When I went to CVS for a flu shot today, it was the only vaccine appointment available for the next two weeks within 5 miles of my house. And I’m in the city so there are lots of pharmacies within 5 miles. The person doing vaccines said he had been busy with shots all week. So at least here in Portland, there are a lot of people being vaccinated for something! (I got the Covid booster last week at Costco but didn’t want two shots at once since I have lymphedema in one arm.)
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H and I got our boosters yesterday. Our last booster was in April; we are now MMMPM. Neither of us has had covid (to our knowledge.) No reaction to this booster at all, other than a mildly sore arm. H has had a few hours of chills with all the other shots, so he was relieved to sleep comfortably through the night. Lots of available appointments here in suburban Philadelphia, but there were several people waiting behind us so it was busy (CVS.) We got the boost now because we are back to participating in all our pre-pandemic activities and social events, plus we have an upcoming 2-week stay with our S, DIL and 1-year old GD to help them during a move to a new house. Would have liked to have held off a bit so we would have stronger protection during Feb/March, but who knows what variant will be circulating then and how effective the current vaccine will be - so we took the bird in hand and got it now. Will get our flu shots in November so they last further into the spring.
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I mighted have waited since I had Covid in early July, but we are flying to California for a big event in mid-October. 24 hours later my arms are only very slightly sore to the touch.
My soon to be 18 year old got his Pfizer booster yesterday, he was last boosted in December. Last night I asked him if he felt anything and he said no, and this morning I asked him and he said: oh, I forgot about it! Nope, nothing.
Neither of us have had Covid, I had a second booster in July so I’m waiting until mid-November for my bivalent so I will be at 4 months and at higher protection for the month of December (when kiddo is in a show and we will both be at a theater with 800-1000 people a night - which is freaking me out a bit as we haven’t been in that kind of environment since February of 2020!).
While the pharmacy asked about adding a flu shot for him I declined; going to wait until the end of October for both of us so that it will “last better” through February-ish.
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ooh I forgot I have a dx mammo and ultrasound scheduled. Need to remind the I had the booster. don’t want false readings from lymph glands
Made a CVS appointment on Friday night for Saturday morning for booster and flu (I live in a fairly anti-vax area so never trouble making appointments). I’m now MMMMM. Pharmacist suggested both in the same arm so that’s what I did. Felt a little tired and headachy on Sunday but not as bad as previous boosters.
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H and I got the bivalent Pfizer booster at Walgreens this AM. So far PPPPP. Last one 6 months ago.
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Got the bivalent Pfizer booster at Walgreen’s this afternoon. My previous shots were MMMM. The Walgreen’s I used in KY only had Moderna and the one closest to my new home only does Pfizer. Pharmacist came out to check that I would be okay with Pfizer before preparing injection and I said yes, I knew it was going to be Pfizer. As he gave me shot, he laughed and said one study said it’s best to mix things up and another said not to do that, but he said the most important message was to just get boosted. I mentioned I was delaying my flu shot a few weeks later than normal due to what I had heard about bad strain of flu for this year and he said he was doing the same. So far, no reaction or seriously sore arm. Each of my Moderna shots gave me very sore arm and headaches of varying degrees.
I talked to a friend who had had covid in Aug/Sept. She said her whole family got it. She also said her doc said to get the new booster ASAP and not to worry about when she got her last shot or that she just had covid.
I thought that was interesting that the doc said to do it immediately.
Spoke too soon about no sore arm with Pfizer booster. Rolled over in the night and felt like I had been punched in the arm by a professional boxer. Not complaining, though - still very grateful for covid vaccines.
Was the doc giving the vax in their office, i.e., has a financial interest in the rec?
(otherwise, it seems like a waste. Natural immunity is better than vax immunity.)
Most studies on COVID-19 on the subject suggest that I+V > V > I in immune response, but with variations based on variant, timing, # of doses, etc.
However, regarding timing, it is likely that vaccination too soon after infection or vaccination does not do as much good as vaccination at a longer interval after. Hence the eligibility for booster being at least two months since last vaccination (though the CDC oddly has no recommendation for interval after recent infection, even though many others suggest waiting for some months to get the most benefit from the booster).
That’s true, but I jumped to the logical assumption that the family was previously vaxxed prior to getting covid last month. (My assumption was based on the fact that they are considering the bivalent vax now and if they were an anti-vaxxer, that would not be a consideration at all.)
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YLE polled her readers on the bivalent booster…
Obviously, this is a biased sample, since her readers are more likely to want vaccination and be more concerned about COVID-19.
But the results were 52% got it, 25% waiting due to recent infection or vaccination, 19% waiting until closer to winter or events, 2% undecided, 1% definitely not.
Moderna bivalent booster today. (MMMM) Slight sore arm and a bit tired. More significant symptoms usually show up around 12 hrs in so we’ll see how things go this evening. Hoping it might be better this round 
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Waiting to hear. I have mine scheduled (5th M) next Friday.
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Much better than my last 3 which put me in bed for about 24 hours each time. This time slight fever and mild body aches for about 12 hours…Tylenol took care of it. I’m wondering if it’s because it been about 10 months since my last booster (versus 3 shots in 7 months) and Omicron isn’t quite as virulent as the original strain and it makes up half the booster?
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Moderna at CVS. Mild headache and tired. Slept. The nurse said I might feel tired. Arm was not swollen nor sore. Overall easy.
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Got the bivalent Moderna booster on Wednesday. Felt poorly after first 3 vaxes. Second booster + this most recent one, just a sore arm for a couple of days.
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I got my booster yesterday AND my flu shot. I’m Moderna for 5. I haven’t got Covid and I haven’t reacted too strongly to my shots so I figured I’d keep it going. Besides some arm soreness (extra strength Tylenol every 6 hours) I did pretty fine. I did fall into bed at night and was pretty wore out but nothing that really stopped me from my tasks of the day. Today I’m a little tired and will keep the Tylenol going for another 24 hours. But I was able to do 4 miles of exercise at a moderate pace.
My 25 year old D on the other hand had booster and flu shot on Friday (she is a health care worker). Girl is ROUGH. She tends to react pretty strongly. Not sure why she elected to do both at once but she was extremely achy, chills/shivers, tired, nauseous - the whole gamut all yesterday. Still not great today.