# Opinions on When to Get a Second Covid Booster? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Quarantine Zone\ **Tags:** covid-quarantine\ **Created:** [March 30, 2022, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opinions-on-when-to-get-a-second-covid-booster/961999 "2022-03-30T18:59:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2022, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opinions-on-when-to-get-a-second-covid-booster/961999/41 "2022-04-09T05:36:32Z")
> [@Bootb](#): > > From what I’ve read, Moderna is somewhat more likely to produce relatively severe side-effects than Pfizer. I don’t know if any large studies have been done on it. I’ve heard that, too, but I guess I didn’t expect it since I’d already received three shots (so it’s not like I’m an unvaccinated person receiving a covid vaccine for the first time) and also because the Moderna booster dose is only a half-dose compared to the original [primary] Moderna series. Regardless, I’m still glad I got it. ---
**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:** [April 9, 2022, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opinions-on-when-to-get-a-second-covid-booster/961999/42 "2022-04-09T15:46:21Z")
I think Pfizer’s philosophy was to find the lowest dose that was effective, and Moderna’s philosophy was to find the highest dose with an acceptable level of side effects. ---
**Author:** ![DorkVader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/73ab20/32.png) [@DorkVader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DorkVader)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2022, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opinions-on-when-to-get-a-second-covid-booster/961999/43 "2022-04-15T01:15:36Z")
My health clinic called yesterday, boosters if I want one. Since I work in a job that takes me into peoples homes and all, yeah, I got it. “🎶Feels like the first time 🎵 Feels like the very first time 🎶“ Feel like I got ran over by a truck 🤕 🤒😷🙁 ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2022, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opinions-on-when-to-get-a-second-covid-booster/961999/44 "2022-04-19T00:14:50Z")
It’ll be early-mid May when 6 months will have passed from my 3d shot, but that will also be less than 2 months from my case (made mild by those 3 shots), so I may take a wait-and-see posture for now. Maybe I will go for it anyway out of an abundance of caution and to establish a 6 month routine, but I’ll be reading up as much as I can. ---
**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:** [April 19, 2022, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opinions-on-when-to-get-a-second-covid-booster/961999/45 "2022-04-19T03:49:58Z")
Recovering from covid is a pretty potent immune booster. I’d probably wait a few months, at least. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2022, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opinions-on-when-to-get-a-second-covid-booster/961999/46 "2022-04-19T17:45:54Z")
> [@DorkVader](#): > > Feel like I got ran over by a truck 🤕 🤒😷🙁 Gawd, me, too (I got my second booster yesterday). Just out of curiosity … I’ve had Moderna for all four of my shots. What about you? ---
**Author:** ![DorkVader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/73ab20/32.png) [@DorkVader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DorkVader)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2022, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opinions-on-when-to-get-a-second-covid-booster/961999/47 "2022-04-19T17:53:31Z")
I’m a pfizer man myself. Though to be fair, that’s because pfizer is what my clinic uses. Could have just as easily been one of the others, I’m not actually that picky as long as it works. I sort of wondered if the renewed vigor of my reaction to the shots had to do with my quitting smoking, but perhaps not? ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2022, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opinions-on-when-to-get-a-second-covid-booster/961999/48 "2022-04-19T18:01:17Z")
I really don’t know what governs different reactions. This is about the worst reaction I’ve had. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2022, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opinions-on-when-to-get-a-second-covid-booster/961999/49 "2022-04-20T15:36:04Z")
> [@robby](#): > > I’ve read that there is some benefit to “mixing and matching” (i.e. getting a different mRNA vaccine than your primary series), so I got the Moderna booster this time after previously getting three Pfizer shots. > > And it hit me a little hard, which surprised me after already having received three shots. I’m pretty much expecting that. I’ve had reactions to Pfizer already (2 out of 3) and anecdotally pretty much everyone I know who has mixed and matched has taken some sort of hit for a day or two. I WAS supposed to get my Moderna shot last Monday. However an ER trip to get pumped full of morphine and toradol and CT-scanned for a kidney stone interfered 😡. So now it’s next Monday. Hopefully I don’t come down with a case of relapsing fever before then 🙄. ---
**Author:** ![jerrileeh](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jerrileeh/32/10787_2.png) [@jerrileeh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jerrileeh)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2022, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opinions-on-when-to-get-a-second-covid-booster/961999/50 "2022-04-20T19:11:34Z")
So I get a Booster but I’m not 50…and it was only my choice ---
**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2022, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opinions-on-when-to-get-a-second-covid-booster/961999/51 "2022-04-21T02:49:38Z")
FWIW (and not to rub it in), but my first Moderna affected me pretty much like the prior three Pfizers; a slightly sore arm for a day or so. Pretty much how I react to, say, a tetanus shot. Sorry about the kidney stone; **Tom Scud** gets those on occasion, too. Luckily they finally caught one and determined he could manage them with dietary restrictions (which, unfortunately for him, involve avoiding tahini, among other things). Red meat, full-fat dairy, hard liquor: all perfectly fine. Spinach, almonds, rhubarb: completely verboten. Ah well, beats ending up in the ER, although he does cheat now and again with some hummus. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2022, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opinions-on-when-to-get-a-second-covid-booster/961999/52 "2022-04-21T03:43:14Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > Not to mention wild animal reservoirs. I’m still rather baffled as to how those wild animals became reservoirs - thinking back to a report of finding it in deer, in North America. I mean, maybe someone’s dog caught it from its human, and chased a deer or something? Damn virus is NOT picky at all… My husband got a Moderna booster last Saturday (his first 2, and booster, were Pfizer). He felt somewhat wretched Sunday and stayed in bed much of the afternoon. Perhaps a little “down” still Monday. I might get mine this coming weekend, a week before our trip. ---
