The Vaccine Thread

[vertical_doug]

The AstraZeneca vaccine has accounted for 7 deaths in the UK so far. I’m with everyone else, tell your wife that it’s her responsibility to be vaccinated, as there are people out there all over the world waiting in line to do so...we are very fortunate.

Actually, they have not ascertained if the AZN vaccine caused the clots or whether the clots are just part of a normal baseline. If you vaccinate every elderly person or person with a pre-existing medical condition, some may die. It takes time to figure out if the deaths are above the statistical baseline expected or an adversed effect related to the vaccine. Correlation is not causation.

Nature just had a podcast and an article on exactly this.
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-00880-9

More importantly, the mortality rate of COVID is >>> than the adverse event risk of the vaccine. Mathematically, it is an absolute no brainer.

[sonicw]

I have learned so much about the vaccine roll out in Los Angeles. I am furious.
My friends 70 year old diabetic mother can't get into an appointment but I can . . . because I have anxiety. WHAT?
Dodgers stadium is closing early because people aren't showing up for their appointments.

It took us 2-3 hours to figure out how to navigate the system. How TF does LA expect our immigrant/migrant/aging population to figure this shit out?

false, you get it yet? csu bakersfield has a clinic from 8-5:30 pretty much every day, they're taking all walk-ins 16+.

I'm 28yo no medical conditions and got my pfizer #1 yesterday. drove 1.5hr to the rural red county for their clinic, the line was full of people who came from my city. this entire process is showing to be pretty political with vaccine supply driven not by demand but per capita, despite people who refuse vaccines...

[Clean39T]

Over and over again, the science says benefits outweigh the side effects, especially given the newer risk of more highly contagious variants. You don’t want to get covid but if you do, you definitely want symptoms mitigated as much as possible.

My whole family is skinny. We have assorted allergies, some skin, some airborne. So far all of us have gotten at least first vaccines. Some have gotten both. My reaction was similar to getting a tetanus shot or a flu shot. Or maybe one of each. Sore arm, a bit foggy headed for a day with some weird body temp fluctuations. My wife had no reaction whatsoever. She’s the one who is highly affected by insect bites, but she didn’t even miss a step after the vaccine. At the inoculation center, their primary interest is whether you’ve ever had a serious reaction to a vaccine in the past. Like passing out. If so, they put you in a waiting area for 30 minutes and assign an observer to you (at least they did where I got my shot) and then the EMT’s are right there at the ready.

However if you are prone to anxiety, that may be a worthwhile thing to communicate. So if this is part of her hesitancy, then she should mention it during the process. The person administering my vaccine was a nurse. She had a very calm and confident approach, and her questions were for important information, not just a recital, even though she had obviously asked them many times before. So I can see where telling the staff about one’s anxiety would be received in the same way as any other medical information.

All the reading I’ve done says the variants are going to become more of a factor this spring and summer. Already in NYC, the numbers of new cases and deaths have plateaued, and health officials are warning of a new wave. By getting vaccinated, you are helping to move toward herd immunity and lessening the potential severity of covid should you somehow become infected by a variant that slips past. And if she does have sensitivities to things in her body, better she has some relatively minor side effects from the vaccine than a possibly heightened reaction to a covid infection.

You have about three different questions imbedded in here.

1. Undersized- my wife is also about 110 lbs, and she had a sore arm.
2. Side effects- you need to differentiate between side-effects and normal reaction. A sore arm at the injection site etc are pretty common. If you feel tired, have a rash etc, these are just the body's immune response and intend. If this is how the body is reacting to the shot, imagine how much worse it could be if they are actually exposed to the virus.
3. Allergic reactions- I read the allergic reaction is more common in people with reactions to PEG. If you wife does not have a known allergic reaction to PEG, I think you can go, and then wait around afterwards. If something bad happens, the professionals are there. (I did bring my own epipen.)
I have two friends that developed TIA after the second Pfizer shot. Whether this is related to the shot, or just happened is hard to say. One was a doctor, and he is thankful because he was vaccinated, and now he can get checked out for possible health issues which may lead to a stroke... So he did not see any downside to getting vaccinated.

Thank you - and all the others - for the perspective.. She is discussing with her primary-care physician today and I'm hoping will go through with getting the Pfizer jab later this week. My number won't be called until probably early May, so unless they are being generous with the doses when we go to the mass-vacc location, I'll be waiting a while for mine. FWIW, we both are still fully self-isolating from society (no in-store shopping/dining [beyond running in for water/bars on a long ride once a week], no outdoor gatherings or interaction, no group rides/races, etc.), so her/our chance of being vectors for mutation or spread are very, very small. Still, I agree that everyone who can get it should get it.......and I certainly look forward to being able to rejoin society to some extent by the time we get into the early part of the summer..

[rwsaunders]

^ You will both breathe a sigh of relief when you are vaccinated...hard to describe. False hope some say? I don't believe so and being vaccinated doesn't give one a hall pass for irresponsible behavior of course, but your wife's mental outlook will change for the better when she's confident that being vaccinated is just part of the recovery process and that she doesn't need to be in total isolation from other human beings.

