We don’t have the data we need to make an evidence-based decision about boosters, but since we have the shots, I’m not opposed to giving them to the most vulnerable, and eventually everyone who wants one. One thing I wonder about is whether it would be better to have that immune boost closer to winter.
I very much hope the third shot will provide enough memory to last ten years before another booster (like tetanus) but in case immunity is going to fade every 4-6 months, I’d like my booster in October. January 2021 was harrowing in NY.
Additional data on the third line of the card, below the first two.
I’m pretty sure the US has more vaccines available than people trying to get them, so concerns about availability and what needs to be done to get them seem to be unfounded.
@3SailAway that was my thinking too, getting the vaccine before winter and holiday surge.
Also one problem with vaccines is that people got them anywhere from January to the present (most by the end of May). So if they do wane, they are waning at different times . I think for general population immunity, as opposed to individual, it might be better for everyone to get a booster within a shorter time frame as a whole .
As long as we have to wait 8 months post vax, there will remain intervals that are too large, bewteen different groups’ vaccines.
Even in my family this is a problem. My mother was vaccinated in January, two kids were vaccinated in March, I was finished in May and my other kid got her shot in June. So at what point are well all equally vaccinated so we can feel truly safe together? Tough to know. But if we all got our boosters in, say, early October, maybe we could assume we are at the same point with our immune system response to the vaccine.
On a larger scale, it seems the best way to stamp out Delta and prevent more variants is for everyone to get a booster within a month’s time or so, if supply and distribution systems allow for this. I fear the 8 month timeline will again spread us all out over many months.
It depends on the trajectory of your location. Doctors here are not worried about the holidays; the vast majority of Texans, including kids, are projected to have been infected with delta or immune before December 1. It should have burned out by then here, but of course future variants are possible. The opening of K12 schools was a major spreader.
That is presuming that waning immunity is the primary problem, rather than the increased viral doses and/or partial mismatch to the vaccine derived antibodies. It is not clear that this is actually the case.
Better would be boosters specifically against the Delta variant, rather than the ancestral virus.
Also, vaccine refusers in the US, and lack of vaccine availability in many places around the world, mean that stamping out the virus through vaccination is unlikely.
I should not have written “stamp out Delta.” I meant, rather, to suppress a surge of Delta in various areas in the US, temporarily. Everything is temporary until, as you say, there are vaccines that match variants (unlikely if variants come up faster then vaccines can be developed) and with a 1% vaccination rate in Africa and Indonesia, this will continue for a long time here too.
At this point I would be happy with a two month period where my kids could visit safely. At this rate I am seeing them every 18 months+. That’s my personal issue, and not relevant to a larger picture with so many not vaccinated at all. And yes with uncertain effectiveness of current vaccines against variants.
@ucbalumnus any info on tweaking of vaccines? Initially I wondered if we should wait for a tweaked version but that may be a long way off and new variants will come up.
I am hearing disturbing stories among people I know about vaccinated folks getting really sick or even dying. Trying to keep the statistics in my head and not react emotionally.
The early Israeli studies show a marked decrease in infections among the vaccinated starting exactly 2 weeks after the booster was given. That suggests waning immunity is a big part of the problem.
Not sure how others think but I finished my Moderna 2 shot series in February 2021. I will abide by what my health care system suggests but I’m guessing for a booster maybe in October. I will cross fingers that this will largely protect me through the winter until spring and end of the typical virus season.
My “BUT” is this. Between now and October or whenever I get the booster it is my job (and decision) to be extra careful. Delta is out there and my antibioties - who knows where they are at? So I see it as my responsibility to proceed in daily life with caution - masking in public indoor places and avoiding contact with those I know are unvaccinated.
I hope that people aren’t seeing the booster as their “free get out of vaccine jail card” and won’t be frivolous in their COVID behaviors in everyday life. My guess is most won’t but some will.
I just talked to my doc again this morning (about something else). They reiterated that they support me getting a booster now or when I choose, and will document my need to go earlier than 8 months if I need that.
@abasket I am taking the same approach of extra caution for a couple of months so I can have maximum protection for holidays and winter season, and go to my kid’s event in January across the country. (Only problem is needed medical appointments in the meantime, but bought some N95’s)
The only caution I’ve read, by Fauci, about getting the booster too early is that the series of shots (Pf and Mod) is ‘teaching’ your body to fight the virus and you have to give it time to learn how to fight. If you get the boosters too close together, it won’t learn.
This is, of course, for those with normal immune systems. Those without antibodies have nothing to fight with so need a booster to work at all.
My husband went to his oncologist today. She suggests he get a booster shot in the fall - maybe late October (no rush for now). She also said that the reason they are pushing booster shots is that they have shots that will be expiring soon. So, instead of getting those shots to people who haven’t had any, they will give them out as third shots. Her take is that instead of fixing the logistics problems and getting the shots to where they are needed, they are creating new demand (by giving out third shots).
I want to add that vaccine production was most likely ramped up anticipating a fall approval for ages 5-12. When that approval got delayed, there was suddenly lots of extra supply being produced.