Most people with Omicron didn't even realise they had COVID-19, study finds

Eric

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I'm getting mine next Wednesday which is great timing because I'll be in Florida for a week starting Saturday. :) Before this I just fell under the age (50) of being able to get one sooner. I'll be turning 50 the end of the month.
My wife is going on a trip to Hawaii the week after her shot (I get to stay home with the dogs) but she'll be close to the two-week mark, hopefully she'll be spared.

I'm going on a photoshoot with a buddy this weekend but he knows I'm totally paranoid and is great about masking up in the car.
 

Chew Toy McCoy

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My wife is going on a trip to Hawaii the week after her shot (I get to stay home with the dogs) but she'll be close to the two-week mark, hopefully she'll be spared.

I'm going on a photoshoot with a buddy this weekend but he knows I'm totally paranoid and is great about masking up in the car.

I'll be hitting the trifecta of likely to get covid - 2 cross-country flights. Florida. Disneyworld.

My elderly parents just got back from an Alaskan cruise, masked as often as possible, but tested positive with 2 days left on the trip. Thankfully they're doing ok which freed me up to at least temporarily have the "can you be any more of an elderly covid cliche?!?" thought. :ROFLMAO:
 

mollyc

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is the updated booster for everyone? or just over 50/immunocomprimised? i’m not eligible for a second booster since i’m still under 50.
 

AG_PhamD

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is the updated booster for everyone? or just over 50/immunocomprimised? i’m not eligible for a second booster since i’m still under 50.

I believe it's for everyone. From my understanding, it's basically this year's covid shot, akin to the seasonal flu shots.

@Renzatic is correct… or mostly correct :). The new “bivalent” vaccine is for age 12+ with Pfizer and age 18+ with Moderna AND have completed the first series of previous vaccines AND has been at least 2 months since your last dose.

As a provider I resent the fact they are calling this new vaccine series a “booster”. It’s going to create too much unnecessary confusion.

I imagine I will have to get the vaccine sooner rather than later for work, which is fine. For older adults I would consider waiting until later this fall (ie a few weeks before Thanksgiving knowing it takes a little time for immunity to form) given that’s historically when COVID spikes (like the flu) and mRNA vaccines seem to have limited longevity (especially in the elderly + we won’t know for sure for quite some time). If you’re around school aged children, earlier might be reasonable- it’ll be interesting to see how things progress in terms of school cases. But that’s a decision that should be calculated between you and your providers.

Amazingly I have yet to catch COVID… unless I caught it in 2019. I had an antibody test when those came available (May 2020?) which came back negative but those aren’t very reliable. And I have had twice weekly PCR testing for ages now.
 

Eric

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Walgreen’s is already accepting reservations for the updated booster, so I have a reservation next week. I’ll be an early guinea pig again :)
Wondering how this worked out for you, we made the appointment for today, even got a reminder this morning and when we showed up they had no idea who we were and said the new vaccine had not arrived yet.
 

Colstan

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So, I just got the latest booster yesterday at around 4:00pm, the new bivalent vaccine, targeting both the original strain of SARS-CoV-2 and the BA.4/5 omicron sub-variants, which share the same spike protein and are currently the dominant variants circulating. Since the initial release, I've been exclusively using Moderna. While there are no current studies comparing the latest vaccines, the previous booster seemed to be more favorable with Moderna than Pfizer, which is why I stuck with Moderna and recommended to my family members to switch.

My mother actually took part in the initial Pfizer clinical trials, having traveled an entire state away, and was fortunate enough to be in the 50% that received the real vaccine. Hence, she has received all of the vaccines recommended for folks her age. One of our local pharmacies got the new booster just yesterday, so I took her to get the vaccine with me. She's had so many jabs, that they had to staple her vaccine cards together; at some point it's going to be as big as a phone book. Many of my family members have a needle phobia, so it's good to have me walk them through it.

As of this writing, it's been approximately 19 hours since I got the injection. I'm too young to qualify for the second booster (fourth jab), so it's been a substantial amount of time since I received the first booster. Considering that this dosage targets both the original SARS-CoV-2 and BA.4/5, I think it has more side-effects, at least for myself and my mother, than previous boosters. I had the worst reaction to the second initial dosage, with mild symptoms with the first booster, and I'd say that this was the most unpleasant since the original second dose.

Approximately six hours after receiving the Moderna booster, I began having symptoms. Primarily, a low-grade fever, aching joints, moderate pain at the injection site, and a headache. Also, strangely enough, I had muscle pain in the arm that didn't receive the jab. I don't know if this is sympathy pain, or more likely, a result of general pain from expected symptoms.