[funcrusher]

Is there a secret to getting an appt for 30+ in NY? My brother lives there (Poughkeepsie) but works on his feet all day and doesn't have the luxury of noodling on the computer all day.

where in NY?? i contacted an organization called covid angels (my neighbor's referral)...a day after filling out an online form, i was contacted via phone by a nice woman who took down all my info then hollered back in about half an hour with a scheduled vaccine for the following day...it wasn't the jnj (my first choice), but whatever...i believe it is a volunteer organzation set up to help peeps navigate the process...pm me if you want contact # of the woman who helped me

[vertical_doug]

where in NY?? i contacted an organization called covid angels (my neighbor's referral)...a day after filling out an online form, i was contacted via phone by a nice woman who took down all my info then hollered back in about half an hour with a scheduled vaccine for the following day...it wasn't the jnj (my first choice), but whatever...i believe it is a volunteer organzation set up to help peeps navigate the process...pm me if you want contact # of the woman who helped me

I'll second Covid Angels. My wife and I have a few friends that were all helped by COVID Angels in White Plains.

[DJB]

I hope this is not a repeat. I did not read the whole thread. This website has been really helpful. VaccineSpotter.Org

[ides1056]

An email arrived telling me I will be able to, hopefully, get a jab today. I am very ready.

[Shoogs]

got my first Pfizer shot yesterday. no side effects. arm isn't even sore. I took my normal zyrtec in the morning and against CDC advice a tylenol.

[SlowPokePete]

got my first Pfizer shot yesterday. no side effects. arm isn't even sore. I took my normal zyrtec in the morning and against CDC advice a tylenol.

Shoogs!

SPP

[rwsaunders]

Mrs. RW will get her 2nd Pfizer jab at 11am today and our daughter called last evening to let us know that she’s scheduled for her 1st vaccination on 10 April. She’s been our worry, as she lives in Seattle where things got hot real fast and furious and she had a viral episode during her 3rd year as an undergrad, which essentially reflects many of the same issues that some COVID patients have experienced...extreme flu-like symptoms, high fever, pneumonia and eventually time on a ventilator with a trip on a life-flight helicopter thrown in for good measure. Hearing the news of her appointment from her on the phone last evening was priceless as the sound of relief was clearly evident in her voice.

[monadnocky]

got my first Pfizer shot yesterday. no side effects. arm isn't even sore. I took my normal zyrtec in the morning and against CDC advice a tylenol.

IANAD and all that, but my wife got the second vaccine while on (relatively) high dose of Advil for an autoimmune disease - this was a few months ago, before there was any chatter about this not being a good idea. She as well suffered no after-effects - not even a sore arm - and now her PCP is concerned that this may be indicative of poor vaccine response, and may get her on a list to get another injection. There is little to no data on this is my understanding, but theoretically, it checks out.
Of course, I am totally unaware of your specific circumstances and I'm just speaking from my perspective, but, if you are able, don't take anything anti-inflammatory after your injection.

[AngryScientist]

NJ just announced that in two weeks anyone (> age 16) who wants one can get a shot. I take that as very good news and increases my hopes that our kids should be able to hit school full time with few restrictions in Sept.

My wife and I are reasonably young and healthy and made the decision to not cheat or game the system to get a shot ahead of the guidance, and I'm feeling positive vibes that in a couple weeks we can have everyone eligible.

[thollandpe]

Got one shot from both Johnsons and things are OK so far. Some blurred long-distance vision on the drive home was alarming but passed quickly. Followed up with two IPA's to enhance the inflammatory response. Some bizarre twitching in one eye last night, followed by bizarre dreams that involved two adorable turtles, an old bike racer named Dick Bickering, some very narrow bridges, and an awl.

Vague arm soreness. Dropping to give y'all 20.

[monadnocky]

Dick Bickering...

Please, please tell me that this is a real person from your distant past.

[dashDustin]

Moderna Round 1 tomorrow.

[SlowPokePete]

I had Pfizer # 2 yesterday.

Arm is a little more sore that on the first jab, but that seems like it.

SPP

[j44ke]

I had Pfizer # 2 yesterday.

Arm is a little more sore that on the first jab, but that seems like it.

SPP

Good to hear!

[mnoble485]

I saw an the news that Moderna vaccine was effective for 6 months. Does this mean follow up like annual flu shot? You guys know way more than I know.

Mike

[j44ke]

I saw an the news that Moderna vaccine was effective for 6 months. Does this mean follow up like annual flu shot? You guys know way more than I know.

Mike

I think they are saying "at least" six months. Some of the lack of certainty is because they are only just now getting real-world data on persistence of antibodies. Perhaps in 8 months, the horizon will become 8 months. However, I would expect that everyone will need a reformulated booster in the fall due to the increasing prevalence of the variants, for which the current vaccines may provide less comprehensive protection. And it sounds like this will be an annual thing until some sort of herd immunity is reached and perhaps even then if you are in a group with higher risk. That's at least from the reading I've done. Lou and others here in the medical profession will undoubtedly have a better sense of things.