# Increased risk of COVID after booster shot? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Quarantine Zone\ **Tags:** covid-quarantine\ **Created:** [January 9, 2024, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/increased-risk-of-covid-after-booster-shot/995833 "2024-01-09T16:54:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 14
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2024, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/increased-risk-of-covid-after-booster-shot/995833/14 "2024-01-17T02:01:01Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > So I looked into his background, he’s apparently a D.O with a subspecialty in Allergy & Immunology. I’m not sure how that differentiates from an “Immunologist” but he’s clearly focused on allergy and asthma, not infectious diseases, which might explain him having this opinion. > > He’s helped a lot with my asthma though. There is certainly a lot of difference between ID and immunology but you would expect a lot of overlap given how the symptoms of allergy can mask or be essentially identical to pathogenic infection. DOs are sometimes viewed as a little flakey as their practice includes “osteopathic manipulative medicine” (essentially chiropractic manipulation albeit generally without the woo) but their basic medical school education is essentially the same as an MD except for a larger focus on preventative medicine, and their board certifications are essentially identical between ABMS and AOA specialties. I think in practice the difference between the basic training and capability of a MD and DO in a certified specialty is less than the difference between individual physicians. If your doctor has helped with your asthma, then it sounds like he’s at least a good allergist. I just wouldn’t take his opinions about vaccination with a lot of credibility in absence of a second opinion or some clear evidence. > [@Maserschmidt](#): > > I have started to post here at the Dope multiple times about my MAGA-loving brother, who is a doctor, but I inevitably end up deleting my rant. What I will say here is that he has no statistical knowledge whatsoever, and potentially no interest in actually reading any studies anyway, but of course my family members defer to his fuckwittery (Ivermectin, the danger of boosters, pennies sticking to people’s arms). Anytime I actually quote a study, given that I’ve been reading JAMA regularly for almost 4 years now, he just waves his hands and talks about competing theories. Yeah, doctors are trained and often actively cultivate an air of authoritative infallibility even though they are just human beings with the same propensity toward personal bias and irrational belief as everyone else. I’ve met some physicians with pretty off the wall notions, and of course neurosurgeon and former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Ben Carson was fully of nuttery as I noted previously: > [@Would you rather have Ben Carson as president right now?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-have-ben-carson-as-president-right-now/805867/27): > > Carson may not be as openly malicious as Trump, but he is easily just as ignorant, and would readily be manipulated by the Seventh Day Adventist church that did everything short of ordering its members to boost and vote for him in the primary. This is a man who, despite being a presumably highly educated neurosurgeon, that [homosexuality is a choice](https://m.youtube.com/watch?t=15s&v=PwVSQ5kGXMA) (and believes marriage to be a ‘states rights’ issue), believes that [evolution is a liberal conspiracy](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DCqtgKSlW1o), and that [the Egyption pyramids are grain silos](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Fhol3WdB4QU). Trump is at least blatantly a self-serving huckster and the rest of the world realizes it. Carson is a fucking nutter of the first order, and who knows what cracktastic idea he is going to come up with next. Stranger --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/increased-risk-of-covid-after-booster-shot/995833)._