The most unpleasant side effect was the inability to sleep. Typically, when one gets a mild fever, it produces chills and a desire to sleep it off. I felt like I was overheated, and had terrible insomnia. So, I felt too bad to do anything except lay in bed, but my mind wouldn't let me fall asleep. I got maybe three hours last night, while waking up every ten or twenty minutes. I didn't have insomnia with my previous three injections, so I see this as a sign that this new booster is indeed different from the previous ones that I have received.

At this point, almost all symptoms have abated, and I am doing much better, so expect this to last at least half a day, once symptoms start becoming noticeable. I had a few errands to do this morning, so that was unpleasant, and should have budgeted my time better to take it easy. I had assumed that the side effects would be similar to the first booster, but this was more impactful. Of course, the results will be different for everyone, my mother is currently fast asleep, so it could take her more time to recover. I'm also going to make sure other family members get the vaccine as soon as possible, despite their needle phobias.

It takes approximately two weeks for the vaccine to reach maximal efficacy. Thus, I recommend everyone get their injection as soon as possible. Just make sure you don't have a lot to do the following day. As I said, I'm doing much better now, but would have preferred to stay at home, in bed, the following day after receiving this booster.

Finally, I know it sounds weird, but I'm sure many of us feel a sense of accomplishment after the injection. Even though it's a mild inconvenience, staying current with the latest boosters is the best way to avoid either being infected, or substantial severity of an infection. It is also the right thing to do for our families, friends, and human kind in general. This is a good reminder to get your influenza vaccine, as well. There are no restrictions with taking them together, just make sure to switch arms. Last year's flu vaccine was a miss with little to no protection, because COVID dominated global sickness, but hopefully the predictive methods used will improve its efficacy this year.

So, the short version is to get the COVID booster for the new variants as soon as it is available in your area, call around if you have to like I did, and do your civic duty to protect both yourself and everyone around you. I survived the latest injection, and I recommend getting it as soon as possible.
 

Eric

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Appreciate you sharing your experience, I've always been hit pretty hard with side effects so I'll expect it here, too. It's still worth a bad day to have that coverage, it does give you a sense of protection and security and I would love to go into the store without a mask for a change.

Unfortunately, our Walgreens has not been getting any of the new vaccine in as they anticipated so we can't get ours yet and they've cancelled our appointments. Best hope is next week some time.
 

AG_PhamD

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Wondering how this worked out for you, we made the appointment for today, even got a reminder this morning and when we showed up they had no idea who we were and said the new vaccine had not arrived yet.

I’ve heard a number of cases of this occurring, or more specifically getting a phone call cancelling the appointment because the vaccine is not yet available.

I’ll have to talk to my colleagues in the community side of pharmacy to find out what’s going on. I’m surprised they would not know how many doses they’re getting. Maybe they’re overbooking people with the expectation a certain percent cancel? Or it’s a distribution problem?

Frustrating none the less.
 

Eric

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I’ve heard a number of cases of this occurring, or more specifically getting a phone call cancelling the appointment because the vaccine is not yet available.

I’ll have to talk to my colleagues in the community side of pharmacy to find out what’s going on. I’m surprised they would not know how many doses they’re getting. Maybe they’re overbooking people with the expectation a certain percent cancel? Or it’s a distribution problem?

Frustrating none the less.
Right, my wife isn't too happy about it mostly because they confirmed our appointment by text that same morning just to tell us they didn't have it when we arrived. I think they're just at the mercy of supply chain though, some seem to have gotten them while others haven't. My guess is within a week they'll have it all straightened out.
 

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Right, my wife isn't too happy about it mostly because they confirmed our appointment by text that same morning just to tell us they didn't have it when we arrived. I think they're just at the mercy of supply chain though, some seem to have gotten them while others haven't. My guess is within a week they'll have it all straightened out.
I actually got there and they didn’t have any vaccine. They claimed they tried to call everyone and cancel. Nope. In fact, I got an automated text message that day reminding me to come in. Stupid walgreens.
 

Chew Toy McCoy

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My booster appointment was a nightmare but I did get it.

About a half hour before my appointment they left a voicemail asking me to come a half hour later than my appointment because starting at my appointment time they would be closed for lunch. Then why make that time slot available?

So I got there about 15 minutes before my new appointment time. There was only 1 other person waiting at the time and both of us sat in provided chairs. Then more people started shuffling in, no real orgainization. When they finally opened the widow it became a free for all. Nobody in the pharmacy made any kind of announcement asking who was there for an appointment or what time. It was just "I'll help next in line" with no actual line and people just selfishly deciding they were next with no regard to the people around them.

2 people who got to the window before me had an appointment an hour after mine. I asked a woman standing next to me if she had an appointment, she said no, she's just picking up medication. I said I had a 4 o'clock appointment and it was currently 5. Knowing my frustration when they said "next in line" she just rushed to the window. Un-fucking-believable.