**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:** [April 21, 2022, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opinions-on-when-to-get-a-second-covid-booster/961999/53 "2022-04-21T04:00:03Z")
> [@Mama\_Zappa](#): > > I’m still rather baffled as to how those wild animals became reservoirs - thinking back to a report of finding it in deer, in North America. I mean, maybe someone’s dog caught it from its human, and chased a deer or something? Damn virus is NOT picky at all… Wild animals become reservoirs the same way that domestic animals do; by close contact with people. The opportunities for transfer are far less frequent to be sure which is why we are more concerned with spillover from ‘bird flu’ (particularly the H5N1 subtype of Influenza A) than influenzas that _Ranaviruses_ that infect ectothermic animals, but people do interact with wild animals on a regular basis, and especially mule deer and white tail deer in North America that are so prolific as to be common pests to gardeners. Most pathogenic viruses have a zoonotic origin (which is why they are pathogenic for us but largely benign to their original hosts) and are transferred by some contact be it bushmeat hunting, incidental contact, domestication, carried by an intermediate host, et cetera. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2022, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opinions-on-when-to-get-a-second-covid-booster/961999/54 "2022-04-21T05:12:59Z")
> [@Eva\_Luna](#): > > FWIW (and not to rub it in), but my first Moderna affected me pretty much like the prior three Pfizers; a slightly sore arm for a day or so. Ah, that’s a good anecdote then. Although I would get paid time off from work without having to dip into my sick leave pool (my employer has been fairly generous all things considered), I think I’d just as soon avoid another day of feeling like crap 🙂. > [@Eva\_Luna](#): > > Sorry about the kidney stone; **Tom Scud** gets those on occasion, too. This was actually the first one in six or seven years I think. But yeah, not a happy camper last weekend. I have made a concerted effort to increase my hydration which I do think has helped space them out better and thankfully so far they have been small. But I suspect there is some degree of genetic factor - my paternal family has been plagued by the damn things. My father actually had to have a bunch removed via surgery several years back. ---
**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:** [April 23, 2022, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opinions-on-when-to-get-a-second-covid-booster/961999/55 "2022-04-23T23:50:13Z")
Just got my 2nd Moderna booster today! Yee-haw! Planning on doing nothing much in particular rest of today and tomorrow. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2022, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opinions-on-when-to-get-a-second-covid-booster/961999/56 "2022-04-24T14:28:00Z")
I got my booster in October, but i tested positive in January (very mild symptoms for one day). I’ve read that vaccination plus infection confers pretty strong immunity for six months or so. I’m travelling to California at the end of June, so I’m planning on getting my second booster three weeks before i leave. ---
**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:** [May 13, 2022, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opinions-on-when-to-get-a-second-covid-booster/961999/57 "2022-05-13T23:20:17Z")
I don’t know if I should put this in this thread, or start another. For those of us who’ve had a second booster (or four shots in all), should we start counting down as to when to get our next booster? As in six months later, or wait until the next flu/covid season? ---
**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:** [May 13, 2022, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opinions-on-when-to-get-a-second-covid-booster/961999/58 "2022-05-13T23:37:12Z")
> [@teelabrown](#): > > For those of us who’ve had a second booster (or four shots in all), should we start counting down as to when to get our next booster? As in six months later, or wait until the next flu/covid season? The [official guidance from the CDC](https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/booster-shot.html) is one booster for people age 12 and older and two boosters for those over age 50. Except for people who are immune compromised there is not as yet any further boosters that are recommended. Frankly, progressive boosters seem to have diminishing returns in terms of protection against infection (waning in about a three monty period), although being vaccinated and boosted still definitely provides good protection against severe illness and death. Given the immune escape observed in the ‘Omicron’ variants (which is increasingly a misnomer as there enough variants with sufficient genetic variation that they should receive their own unique labels) I’d be looking updated variant-specific vaccines rather than another booster for a vaccine that was developed to inoculate against the original ‘wild-type’ variant. Ironically, the adenovirus vaccines that were originally delegated to undesirable status because they showed less prompt efficacy have actually maintained their immunogenicity over time versus the mRNA vaccines, though it is probably easier to rapidly modify the mRNA viruses to combat new variants. However, if you are immune-compromised and your doctor recommends it there is no reason to not get a booster if available. We have no lack of vaccine availability at this point (in the United States, at least) and everything you can do to personally prevent getting infected also prevents the spread or potentially overtaxing the medical system, so it isn’t an issue of the ethics of denying someone else a vaccine versus your personal safety. Stranger ---
**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:** [May 13, 2022, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opinions-on-when-to-get-a-second-covid-booster/961999/59 "2022-05-13T23:39:21Z")
[I posted this before](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opinions-on-when-to-get-a-second-covid-booster-for-those-over-50/961999/13) and I think it still applies. Trying to time the waves is difficult if not foolhardy. Lots of people didn’t think the current wave would happen so soon after omicron, but here it is. It’s probably best just to stay boosted as much as possible. ---
**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:** [May 14, 2022, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opinions-on-when-to-get-a-second-covid-booster/961999/60 "2022-05-14T00:21:22Z")
I’m waiting to see what’s recommended this fall. Like @Stranger_On_A_Train , I’m hoping there will be a new booster tailored to a more recent variant. If not, i may try to get a booster shortly before Thanksgiving. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opinions-on-when-to-get-a-second-covid-booster/961999.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opinions-on-when-to-get-a-second-covid-booster/961999.md?page=4)