Perhaps they are reading the political tea leaves…FDA and CDC have clearly indicated, ‘not yet’. (no scientific proof that boosters are needed now, and bad optics for the US to be on its 3rd does of vax when much of the world has none… ) And if a big purchaser says ‘not now’…
No, we don’t look at those.
Memory B cells will respond. T cells play a role too.
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Are you planning to get the same brand as your previous dose(s) as your booster or crossover to the other brand(s)? This whole area seems pretty confusing.
I hope that by the time I need a booster, there will be more science indicating whether the same company or a different one is better. I had Moderna. I have friends who got their vaccines while being snowbirds in Florida this winter. Only J&J was available. They’d love to get a Moderna or Pfizer booster. They are in NJ and think that no one would know about the Florida vaccine. But they are just talking now. They haven’t followed through. At least not yet!
I actually want to try to get the Moderna because of the suggestion that it might be better to switch, but no one knows yet, but also because I had a side effect (bilateral hand/finger tingling) so I am afraid to repeat Pfizer. But most of the vaccines around me are Pfizer, hard to find Moderna
The cvs site for the pharmacy nearest me seems to be indicating all 3 covid vaccines are available.
I will wait for my lung doc’s recommendation, as well as my relative who also got his VAX about the same time as we did who is a MD, married to an MD and flying mid-Aug.
THANK YOU! Real, honest anecdotal data. We don’t know, clinically, how relevant one’s titer is. But it’s logical to assume that a titer of 1:1350 is going to be a lot more protective than 1:150. Clinically, this is consistent with what is being seen in Israel, and interestingly, may be relevant to what we’ve seen more recently in Provincetown, where the population that was contracting breakthrough Delta was under 65 (more like 30’s and 40’s) and had been immunized, probably in Feb/March.
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I would think that for many people, the issue would be whether to get a 3rd dose now, or wait for the revised booster. I can tell you that my reaction to that 3rd dose was NOT fun. I’m dreading the next dose, gonna wait until it’s a revised vaccine. Meanwhile, I think my extended family is just going to move back towards being much more careful. My husband just said he wants to get one tomorrow. He’s nearly 6 months out from his second dose.
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Many of my family are 5 or more months past our 2nd dose. We will be even more careful than we have already been. 
Sorry, taking bowel prep for my colonoscopy right now, so not following the thread like I would otherwise. Many of the results were 1:1350 one month after the second dose, but many were lower. A physician colleague of mine had an initial titer of 1:150 in February and contracted COVID in May. She probably had no antibodies left at that time since her initial response was so poor.
My son is starting high school next week, which is why I feel compelled to get a booster, but am willing to wait 2 more weeks. Hopefully will have some more guidance by then.
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Thanks so much for the data you bring to this thread. It is helpful to have actual numbers that many of us don’t have for our personal response to our shots. Yes, hopefully we will all have more guidance soon. Our public schools start on Tuesday—yikes!
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It’s not that low at the beginning. The Israeli numbers show very, very few breakthrough cases at the beginning up until 5 months or so post second shot. Immunity wears off - or so it seems at this point. Data continues to be collected.
As per another study already linked here a bit ago, it seems the better timing for Pfizer doses was 8 weeks, not 3 - potentially explaining why the UK is seeing better numbers than Israel.
“We’re” learning as we go along. Thankfully a lot of deaths and severe Covid cases have been prevented in the meantime.
You need to provide ID, which is entered into the database. What database, I have no idea.
I don’t believe so, or if so, it’s not enforced. Plenty of people had foreign passports as ID.
And yes, it the J&J vaccine.
The same group is also at Penn Station.
I’m fairly certain PA doesn’t have a central vaccine registry. My PCP had no idea I’d had the vaccine until I told him.
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Yup, I had to inform my internist as well as mom’s and H’s as to each of the vaccines we have had—covid, tdap, flu, pneumonia, shingrix, zostervax.
If our state had a better centralized data base on vaccines, I’d like to think I wouldn’t have had to do all that.
I think people who are already vaccinated will be getting second shots (or 3rd) to get the $100. Just line up and get the shot, get $100.
In the spring, there were a few cases where a person got the moderna shot and because of a mix up, the second shot was Pfizer (or vice versa). Of course there were no trials to show this was terrible or okay. How they fixed it was to have the person get a third shot of one or the other, but said DON’T get more than 3.
When my daughter got her first shot, the clerk at the pharmacy said that if D didn’t get the second shot within 6 weeks, she had to start over. What? I asked, that makes no sense as in Canada and England they were spreading over 4 months (yes, not always Moderna or Pfizer). ‘Well, that’s what the pharmacist said’ I was told.
Of course we don’t know if one can be over-vaccinated, if there will be harm from having a booster without testing being finished. With other vaccines, there doesn’t seem to be a problem with extra shots. My daughter came to the US at 2.5 years old. Her pediatrician didn’t trust the vaccination records that came with her and just re-started them all again. Some didn’t require quite as many as a baby would get (at 2 mo, 6 mo, 12 mo) but only 1 or 2 that a toddler would get. At the time, it was thought only one chickenpox shot was needed, but before K both she and her sister got another. I don’t know if they did a new trial or just figured out that a booster was needed.
I don’t think it could hurt to get a booster.
Personally, I think it’s best to work with our healthcare providers and not just decide on our own when to go and get an extra shot and which shot to get. I believe they are researching the issue as quickly as they can and in the meantime, trying to take as many precautions to mask properly with a good protective, breathable mask and keep distant from others is prudent.
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- Here are some recent articles about the ethics of getting a CV-19 booster shot:
Nature: COVID boosters for wealthy nations spark outrage
NYT: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/29/science/covid-vaccine-booster-third-shot.html
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Also, the registration process to get a vaccine in at least some US states requires the information to be submitted under penalty of perjury or a certification that the information is accurate. It’s been a while since we registered, but I am virtually certain that the CA registration pages asked whether I had already received a Covid 19 vaccine. If so, it would not let me proceed. Whether any state enforces this is a related but separate issue than a requirement to provide accurate info in the first place.
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Here are some links on vaccine databases from the CDC and registries kept by states (e.g., California):
CDC: COVID-19 Vaccine IT Overview: Vaccination Reporting | CDC
CA: https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article252208388.html and https://myvaccinerecord.cdph.ca.gov/
- ETA
Really, really good post!
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Of all the debacles involved in the covid pandemic in the US, over-vaccination of volunteers is not high on anyone’s list of problems to be addressed.
States and vaccination sites differ greatly in what if anything is asked.
Not everyone is able to refrain from contact, stay home and distance. First responders, for example.
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