our meeting. This was a powerpoint from a presentation from leadership.
Back then every single dose was zealously accounted for. If a provider had every dose for the day fully reserved then they couldn’t support walk-ins even if they looked completely deserted. At the end of the day then they’d have a frantic rush to get the leftover shots from no-shows into anybody they could find.
These days I wonder how many shots are getting discarded? I hope not too many.
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WHO calls for a moratorium on booster shots thru Sept, until more of the world’s population gets vaccinated. Will be interesting to hear how the White House and CDC react. Global vaccine distribution is a complicated issue. WHO calls for halting COVID-19 vaccine boosters in favor of unvaccinated | Reuters
Anecdotal report only. Healthy 60 yr old (not me), received a 3rd Pfizer at 6 months post 2nd dose of Pfizer, reaction was about the same as their reaction to second dose, meaning less than 24 hrs of mild reaction (headache, body aches) that began about 24 hrs after having received that 3rd dose. I was pleased to hear that the shot reaction was not increased at 6 months after 2nd dose, with Pfizer. Bear in mind that this is just one person’s experience.
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IMO, the feds will continue to slow-walk any Booster applications.
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Fear that any talk of boosters will reinforce the thinking of those who are vax-reluctant.
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Political optics on the world stage.
(In the meantime, some of the fully-vaxxed will get a so-called breakthrough infection and end up with long-COVID.)
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Yes, it will be very interesting to see what the responses from the WH and CDC will be to this pronouncement.
It could play right into their desire to downplay the booster talk to not reinforce the thinking of those who are anti-vax or vax-reluctant.
I don’t think the WH or CDC were planning anything on a potential booster anytime soon anyway. They wanted to not muddy the Sept message that Pfizer will be fully approved so all those vaccine mandates will kick in. One message at a time is a rational public health strategy. It just not be a good personal health strategy for some individuals.
Dan Levin of the NYTimes reported that 10 states showed more than a million doses have been discarded thus far. No word from other states.
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Were the discards mostly Pfizer ?
The handling of the Pfizer vaccine is more difficult than for Moderna.