I keep going back and forth on that; I might bump his up a month to the first week of October.
Another aspect I’m thinking about however, is that he turns 18 on November 10th, and so he’d have the option of mixing and matching at that point. I haven’t yet read the details around if Pfizer or Moderna is preferable for the bivalent booster, or if there’s a benefit to mixing and matching as was suggested for 18+ people with the prior vaccines?
Has anyone read anything about that as of yet…?
At the location where we got our boosters, the doctor said that for 18 year old males their practice recommends Pfizer instead of Moderna, to keep the risk of myocarditis as low as possible.
For 50+ adults like myself and my husband, on the other hand, she recommended mixing it up. So the two of us got Moderna.
We went yesterday and got the Moderna booster at Walgreens. No sore arm, nothing. I had the shingles series this summer and my arm ached for a long time.
Ah, thanks; I’d forgotten about that! It’s an extremely low risk and yet when there’s a choice, Pfizer’s the way to go for his age.
H and I got our bivalent vaccines yesterday along with our flu shots. We are PPP and P again. This is our 4th shot since we had Omicron early in the year and decided to wait until now when this new vaccine was available. So far we are both doing well except for sore arms. D and I went to see Maren Morris in concert last night and I didn’t have any issues.
Got my bivalent Pfizer on Monday and my flu shot yesterday.
No real issues with either
I’m getting the bivalent booster on Tuesday. I’ve had four Pfizer. The most recent one was at the end of April. I’m pretty sure I had Covid in late May-early June, but I don’t know because I didn’t think that was it at the time. But then my husband got Covid in early June.
I am nervous to get Moderna, but it seems that Moderna after Pfizer is recommended now. Im sure there is a link somewhere, but if anyone has the latest on the Pfizer and Moderna bivalent booster, please share.
I’m sure this is a silly question, but is there a home test to detect antibodies?
What do you all recommend for my mom? She’s had Moderna X3. She lives in Europe and is now eligible for another booster. She’s healthy, fit and over seventy. She has not had Covid to her knowledge. Her hesitation is that with every shot, she has had increased adverse reactions. Last shot, she had a fever for 5 days was in bed for 7 and her digestion was poor for a few months after.
She was asking me what I thought and I’m not sure. Her doctor said it’s up to her. My dad has had no problems and already received the booster. My original thought was that if she decides to get it she should try the Pfizer. She has access to the same updated m-RNA boosters that we have here. Any ideas, anecdotal data (she loves anecdotal data) is appreciated.
The most obvious difference between the Pfizer and Moderna boosters is that the amount of mRNA (30μg in Pfizer, 50μg in Moderna). The bivalent boosters have half the mRNA (15μg or 25μg) for the ancestral virus and half for Omicron BA.1 (Europe) or BA.5 (US).
Now triple boosted…
@Lindagaf my duaghter just had Moderna bivalent after three Pfizers. She had bad reactions to the first two with a few weeks of dizziness (even bought a cane) but this one was fine. One day in bed resting and back to work two days later (after a weekend).
I am in a Johns Hopkins study for chronic illness/immune suppression and my antibodies after third booster were higher than those after the second. I was >25,000 one month after my third booster and approx. 23,000 three months after so on the way down butt pretty goof.
Of course who knows what is going on with T and B cells. We really need more info on those.
I am waiting for the bivalent and will post results then. I do tests before vaccine, one week after, one month after, three months after and six months after.
Will the study check antibody levels against to different variants of the virus (i.e. ancestral, Delta, Omicron BA.1, Omicron BA.5) before and after your bivalent booster?
I was going to ask. It is a semi-quantitative antibody test, and I would assume it has been testing older variants, but I don’t even know which ones. The bivalent vaccine should change the study I would think. I’ll let you know.
I have not been using these tests to assess my personal risk. I think those of us doing it are mostly just trying to help the study. It takes some effort to get to the lab so I would like to know the end point and goal of the study at this point.
I’m 63, had mild side effects with the first three Moderna shots. Tired, body aches, very mild fever. I had no side effects with my 4th Moderna and no side effects with by 5th Moderna last week.
I have had Moderna for all 4 of my shots so far but have gotten flu-ish for 2-3 days after. I’ve considered getting Pfizer for the 5th one to see if better reaction (and dosage is lower). Some of you have said it was recommended to you to switch. Can you explain why? I have the side effect reason but also wonder if a lower dose isn’t as good.
Also, has anyone read the recommended waiting time for booster after Covid positive? I’ve read conflicting reports.
A booster very soon after a recent infection may not do much good, since your immune system is already activated. So it may be desirable to wait for a few months after the infection before boosting.
Note that it is explicitly not recommended to get a booster before two months after the last shot. If infection is kind of like a “booster”, it may be suggestive of a similar waiting time.
Thanks. Yes I’ve heard two months, but then other reports say 4 months. I wish there was more definitive data for this. I’m 2 months out from positive and 4 months out from last booster.
I had a booster on September 10th, and on the 15th I had symptoms (hoarse voice, runny nose). My test was negative. Today I did a home test and it was positive. Welcome to the new school year!
Just got the latest booster shot. Read an article that one study found it’s best to wait 6 months in between booster shots for maximum protection. Mine was about 5 and 1/2 months ago so I figured it was fine.
Clarifying question on the number of vaccines you’ve had:
my antibodies after third booster
Have you had two primary vaccines plus three boosters? Or three total vaccines (two primary, plus a booster)?