Comments

  3. Akira MacKenzie says

    I got my flu shot last week. I’m still waiting for the next round of COVID boosters. I’ve going to a game convention in mid-October and I don’t want to get sick.

  5. robro says

    COVID comes Friday afternoon. Flu in two weeks. Then RSV sometime.

    birgerjohansson @ #1 — And by the Supremes, if I understand correctly. That’s significant, and shows just how egregious the Alabama GOP are being. I expect similar problems from some of their neighbors.

  6. wzrd1 says

    Good job! It’s on my to-do list, along with the updated COVID booster.
    Time eater this week was finding a dentist that’s accepting patients, which with some help from someone at the YWCA vets group helped find this afternoon. Had a molar shatter into a wonderful hook shape, which literally carved a quarter inch hole in the side of my tongue. My whole mouth is pretty much a train wreck, thanks to both a phobia of dentists and GERD eroding my teeth.
    So, get my mouth straightened out, then get my shots. Because, with influenza and COVID, a strong immune response to a novel variant of either virus is one’s own worst enemy. Both viruses love to infect specific white blood cells, blunting immune response and once the immune system realizes that the infection remains unaddressed, it goes into scorched earth mode. Then, the cytokine storm begins and it’s the immune system’s version of scorched earth.

  7. hemidactylus says

    I got both (flu and XBB shot) a week ago. I did the same combo a year ago.

    Are the new XBB shots not readily available? The pharmacist said the supplies were limited? I easily got mine early in Florida despite denier Desantis and his sidekick “surgeon general”.

    This COVID shot was not quite as intense as before in after effects. YMMV.

  8. billseymour says

    I haven’t gotten either shot yet; and I found out just yesterday that my white blood cell count is way down, possibly a side effect of chemotherapy.  I’ll ask the oncologist whether that means that I should, or should not, get either or both of the shots.

  9. wzrd1 says

    billseymour @ 8, I’d check with the oncologist, but it’s iffy, depending upon immunocompromise.
    https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/recommendations/immuno.html
    Immunocompromised persons should receive an age-appropriate IIV4 or RIV4. LAIV4 should not be used.
    https://www.cdc.gov/flu/professionals/acip/summary/summary-recommendations.htm

    Good thing they make doctors, otherwise we’d all be scratching our heads and taking WAGs. Chemo knocks a lot of things into a cocked hat.

    hemidactylus @ 14, they’re a trifle spotty, as they were only announced for availability on the 14th. Takes a bit for distribution to catch up, but areas previously hard hit are higher priority, despite an obstructionist governor and prostituting state surgeon general.

  10. beholder says

    Got the flu shot and COVID transhuman RNA experiment earlier this month. COVID vaccines hit me like a train, always have, and this one did too. I was down for about three days. Probably still better than getting COVID.

    @9 wzrd1

    prostituting state surgeon general

    Now you’ve got me imagining a Prostitute General, perhaps in charge of a Department of Prostitution: a 21st century institution for a 21st century America.

  11. eliza422 says

    I was ready to get flu ( and hopefully covid booster ) this week – but last week i was at a retreat and came back with covid.
    I’d avoided getting covid for 3 years so it was a bummer that the people who were ill lied about it. Just about everyone at the retreat who wasn’t sick before got covid after!
    So I’m hoping to get the shots next week sometime – I think we’re still short on the new covid here in Illinois, I’ll have to check on that.

  12. wzrd1 says

    beholder @ 10, prostituting one’s officer is hardly a 21st century invention at all.

    eliza422 @ 11, I’d managed to dodge COVID until August, a year ago. A week in a shelter, got it despite being up to date on the vaccine, resulting in moderate reflux in my mitral valve. My primary doesn’t think it’s a big deal though, I guess I should ignore toying with ventricular tachycardia when walking to the store or just forego eating from now on.
    Listening to the valve, it sounds like someone blows onto a microphone during one beat, which is the valve leaking. Guess I should start relying on my other heart.
    Oops, I forgot, I’m a Tome Lard, not a Timelord.

  13. Rich Woods says

    @beholder #10:

    a Department of Prostitution: a 21st century institution for a 21st century America.

