I’ve been wondering if that might be the case. I’m older, and get sicker from “colds” than most people, and I’m wondering about the implications for me.
Of course, even the Israeli data is showing good efficacy against serious illness, and I’m definitely questioning the ethics of using up even more doses of vaccine in the US when so much of the world desperately needs it. On the other hand, my elderly mom is immune compromised, and although she’s vaccinated, I’m dubious of her level of protection. And i certainly don’t want to infect her.
I may switch to wearing a respirator when i visit her again.
There’s plenty of vaccine supply here - thanks to those who refuse. The only consideration I can see in getting a booster is if you’re younger and have a stronger immune system, in which case a booster might actually over-stimulate your immune system, causing more severe side effects.
I would consider wearing an n-95 mask, and have her do the same.
I would also have both you and her take daily dose of vitamin D3 and C. Vitamin D3 plays an integral role in priming the immune system. I wouldn’t take the megadoses that you get from physicians; I’d consider a daily dose (no more than 5000 IUs). Once you have a few weeks of daily vitamin D3, you can perhaps skip a day or two to make sure you don’t overdo it.
We both take a daily vitamin d supplement. She was anyway. I was sometimes. But that looked effective against covid early on, and it’s cheap, and the doses that were suggested to avoid covid are very safe.
To be clear, vitamin d3 won’t necessarily stop an infection, but there is growing evidence that it can prevent severe illness.
To make an analogy, the immune system is like an army. An army needs support. It needs resources. It needs funding to pay for the army bases, the gear, the weaponry, and the basic training that will produce millions of soldiers (think nutrition and antibodies).
Immune systems also need a little bit of combat training and experience, which is what your immune system gets in childhood and any other time in your life when you catch a new cold. The army that actually goes to Afghanistan and Iraq and gets experience against hostile fire is probably more effective than the army that just trains at Camp Pendleton but never fights in the field. Same with your immune system, which is what the vaccines help the immune system do. Other vaccines and more recent exposure to more harmless pathogens might also help prime the immune system in this regard.
We seem to have a glitch in the matrix. There’s 98,404 fewer total cases today than yesterday. And 28,923 fewer than July 22nd. We’ve seen adjustments before, but nearly 100k cases disappearing is massive.
New cases in Hawaii have numbered in the 200s for several days now, and they expect that will continue into October. A month ago, there were about 40 or 50 new cases a day.
In Thailand, they’re (finally) just starting to roll out mass vaccinations. But the main deal is Sinovac for the first shot, Astrazeneca for the second. I’ve read warnings against doing this, ut that’s the way the government has decided to go. A married couple we know got their first, Sinovac shot last week. They figure by now, any vaccine is better than no vaccine.
I’m curious what sorts of places you’ve read that. Obviously, that particular combination isn’t being much studied or reported by Western scientists or media. Or do you mean more generic “mixing vaccines” warnings?
Well, it certainly isn’t well tested but you notice that the only “warnings” in that article are from a single opposition party member and some Facebook posts.
Still no change in mask guidance - should have been done 3 weeks ago. CDC also blew it when it decided to end the tracking of breakthrough infections. The US has no ability to do its own research on vaccine efficacy; we’re relying on the UK and Israel now.
Numbers continue to be messed up: only 14.7k cases yesterday and get this: 49 deaths yesterday, the only 2 digit daily deaths number since early March 2020; the daily average is five times that.
There seem to be quite a few states who have decided that the problem is now over, so they are not reporting, or have changed reporting to weekly instead of daily.
I guess that’s one way to fix things; Just declare the pandemic over by fiat, even when case numbers are starting to surge again.
For their next trick, they will go down to the sea, and command the ocean tides to henceforth stop.