At one point a guy sweating and sniffling without a mask on just kind of forced his way to the front where they weren't able to help with whatever it was he was looking for, but thanks for freaking us all out with possibly infecting us.

With what I thought would be a quick in and out 4 o'clock appointment I didn't get out of there until 5:45.
 

Eric

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I actually got there and they didn’t have any vaccine. They claimed they tried to call everyone and cancel. Nope. In fact, I got an automated text message that day reminding me to come in. Stupid walgreens.
Exact same, although they did call yesterday to let us know today's wouldn't be in. They're obviously not synced up with their online automated system.

I scheduled on on Monday with Kaiser, hoping it will be here by then.
 

Cmaier

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Exact same, although they did call yesterday to let us know today's wouldn't be in. They're obviously not synced up with their online automated system.

I scheduled on on Monday with Kaiser, hoping it will be here by then.
I just made an appointment via Stanford Health about a week and a half from now. It turns out i got all my shots from them, anyway, so this will likely work out much better.
 

AG_PhamD

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Right, my wife isn't too happy about it mostly because they confirmed our appointment by text that same morning just to tell us they didn't have it when we arrived. I think they're just at the mercy of supply chain though, some seem to have gotten them while others haven't. My guess is within a week they'll have it all straightened out.

Interestingly most of the cases I’ve heard about are with Walgreens. So they definitely have some issue going on. My sister in fact had multiple confirmations only to get a cryptic phone call the day of the vaccination implying the COVID vaccine was unavailable but the flu shot was.

I’m sure they will straighten it out, but these sorts of screwups inevitably dissuade people from scheduling a second appointment. Hopefully they have a system to contact people to reschedule or reschedule people when they call informing of the cancellation. My sister took the initiative to just book with CVS and had no issues.
 

Eric

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Kaiser did have them this morning by appointment only (I scheduled Saturday) and when I asked about side effects with this variant she said "I don't know, we just started giving them today". Reassuring lol, but we have feedback from @AG_PhamD which is a little scary, anyone else who wants to chime in is more than welcome.

I also had to get a new card as this is my 5th shot, so now I'm packing two of them around. :ROFLMAO:
 
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AG_PhamD

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Kaiser did have them this morning by appointment only (I scheduled Saturday) and when I asked about side effects with this variant she said "I don't know, we just started giving them today". Reassuring lol, but we have feedback from @AG_PhamD which is a little scary, anyone else who wants to chime it is more than welcome.

I also had to get a new card as this is my 5th shot, so now I'm packing two of them around. :ROFLMAO:

Moderna did a clinical trial addressing safety with 800 participants. Pfizer did the same with 600. Side effects appear to be similar to the original vaccines. I would say it’s too early to know exactly how these compare or if any new adverse effects (aka severe side effects) are possible (or less prevalent), but there are of course phase IV trials ongoing to monitor this. I would expect there would be little difference.

If there are new adverse effects associated with the bivalent vaccines we are not aware of, more than likely they would be extremely rare.

As a healthcare provider, “I don’t know” is terrible answer to provide a patient in this context when there is in fact some data. There’s much better ways to frame uncertainty. You can rarely determine exactly how someone will respond to a pharmaceutical (we won’t get into pharmacogenomics) but you can have a good idea of how most people will.

I will say assuming you still have some degree of immunity it’s common to have more intense side effects with subsequent shots. This is because your immune system has already been primed to respond. Most side effects in this case are not really a result of the vaccine itself, but your body’s response to the vaccine. These new vaccines still contain some of the original (BA.1) vaccine.

I haven’t heard/seen any severe side effects at this point. That said my experience is anecdotal. I didn’t see any major issues with the first vaccine either, granted the known severe side effects are like less than one in a million.

Let us know what your experience was.
 

Herdfan

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I believe it's for everyone. From my understanding, it's basically this year's covid shot, akin to the seasonal flu shots.


Moderna did a clinical trial addressing safety with 800 participants. Pfizer did the same with 600. Side effects appear to be similar to the original vaccines. I would say it’s too early to know exactly how these compare or if any new adverse effects (aka severe side effects) are possible (or less prevalent), but there are of course phase IV trials ongoing to monitor this. I would expect there would be little difference.

@AG_PhamD

What type of testing happens with the annual flu shot? I am guessing it doesn't go through all the layers. Or is it even tested at all?
 

Eric

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@AG_PhamD

What type of testing happens with the annual flu shot? I am guessing it doesn't go through all the layers. Or is it even tested at all?
I'll let AG speak with his expertise since you asked. But as I understand it the base is the same and that's what had to go through all the trials, they just add the latest variants every year, just as they do with the flu shot so there's no need to vet actual vaccine any longer.
 
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