# Covid booster shots, news and opinion **URL:** \ **Category:** The Quarantine Zone\ **Tags:** covid-quarantine\ **Created:** [September 12, 2021, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covid-booster-shots-news-and-opinion/950565 "2021-09-12T19:34:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 15
**Author:** ![si\_blakely](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@si\_blakely](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/si_blakely)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2021, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covid-booster-shots-news-and-opinion/950565/281 "2021-12-31T23:16:59Z")
I just got a booster. Just before Christmas, the NZ government announced that the time period between 2nd shot and booster would drop from six months to four months in early January 2022. I’m sitting on five months, and news reports indicate that most vaccination sites started providing boosters to those 4 months out immediately. So I went to a local site on New Years Day, and 15 minutes later was out and boosted. This means I have extra cover while we are taking a summer vacation and visiting family for the rest of January. The rest of the family will be eligible for boosters when we return from our trips away. We have had a couple of omicron scares after Christmas, but it looks like at least one of those may have been a false positive result from a historic case, and the other was contained in a family bubble (aircrew member and family). So we may have dodged the omicron bullet for a few more weeks. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2022, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covid-booster-shots-news-and-opinion/950565/282 "2022-01-12T15:49:36Z")
My son-in-law (a physician) told me it looks like I’ll be eligible for a second booster/fourth vaccination on February 11 (my booster was on 9/11). He suggested that unless I contract COVID before that date I should get the second booster. (I’m on an immunosuppresive drug for Polymyalgia Rheumatica) Anyone else looking into this? ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2022, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covid-booster-shots-news-and-opinion/950565/283 "2022-01-12T15:52:16Z")
I was looking into it for my mom until she caught covid. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![duality72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duality72/32/3910_2.png) [@duality72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duality72)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2022, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covid-booster-shots-news-and-opinion/950565/284 "2022-01-12T16:05:39Z")
I’ve got an appointment for my second booster on the 18th. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2022, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covid-booster-shots-news-and-opinion/950565/285 "2022-01-12T16:14:21Z")
So, you’ll be among the first?! Cool! ---
**Author:** ![teelabrown](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/teelabrown/32/8412_2.png) [@teelabrown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teelabrown)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2022, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covid-booster-shots-news-and-opinion/950565/286 "2022-01-12T18:47:08Z")
If a second booster (or fourth shot) for all folks over 65 was approved today, I’d be eligible on 1/17/22 - MLK day next week. ---
**Author:** ![echoreply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/echoreply/32/3641_2.png) [@echoreply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/echoreply)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2022, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covid-booster-shots-news-and-opinion/950565/287 "2022-01-12T19:09:01Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > (I’m on an immunosuppresive drug for Polymyalgia Rheumatica) > > Anyone else looking into this? I’m on probably a similar drug for ulcerative colitis. I just emailed my doctor to see if I should get a fourth shot. The answer is probably, “no harm, may as well.” I got my “booster” in August, when it was actually just a third full dose, so if I do get a fourth shot, it will be a true half-dose booster. Hopefully that means less of a reaction. It was certainly tolerable before, but no need to suffer if I don’t have to. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2022, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covid-booster-shots-news-and-opinion/950565/288 "2022-01-12T19:35:14Z")
I’ll be in the next early group (diabetes etc.). ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2022, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covid-booster-shots-news-and-opinion/950565/289 "2022-01-13T02:25:30Z")
> [@echoreply](#): > > . . . so if I do get a fourth shot, it will be a true half-dose booster. Hopefully that means less of a reaction. It was certainly tolerable before, but no need to suffer if I don’t have to. Judging just by the tales in this very thread, it seems to be all over the place. My half-dose Moderna booster (eight months after the first two) produced side-effects just a little bit worse than the original Moderna shots, which was still fairly mild. ---
**Author:** ![duality72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duality72/32/3910_2.png) [@duality72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duality72)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2022, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covid-booster-shots-news-and-opinion/950565/290 "2022-01-31T22:27:41Z")
So it turns out there was some confusion on the second booster appointment I had before, but now there is come clarity, in San Francisco at least, that J&J receipients should get a third shot now. My second shot was the Moderna “supplemental” dose (i.e. one full dose shot of the standard two dose Moderna regimen, unlike a booster which is a half dose shot). For the third shot, I have a choice of Pfizer or Moderna. I know Moderna has generally had better results head-to-head, but has anyone seen anything that indicates if mixing and matching is better or worse? ---