    Legalised and taxed, at 10% per session plus 50 cents per spurt. Don’t try fiddling your taxes; the IRS might be watching.

  15. birgerjohansson says

    Wzard1 @9
    Procrastinating?
    Tell him to stop, I am the world’s great procrastinator. The one and only.

  17. hemidactylus says

    @11- eliza422
    If you just recovered from COVID that’s kinda like a booster in itself. You might check into whether you should hold off a bit (several months) before the new booster. The flu shot would still be something to get. And maybe RSV if you’re old enough to qualify.

  18. hemidactylus says

    https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/expect.html

    “Getting a COVID-19 vaccine after having COVID-19

    Even if you or your child have had COVID-19, you should still get yourself or your child vaccinated.

    Getting a COVID-19 vaccine after having COVID-19 provides added protection against the virus that causes COVID-19.
    People who already had COVID-19 and do not get vaccinated after their recovery are more likely to get COVID-19 again than those who get vaccinated after their recovery.
    If you were given monoclonal antibodies or convalescent plasma while sick with COVID-19 you do not need to wait to get vaccinated.
    If you recently had COVID-19, you still need to stay up to date with your vaccines, but you may consider delaying your next vaccine dose by 3 months from:

    when your symptoms started.
    Or, if you had no symptoms, when you first received a positive test.
    Reinfection is less likely in the weeks to months after infection. However, certain factors could be reasons to get a vaccine sooner rather than later, such as:

    personal risk of severe disease,
    or risk of disease in a loved one or close contact,
    local COVID-19 hospital admission level,
    and the most common COVID-19 variant currently causing illness.

    The way I look at it is if you have previous vaccination history and you get COVID you wind up with hybrid immunity. Whatever immunity you get will wane after several months or more. There could be a new wave in the winter several months from now. If you feel like trusting the recent viral infection to give you some lasting immunity, which could be more up to date than the shot itself, holding off will allow you to get another boost in immunity several months from now which may coincide with a coming winter wave. Just a thought.

  20. hemidactylus says

    @9- wzrd1
    I made my appt. for the XBB (and flu) early Monday Sep 18th probably right as the COVID shots became available. I had been hawking the pharmacy site for days. I don’t fuck around.

    I don’t know what things would be like if I had waited a few days or a week. Maybe, ironically, the Free State of Florida was prioritized despite our gubernatorial obstinance. Or to trigger him.

    I kinda wonder why I never got COVID yet. Or maybe I wasn’t symptomatic. Coworkers got it recently while I was on vacay. Quite a few coworkers have had it a some point along the way. It’s been knocking at my door stalking me from a distance. I don’t fear it anymore and haven’t masked hardly at all except during a couple appointments earlier in the year and several days before my eye surgery in July. I wasn’t going to let anything pre-empt that.

  21. Matt G says

    Got my flu shot a month ago, and my covid booster two days ago. No reaction to either. My cell phone reception didn’t improve, and I’m thinking about complaining to Bill Gates about it.

  22. hemidactylus says

    @21- Matt G
    Which shot did you get? I got Moderna’s Spikevax and it has always made my next day not much fun. I still got a brief bout of chills and most likely a fever. I had trouble sleeping the next night. Yet it was a bit milder than before. I had a bit a red discoloration of my shoulder which was warm to the touch for a few days.

    My personal severity ranking is: 1. COVID shot (by far) 2. 2nd shingles shot. 3. tetanus shot

    Got my last tetanus shot in 2019 so…

    Last year’s flu shot was no picnic, but the same day but different arm COVID shot hit the nitrous and supercharger and left it behind in a Mad Max hellscape.

    I decided to do my polio series starting late last year, despite having the childhood oral vaccine. The pharmacist was kinda bemused. That’s how I roll! Those shots were a joke. Not even a gnat bite. No discernible reaction.

