Per my pharmacy website, I had the Moderna vaccine in June 2024, and the Pfizer vaccine in November 2024.
Doesn’t look like an updated one will be available for several months - but I’m wondering if it’s worth getting a booster now anyway. My logic being a) I have surgery in less than a month, and b) I’ll be travelling for a good part of the time in between.
I’m definitely in a higher risk group (66, asthmatic), on the other hand, when we DID catch COVID, 3 years back, it really was “just a bad cold” for us. Likely because, not being complete morons, we were fully vaccinated.
I’m curious if you asked your doctor this question and what they said. I don’t think there’s universal agreement within the medical community about whether a booster is necessary for everyone.
Here are the recommendations from a government that didn’t put RFK Jr in charge of vaccines:
Canada would recommend that at 65 you have one dose per year, with the new vaccines available in the fall. You could chose to have a second dose in the spring, but it’s not a recommendation.
Seems like I’m covered well enough - and of course I will be masking when we’re in crowded places. If my surgery had to be postponed because I got sick, it would likely not happen until next year!
I asked if they had them; he said they had the older one. I said I’d check my records and see if I’d already had that one. I didn’t specifically say “had my last one xxx months ago, do I need a new one?”.
The new boosters designed for the current strain came out a few days ago, but I don’t know if that means that my local pharmacy actually carries the newest variant in stock.
I just got the new updated 2025-26 Covid vaccine a couple of hours ago, and the pharmacist told me that’s all they had now. She said the old versions are no longer authorized for use and they were required to send the old ones back to the manufacturer.
She added that they received their first shipment of the new vaccine on Saturday (August 30th).
I got mine and was told the same thing by the pharmacist. I was a little worried that my appointment reminder was a little vague about just what I was going to get but she showed me the box as if that meant anything to me.
I’m a bit concerned over availability in my state (one of the ones where some major pharmacies have said they won’t carry it). I’ve got surgery next week so I won’t investigate it until later; I see my primary care doc in November and if I haven’t sourced it yet I’ll ask about it then. I do meet the newer criteria (over 65, other health issues).
I was desperately trying to find a Covid shot for a week or more. Finally saw that my local Walmart had them in stock on Saturday.
Sunday afternoon I started feeling sick and now I have a full blown Covid infection.
Such impeccable timing.
I’ll get my Covid vax tomorrow. It had been scheduled for next Friday, but I’ve been seeing masks at pharmacies and I’m a bit concerned, so I moved it up so that I get it sooner. This being California, I hope that the mess at the CDC isn’t messing up the insurance payment issue.
Dopers on Medicare and a supplement, what’s your experience with payment?
I would try to get it as soon as possible. Hopefully Medicare will cover everything for you. It’s such a frustrating and confusing state of affairs for those of us who want to access these kinds of treatments.
As for me I am OK and it will hopefully resolve without lingering impact.
Cough, nose running non stop, headache, chest tightness and general malaise.
I can’t take any Covid medication due to contraindications with blood thinners so I just have to manage the symptoms.
I have a trip planned in a couple weeks across country so hopefully I will be recovered sufficiently by that time.