Of course I would recommend him following the advice of his physician, since that is who knows him best.
With that said, I will tell you what I am doing as an immunocompromised person. Got 1st/2nd Dec20/Jan21, 3rd 8/21, all Pfizer, 4th 1/22 (Moderna) and Evusheld 2/22. Community transmission is low. Studies have shown that the currently formulated boosters prevent infection for about a month - from the article linked below: “But the booster’s effectiveness against infection in particular wanes after just four weeks and almost disappears after eight weeks. Protection against severe illness did not ebb in the six weeks after the extra dose, but the follow-up period was too short to determine whether a second booster provided better long-term protection against severe disease than a single booster.”
So I will rely on Evusheld for the next few months. Don’t want to waste a booster when transmission is low and Evusheld is probably enough coverage for now. If things stay pretty much as is, I will wait for the fall to get a booster, when we are entering cold/flu season, and hopefully it will be more updated that the current vaccines. Unless a 5th dose is approved by the fall I don’t want to waste one now. I would rather have peak efficacy in the fall, when things might be worse, than have it now and wane by the fall.
But that is just what I am doing for me. Your son should do what he/you/his physician think is best for his condition.
ETA: If it looks like we are entering another wave, I would consider getting another booster. The virus takes over so quickly that it doesn’t give time for the memory component of our immune system to kick in. The booster helps shield this for the short term. Case counts are inaccurate - reinfections occur within 30 days (there are 2 studies, one saying 19 days and another 20), those that occur within 90 days aren’t counted, there’s less testing for several reasons, more home testing, false negatives, etc.
I follow the community transmission levels here, not the cases. The cases has the country in a green swath.
@TexasTiger2 Thank you so much for sharing your experience and the updated information as well. He’s waiting for a reply from his doc how to set up an appointment for Evusheld.
This past weekend he was out of town visiting friends (he stay in a hotel by himself). He was just alerted this morning that one person they were with Sat night now has COVID. My son wore a mask in all the indoor places, but did not wear one at the friend’s apartment before going out, though the windows were open. They only ate outdoors. We are hoping that he won’t be positive because of his mask usage, fingers crossed. As of this morning, he feels fine, no symptoms. Negative antigen test result. He also scheduled a PCR to later in the day. He’s very aware of how he feels bc of his health. Hoping this will not affect him.
Is there a way post infection to know if someone had Covid . This person had cold symptoms but never took a covid test. They had initial vaccines but no boosters. Can a blood test show this?
The nucleocapsid antibody test can show prior COVID-19 infection if the person has not had any inactivated whole virus vaccines (those vaccines are not used in the US).
The more common spike antibody test will be positive for either infection or vaccination.
Well my oldest has gotten Covid again. He’s the one who likely had it according to an X-ray when it was rather new in 2020 and there weren’t enough tests for everyone, so young adults didn’t get them. Then he had long haul symptoms for a year until his Moderna vax got rid of them (or seemed to). That time his wife never showed symptoms. This time she’s tested positive, but without symptoms, so she likely has great “Covid” genetics. He said his infection feels “familiar.”
Apparently both natural infection and vaxxes (not boosted) wane. I hope he doesn’t get long haul symptoms this time.
I seriously wonder what sort of medical problems folks like him are going to have a decade or two down the road.
Praying they keep discovering more medically to hopefully combat things.
Antibody and B-cell levels after infection or vaccination do decline to a maintenance level after some time. Because the current variant of the day has some differences from the viruses infecting people in 2020 and the virus that the vaccines are targeted against, the maintenance level of antibodies and B-cells may not be enough to completely prevent the current variant of the day, although a recent infection or vaccination where the level of antibodies and B-cells is still high, or infection with a variant similar to the current one, may be more protective.
Sorry to hear this @Creekland . Is this your doctor son? I’m guessing he is double boosted? Is he feeling ok or really rough? Such a strange disease. Hope he feels better soon.
No, this is my oldest who used to live in NC. He just moved to OH last month for a new job, found some friends who invited him to come play games, and then they tested positive a few days ago… today my guy and his wife tested positive. No one had symptoms game night.
It’s frustrating because he’s the one who had a hard time with it before. I’m hoping some concoction of having had it and being vaxxed help him this time, but I also wish he’d gotten a booster.
ETA We’ll know more about how hard it hits him these next couple days I expect. He has symptoms. His wife doesn’t - and didn’t the first time either.
I am so sorry about your son catching COVID again. It must be so disheartening and frustrating. Long covid is so challenging and complicated. I hope it will not occur this time. My son’s friend has had long COVID since August 2021. She still can’t do anything more than about 20 minutes at a time. This terrifies my son.
@creekland. I know that sometimes our children are stubborn. But since your son had trouble with suspected covid and long term issues, I wonder if he would talk to his doctor and have treatment administered. Apparently there is help but it’s not being used.
Is he near a teaching hospital? Maybe he can go to one of their clinics. He should explain that this is Covid time #2 and that he has lingering problems the first time
The American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation have issued Long Covid Guidance Statements if you want to read.
ETA they estimate almost 24 million have long Covid
I’m having medical lad discuss things with him. He knows more, and they have a brotherly kinship, so his suggestions might carry farther than mine do. So far he’s just dealing with fever, chills, and a little shortness of breath - doesn’t have the cough of before. Time will tell if his body can tackle it better this time or not and if he’s willing to try some meds or not.
The dashboard presented only shows a model that assumes that 30% of all previous confirmed Covid infections have Long Covid which is a high end estimate from most data that I have seen. The data from the British has seen much lower numbers, but defining what is “Long Covid” is what is truly missing.
The British looked at overall Covid symptoms at 4 weeks, 8 weeks and 12 weeks and that is what I never see defined with US published data while British data has been around ~3% of Covid infections still showing symptoms at 12 weeks broken out by age groups. The initial British estimates were between 10-30 percent as well. Even 3% of all Covid infections having Long Covid will affect many people, but it will be nice to see more comprehensive data once the Scientific community comes to a consensus on actually defining what constitutes Long Covid which I believe is causing the contrasting data.
Today my Covid boy tells me his fever is gone and he’s feeling much better, so assumes he’s done with the worst in just a couple days. So much better than last time when the symptoms of Covid itself lasted for weeks, with some hanging on for a year.
Feel free to give credit to his previous infection, his vaxxes, or this strain being less intense. I don’t give a hoot if it was any or all of the three. I’m just happy to hear the news.
My wife is suffering from Covid right now, probably contracted at a recent conference. She’s double vaxxed (Moderna) and single boosted (Pfizer). Experiencing it at the bad-cold level — not having any shortness of breath or anything near to requiring hospitalization — but bad colds can be miserable, and this one is. Son (17, vaxxed, not boosted) and I (second booster this week, though of course not active yet) are negative so far and have no symptoms. Our daughter is away at college, and I’m working from the desk I had put in her room to make it my home office; now I’m sleeping in there, too. Bringing things to my wife occasionally, wearing a KN95, but otherwise giving her space. She took a CDC quarantine quiz that said she should be clear by Saturday given the onset of her symptoms. We’ll see.