Updated jab booster targets Omicron
 

Authorized just a few hours ago - https://www.livescience.com/first-updated-covid19-boosters-authorized

That took a while. Seems that 90+% of people have had Omicron already (and have natural immunity)

Begs the question of why the non-Omicron boosters were still being pushed when known to be ineffective against the current (Omicron)strain.

I don't have a problem getting boosters or vaccines. We planned to get the booster (#4) a couple of times, but each time, just didn't get around to it. That's to lay the ground work that I'm fairly pro-vaccine.

Someone was still getting paid whether the booster helped anyone or not. That's why it was being pushed. Although, I haven't felt pushed to get it. But I'm sure if I'd gone in to a place that had them and asked, they'd have said 'yeah, you should get it."

As far as I know, neither the missus or I have had CV. Neither have the daughter (works in the medical field), her husband (firefighter/EMT), or their boys. Our son (restaurant business) and his wife both got what I assume was the big O.

Yeah, I think that most people are fairly pro-vaccine, and that's why pharma marketing insisted that this mRNA tech be deemed "vaccine."

You were smart to delay. I mean this Omicron variant has been out dominating ~8 months now. Clearly the previous version of the boosters wouldn't touch it. ...well, other than maybe a few days of non-specific immune response, where your body feels under attack. (and is from the jab) But it would not have done much of anything other than piss your body off for a bit. And now that you've had it you have (the best immunity) natural immunity. - your body knows how to defeat this one.

Omicron is so 6 months ago, perfect timing.

It was supposed to spread faster and be worse than covid...and then..

Are people still getting vax'd? Seems soooo ... 2021 :cool:

From my perspective, which is NOT having any symptoms or knowing that I have had COVID, I am wondering about what to do?

Did I have it? Did I miss it? If I never had the Rona, I will certainly get the booster. But, if I had it? I won't.

Are they still screening blood donations for antibodies?

A small conundrum.

Are you afraid of getting a cold? If so get the jab, if not, don't.

I cannot believe this is still a "thing". After all the research around negative effects of the "vax" and really not having an impact, surprised people are still getting jabbed. Then again, there are still people sitting in their cars alone with a mask on. What's that phrase....there's a sucker born every minute? LOL Move along, nothing to see.

"Authorized" or "Emergency Use Authorized"

They were never screening blood for antibodies to coronavirus

I'm on #4 because work makes me, and I will be skipping that omicron flavor... Unless they come up with a new generic vaccine that can target all mutated flavors (presumably by targeting something not mutating), it's getting tiresome. No issues yet but I feel 4 shots should be plenty - I'm not doing 5-6-7 shots in a year or so, it's getting silly...

if omicron has taught us anything, its that having covid, even omicron, doesn't make you naturally immune lol.

the omicron booster is great news. the original vaccine has done remarkably well against delta and omicron, esp considering it was designed for alpha. vaccinated deaths in both delta and omicron waves were a fraction of unvaccinated. and now having a omicron specific booster will help with omicron's children, BA4/5.2.

shame we stopped funding the research so it couldnt be here sooner.

Tell that to the people that have died from covid.

I'm not worried about it. I can't remember the last time I wore a mask. I was never that worried about it.

But I have been vaxxed and a lot of folks have died, including folks from Pelican and friends of friends.

It's not exactly imaginary.

Tell that to two of my coworkers who have croaked in the last six months, both anti-vaxxers. Both healthy before the rona came knocking.

Word is that they released this before they finished testing it. That’s always bad news.

There are better ways to fight Covid.

lol, nope.

The original vaccines and boosters were designed for the original strain of Covid (wild type aka Wuhan). They were very effective in reducing the risk of both infection and severe disease, from the original Covid strain, and still very effective against Delta. Omicron was quite different, and the original vaccines and boosters are less effective in reducing the risk of infection although still quite good at reducing the risk of severe disease.

The plan all along has been for the mRNA vaccines to be rapidly revised to target new Covid strains. But Covid mutated so quickly that the vaccine revision lagged the variants. With the rate of severe disease and death declining, there may have been less perceived urgency, and then Congress slashed the budget for Covid vaccines and antivirals. More people, including in the Federal government, were willing to accept Covid as endemic, something that people may contract once or a couple times a year, like cold or flu.

In the meantime, more data on “long Covid” has shown that it is a significant problem. Long Covid appears to be responsible for very roughly a quarter of the lost workforce, which is part of the inflation problem. Long Covid also appears to be a meaningful risk even if the Covid infection does not cause severe disease (hospitalization). The potential cost for the US healthcare system, labor productivity, and general health is starting to get attention. US life expectancy fell two full years during the pandemic, to levels normally associated with less developed countries. So the idea of Americans getting infected and re-infected with Covid every year is starting to look not so great.

It isn’t clear what the alternative is, to endemic Covid. Masking and distancing is too unpopular, Omicron is very transmissible, and China’s struggle to maintain a “zero-Covid” policy is not something any other country wants to emulate. (Although, Long Covid may give China the last laugh - I’m sure the CCP figures that in 10 years, China’s population will be healthier than the US population struggling with tens of millions of long Covid cases.

But revising the vaccine to restore its effectiveness against the current Omicron variant is something we can do, that may help somewhat, so that is being done. The new boosters are bivalent, meaning they target both original strain and some variant of Omicron.

I’m not sure how many people will get the revised boosters, since the Federal government isn’t going to provide them free any more (I think). Obviously people with insurance or money can get it - I sure will - but vaccines are more effective if most of the population get them, so I wish the Feds were still funding the boosters.

There are trials underway for nasally administered vaccines as boosters to the current injected vaccines. The idea is that Covid enters by initially infecting nasal cells, then moves down the upper respiratory tract to the lungs, and also causing the systemic inflammation and other effects that cause the wide range of damage from acute Covid as well as long Covid effects. If the nasal cells can be primed to react immediately against the initial infection, the infection might not be able to get established further into the body. That’s the idea, anyway. The government isn’t funding this work (at least, not as aggressively as it funded the original vaccines) so the work is going slowly.

Which is a ridiculous situation. Covid doesn’t care if we got bored with it. It is still infecting and mutating to be even more infectious, and unlike cold and flu, Covid is able to damage a person’s health, even be disabling in some cases, for a long time after the initial infection is gone.

Go ahead and get the shot. Get one weekly, for the rest of the year.