  23. says

    Covid booster is on my list but I’m so not looking forward to it. Unlike the whiny antivax assholes, i actually suffer severe side effects from the COVID boosters. I always hit at least 103F and have other side effects like dry heaving. Last one I was dry heaving for six hours straight. I probably should have gone to the hospital. Whenever I get my health insurance straightened out (fuck american healthcare) and have a new PCP who actually has practice in the city I live in, yeah that’s a thing, I plan on asking if I can try Moderna or J&J this time because Pfizer messes me up hard.

  24. AstroLad says

    Managed to get Pfizer booster last Wednesday. Scrambled around to get it because wife flew to Thailand following Sunday. Had three appointments cancelled because no supply. Almost screwed it up entirely, but Walgreen’s staff was very nice. I was certain appointment was Wednesday. Got there and found out it was Tuesday. Oops! Waited half an hour for an available slot.

    Felt a bit off the next day, like after the very first shot. Wasn’t sure if it was the booster, or because I caught COVID at work. They had five cases in a week, after none for several months. I work from home, but I was at the office for a short time during the possible exposure window. Crummy feeling lasted less than a day, so it was the booster. No reactions to previous boosters. Maybe again this time because it was 10 months since the last one. Had been pretty regularly six months apart after the first pair.

  25. says

    @22 hemidactylus You know what’s ironically funny? Not like funny, funny but really ironically funny for me? Back in 2016, when TFG got elected, I desperately searched for something I could do to mitigate the incoming disaster I knew was coming. Back in 2016 I vowed to get every vaccine I could, including smallpox. Turns out I didn’t need it because I had cowpox as a kid. Then 2020 came along. How the hell did I know that vaccinations were key to surviving the Trump years? No idea, lucky guess I guess but jesus was I right. I was expecting an old disease but instead we got a novel new disease.

  27. Allison says

    I got my COVID shot on Monday. Our local CVS has had them since a day or two after they were approved, but the appointments were booked up until this Monday. Aaaannndddd — I’ve been feeling like crap since Tuesday (the day after the shot.)

    Got my Flu shot at the beginning of September. (Shingrix last fall.) Being 70, I don’t mess around.

  31. wzrd1 says

    hemidactylus @ 20, our eldest, an RN, has had the virus 4 times now, as has her kids, largely contracting it from her children. Our youngest, got it twice, despite being a long hauler from the first wave – contracted when she was working housekeeping at a hospital she was working in housekeeping at. Her employer initially telling her that she’d have to quit her job, lose health insurance – while she was hospitalized with the virus. I had to inform her that the state forbade that bullshit, as it was Workman’s Comp and being actively enforced. Had her contact the hospital infection control to report her infection and well, all hell broke loose at that hospital. Mandatory in service for all professionals, as infection control measures were not being followed.
    Several days after her two week stay (convalescent serum was administered to her, which turned things around), I ended up hospitalized for a week with a thyroid storm, with heart failure due to excessive BP and pulse. Beds in the hallway, 1/4 of the rooms on my floor were COVID cases, plus an entire COVID floor and beds in the elevator lobbies of all floors.
    What actually frightened me was the beds in elevator landings, that told me that they were preparing for far, far worse than what we got. At that point, I’d already lost two former coworkers to the virus.

    All of my shots have been the Pfizer, figured might as well stick with the same flavor. First few shots left me feverish that night, feeling poorly the following day, sore in the dosed arm for three days. I tend to react the same day to a shot, if I’m going to have a reaction.
    Still, now as bad as the yellow fever shot, but it’s a close second. Yellow fever laid me out that same day, within hours of injection. Usually, when I got my shots in the military, it was a same day fever and severe malaise, next day, as those who were with me reacted, I was fine. So, that day, the guys were taking care of me, next day, I was taking care of them.