**Author:** ![eschrodinger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschrodinger/32/122_2.png) [@eschrodinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschrodinger)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2022, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covid-booster-shots-news-and-opinion/950565/291 "2022-01-31T22:38:27Z")
I downloaded the record of my booster shot today from the Safeway/Albertsons site. It lists what I got as “Moderna 3rd dose.” Now I’m not sure if I got the booster dose or the 3rd full dose, which is what immunocompromised people get. I don’t really care either way, but it is confusing if they are describing boosters that way. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2022, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covid-booster-shots-news-and-opinion/950565/292 "2022-01-31T22:50:11Z")
Collect them all? Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are very similar, and the biggest difference seems to be that the dose is larger for Moderna. I think that Pfizer, a large and experienced drug company, was aiming to minimize side effects, and Moderna, an upstart no one had heard of, wanted to be very very sure their vaccine worked on their initial submission. Older people are both at higher risk from covid and at lower risk for vaccine side effects. If you are under 35 I’d pick Pfizer. If you are over 60 I’d pick Moderna. In between, my guess is it doesn’t matter. And I doubt it matters much even for younger and older people. (There is some evidence that there’s a benefit to mixing the mRNA vaccines [Pfizer, Moderna] with an adenovirus vaccine [J&J, AstraZeneca] but you’ve already done that.) Note that I am not a doctor, nor a vaccine researcher. I’ve just read a lot of crap about the vaccines, and this is only my best guess. It’s worth what you paid for it. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2022, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covid-booster-shots-news-and-opinion/950565/293 "2022-02-01T13:11:21Z")
Dr Fauci said that sticking with the same vaccine you got the first time is the obvious first choice, but mixing is fine. > **[Fauci says it’s recommended to get same vaccine for COVID-19 boosters](https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/578096-fauci-says-its-recommended-to-get-same-vaccine-for-covid-19-boosters/)** > > President Biden’s chief medical adviser Anthony Fauci said on Friday that it is recommended that people receiving COVID-19 boosters stick to the same vaccine they previously received.“It’s ge… That’s from October so it’s pretty old, but not _that_ old. I extrapolate from this that the second booster probably should also be the same. ---
**Author:** ![duality72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duality72/32/3910_2.png) [@duality72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duality72)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2022, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covid-booster-shots-news-and-opinion/950565/294 "2022-02-03T05:07:57Z")
So I went in today thinking I would just continue with Moderna, but then they only had Pfizer and so I got that instead. I have now had a dose of all three of the U.S. vaccines and am patiently waiting for my superpowers to activate. Any minute now. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2022, 7:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covid-booster-shots-news-and-opinion/950565/295 "2022-02-03T07:52:52Z")
> [@duality72](#): > > I have now had a dose of all three of the U.S. vaccines Congratulations! Now you can have triple the side effects! ---
**Author:** ![Bootb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19b73/32.png) [@Bootb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bootb)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2022, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covid-booster-shots-news-and-opinion/950565/296 "2022-02-04T00:18:41Z")
> [@duality72](#): > > So I went in today thinking I would just continue with Moderna, but then they only had Pfizer and so I got that instead. I have now had a dose of all three of the U.S. vaccines and am patiently waiting for my superpowers to activate. Any minute now. Did you forget the well-timed freak accident? If so, you’ll never get powers. ---
**Author:** ![eschrodinger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschrodinger/32/122_2.png) [@eschrodinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschrodinger)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2022, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covid-booster-shots-news-and-opinion/950565/297 "2022-02-11T19:32:34Z")
Booster effectiveness wanes after 4 months, but showed sturdy protection against hospitalization, CDC study shows > **[Booster effectiveness wanes after 4 months, but showed sturdy protection...](https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2022/02/11/covid-boosters-omicron-protection/)** > > Booster shots of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines lose substantial effectiveness after about four months, and data suggested that additional boosters may be needed. Not behind paywall. > [@](#): > > The vaccine was 91 percent effective in preventing a vaccinated person from being hospitalized during the two months after a booster shot, the study found. But after four months, protection fell to 78 percent. > > Protection faded more in preventing trips to urgent care and emergency departments, falling from 87 percent in the first two months to 66 percent after four months. After more than five months, vaccine effectiveness fell to roughly 31 percent, but researchers noted that estimate was “imprecise because few data were available” for that group of people. ---
**Author:** ![lum\_s\_husband](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lum_s_husband/32/3698_2.png) [@lum\_s\_husband](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lum_s_husband)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2022, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covid-booster-shots-news-and-opinion/950565/298 "2022-02-12T19:27:41Z")
Has there been any guidance on whether to get a second booster? ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2022, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covid-booster-shots-news-and-opinion/950565/299 "2022-02-12T20:26:56Z")
Not in the US, no. If you had a “third dose” rather than a booster, i believe you are advised to get a booster 6 months later. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2022, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covid-booster-shots-news-and-opinion/950565/300 "2022-02-12T20:58:48Z")
Had my booster on 9/11. Scheduled my second booster for Valentine’s Day, partly because by doing so I will qualify for flight to St Martin in March (otherwise we lose all the $$$ we spent on flight, lodging, etc) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covid-booster-shots-news-and-opinion/950565.md?page=14)