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973741 tn?1342342773

Booster for Covid Vaccine

There is a bit of bad publicity about it in terms of people reporting issues after getting the booster.  But now they are recommending that everyone does and soon with the new variant.  My question is that if one of the things they are reporting is that these new variants are 'outsmarting' our vaccines, is there a point?  Especially if the booster is associated with more adverse events? I have a doctor's appointment this week so will get the 411 for myself but to booster or not to booster. That's the question. Had covid.  Had full dosing of the Pfizer vaccine. I do have a couple of risk factors making me slightly higher risk.  
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649848 tn?1534633700
I’ve had both Moderna vaccines and the booster.  With both of the vaccines, my arm got super sore and I was tired for a couple of days, but nothing drastic since my arm gets extremely sore with a regular flu or any other shot I get.  

The thing was, a few weeks after my second vaccination, I developed this horrible itch on my left arm (which is where I received both vaccination shots).  I got the second shot in February and the itch started in March.  I’m still struggling with it, though it seems as though it might be getting some better.  

So when I got my booster shot, I had them do it in the right arm - as usual,  my arm swelled up and got really sore.  What’s never happened to me before is that I got an angry red rash on that arm around where I’d gotten the shot.   The rash wasn’t painful, just a bit itchy.  Oddly, the rash has been gone for some time now, but that arm is beginning to itch just like the left one has been itching for all these months.  I’m hoping it’s not going to last very long, but who knows??  I’ve never had that kind of reaction to any vaccine and although it’s not keeping me from doing what I normally do, the itch is pretty frustrating.

My husband, on the other hand, sailed through his vaccines and the booster with nothing but a little tiredness after the second shot.

I agree with Paxiled - we’re all different and really have no way of knowing how we’re going to react as it seems that even a single individual can react differently to each of the shots.  

I have to admit that when I read that the CEO of Moderna said the vaccines so many of have already had, might not work on the new one, I was pretty disheartened.  If the shots we’ve had don’t work on the new variety, that could mean another round of shots that will work.    

It’s very unfortunate that the whole COVID issue was politicized because it’s a medical issue, not a political one.  I know that unless people are willing to be vaccinated and practice safety measures, we will never get this under control.  
2 Comments
wow!  That's interesting about the itchy arm. Does that sound like you are allergic to 'something' in it?
It's possible, although I'm thinking it's a reaction to the injection, itself, not necessarily the vaccine.  It seems to be getting slightly better, so hoping it goes away soon.

When I got the shots, they insisted they had to do them in the left arm, though I never have shots in that arm.   I don't know if that has anything to do with it or not, but maybe it wouldn't have been as bad if they'd done a shot in each arm vs both in the same arm.  IDK - all I can do is speculate.
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Avatar universal
Please do go for booster, doesn't matter which vaccine. I am 88 with health conditions and was given Pfizer doses and booster. Still here and well
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134578 tn?1693250592
Here is from today's news feed. Apparently the fact that you have had Covid is kind of similar to already having had a booster:

"Both the vaccines and the virus train the immune system’s T-cells and B-cells to block severe disease in the future, and Omicron is unlikely to dodge those underlying defenses. As a result, experts believe that most people who’ve already received two vaccine shots or recovered from COVID will retain significant protection against hospitalization and death."

At least you got *something* good out of getting the virus, right?
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Not sure this is true for the long-term, however.  What I've heard is that the protection from having had covid doesn't last and isn't nearly as strong as the protection from a vaccine.  What is stronger is having had covid and having gotten fully vaccinated.  That seems to really charge up the protection against covid.  In South Africa, the Omicron variant is causing a much higher rate of reinfection.  It is causing less problems for those who are fully vaccinated, but it can also infect those, but so can other variants.  No vaccine is 100% effective unless enough humans get it and the virus disappears or goes dormant for absence of suitable hosts.  But it will be a few weeks before we know just how well Omicron evades immunity of all kinds in places other than South Africa as it spreads around the world thanks to all those who refuse to get vaccinated.  We still don't know that the fact it is the most easily caught variant yet means worse illness and we still don't know if it will outcompete delta everywhere.  We'll  find out soon enough on all counts.
I was talking to Specialmom about her specific situation -- fully vaccinated with two shots, and having had Covid. It sounds like for people like her, the illness acts a bit like a booster.
Avatar universal
I got the booster and it was the easiest of the three shots (got Moderna).  Not even much of a sore arm, and oddly, felt an extra boost of energy which is hard to attribute to a vaccine but there you go.  But I've got to be honest here and although I'd love to say there's nothing bad happening, some people have reported some pretty bad experiences to every vaccine ever invented.  We don't hear as much about that but it's true.  So my wife got her booster at the same time I did, same shot, same shot giver, and she got really really sick and at one point fainted and had a bad fall (bad luck time for her, as she fell walking two weeks later and now has a broken bridge and a chipped bone on her wrist, so she's not sure she fainted, maybe she was just dizzy or tired and tripped on something but she kind of does that more often than any human should).  She was sick for 3 days but did fully recover, which she might not have had she gotten covid so she's still glad to get all the shots offered.  As for what's the point if you can be infected, no vaccine has ever been 100% effective and no covid vax is either.  Because of political weirdness going on all around the world and reinforced by our last President (when the US sneezes the world catches a cold at this point in history) it's not the vaccines that are the problem, they are the solution, it's the people not getting them that's the problem.  If I could venture a possibility here, the Moderna wasn't showing the level of degradation in immunity that the Pfizer was and the J&J was never a one shot vaccine, it was always a 2 shot advertised as a one shot and so it didn't work nearly as well so for that shot it's really not a booster, it's the 2d shot, but maybe those who got Moderna should wait longer than 6 months to get the booster and the Pfizer should get it after 6 months.  Maybe those of us on Moderna are getting a booster too soon and that's causing some stronger reactions.  This is completely a guess by me, though, based on the much stronger performance of the Moderna.  In your case, you have higher immunity from the vax than those of us who didn't have covid so I'd get the booster but maybe again here you can wait longer.  I don't think the data is in on whether the vax works on the new variant or not -- the info is conflicting.  I know the CEO of Moderna has said it looks like it won't work as well on it, but Moderna is also not the best actor here -- it and Pfizer have gone out of their way to make sure only wealthy countries can get vaccinated as they have refused to teach others how to make it.  It is the only product Moderna has ever made that worked and so they are really milking it and have become fabulously wealthy from the stock market.  Pfizer has no excuse, but they didn't participate in the gov't program and have gone their own way with a German company that made the vaccine and are also making as much money as they can from this.  Covid has destroyed any faith in human beings, no?  So you probably won't suffer from waiting a bit to see what happens, but the booster will still boost and the vaccines still are preventing death and most severe cases so I think that's part of your answer.  The rest is, if we don't all get vaccinated and get the whole world vaccinated this will never end.  And the vast majority of folks are not having bad reactions.  Peace.
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I should add, when my wife gets a cold or what might be flu she is always a lot sicker than when I've gotten it.  Folks are just different.  I'm a mess mentally and she's just fine in that department.  We all have our weak points and life will find them and so she slept all day for both of the first two shots and I just got a sore arm so if you did well the first two times maybe that's a sign the shots don't bother you much.
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