    Ray Ceeya @ 25, good luck finding the smallpox vaccine. The only people these days to get it are public health emergency responders, workers who actually work with the virus samples and the military, as it’s literally our most hazardous vaccine in our arsenal. As a baby, I had a reaction that was life threatening, which thankfully, resolved and subsequent military doses weren’t a big deal. Upside though is, if someone suffers that 1% progressive infection from the smallpox vaccine, we now have highly effective treatments with antivirals and steroids.

    birgerjohansson @ 26, Trump got a summary judgement on the fraud, other charges from that case are still pending. But, let’s suggest that the outlook is not bright. He actually used a Marx Brothers defense of, “Who are you going to believe, your own eyes or ME?”. Eric Trump reacted poorly, did a Xitter blast, never addressing the judgement directly, but tapdancing around the fraud judgement as a vendetta. “Why’s everybody always picking on me” defense. I suspect Eric has learned one courtroom lesson his dad never learned, “Never piss off the judge!”.
    @ 30, my family name is still relatively unusual in the US, my given name and spelling, Germanic in spelling. So, there is precisely one other individual in the US with the same given and family name, both of us sharing the same spelling. The other individual being a pharmaceutical researcher and executive.
    Hmm, looks like they’re tuning the pore size in the silica. Clever! If they can maintain pore size consistently and narrowly, it’d be like a yard full of rakes, with interspersed bear traps for that spike protein. Things act counterintuitively at that scale.

  32. asclepias says

    A couple of weeks ago, all volunteers were told not to come to the animal shelter for a few days because two employees had tested positive for COVID and one for flu. Now, everybody who works in an area where they have lots of contact with people must wear a mask. I mean, duh. I’ve been wearing a mask as a matter of course every time I go into a big box store or am with a bunch of people. Thus far, I have not had it. Out of everyone I know, this pandemic required me to give up a lot. I was working at Panera (for paltry hours and a paltry sum of money) when the pandemic hit, and I ended up quitting because my sister is immunocompromised. Haven’t gotten another job since, even though I’ve had interviews. I don’t know that it’s because of the mask, but I don’t know that it’s not, either. I haven’t gotten the most recent vaccinations yet because I want my immunity to last well into the winter months, but even with the vaccinations, I will be masking. No one’s given me any grief about it yet, but if they do, my planned response is, “Why do you care?” (I’m not angry about this or anything. */sarcasm)

  33. says

    Flu, covid, RSV: it’s all piling up. We are not advocates for unnecessary over-medication. But, our org. got flu and updated covid vaccinations 19 Sept. And, we continue to mask up whenever indoors. Given that these drooling antivaxxers are continuing to endanger lives everywhere, I have reached the point where I feel no sympathy for them when they are hospitalized and/or die. I know that’s harsh, but why should they be allowed to murder people with impunity?

  34. wzrd1 says

    asclepias @ 32, I had one out of 20 or so recent applications get one question from the prospective employer, “Why such a long break in employment?”.
    Apparently, COVID, immunocompromised wife and that wife dying is insufficient an excuse for prospective employers.
    Haven’t heard a word back from the others, beyond “we went in another direction” or “we went with someone else”. Their loss, as I am keeping score with companies and noting those who think 35+ years of experience isn’t worthy.

  35. asclepias says

    wzrd1 @ 34, I kind of wish someone would ask me that question because it damn sure isn’t for lack of trying. I guess I’ll keep writing and hope that I can get published. (Also just obtained my dog obedience training certificate, so maybe I’ll start a business. I’ve considered going back to school for medical billing and coding, but it seems employers are hesitant to take on someone who has “too much” education.) I also don’t know that it is because I am visibly disabled, but I don’t know that it isn’t, either. (This is a very red state.)

  36. wzrd1 says

    asclepias @ 35, I walk with a cane, but a prospective employer could not tell that by an online application.
    I suspect that with the length of experience, it gives away age and well, I am in Pennsyltucky.

  37. rorschach says

    @11,

    wait a month at least before you get a Covid vaccine after getting infected. Your immune system needs to get over the stress of the infection first, even if you may only have experienced mild symptoms.

    @33,

    “Given that these drooling antivaxxers are continuing to endanger lives everywhere, I have reached the point where I feel no sympathy for them when they are hospitalized and/or die.”

    It’s funny how people react when you wear a mask with a valve, they call you egoistic and reckless and all sorts of names. While not doing anything to protect themselves and others at all.
    I don’t agree with your sentiment though, these people are not scientists, and have been led astray by media and minimisers, it’s quite tragic and traumatic for all involved when someone on their deathbed still refuses to recognise they are dying of Covid.