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Vaccine experts: Covid-19 booster shots aren't needed now

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Re: Vaccine experts: Covid-19 booster shots aren't needed now

#331

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is some value in fitting in with society and showing those who are skeptical that there's nothing to be afraid of with a vaccine. And with more mandates going into place it's easier to just get vaccinated.

I've said from the beginning of this year that I'll get vaccinated as soon as the government gets out of it. At this point, the mandates are specifically why I refuse to get vaccinated. I caught covid in August so I'm immune for the next year at least. So there's no reason for me to get vaccinated and every reason not to.

> I've said from the beginning of this year that I'll get vaccinated as soon as the government gets out of it. At this point, the mandates are specifically why I refuse to get vaccinated.

Do you find any irony in your decision being controlled by the government's policy?

Re: Vaccine experts: Covid-19 booster shots aren't needed now

#332

The whole booster conversation seems like a political game. If you have a vaccine, then your risk of death is far below that of the flu (statistically). If you don't have a vaccine by now, you want covid instead and this booster conversation is irrelevant. Kids are banned from taking anything. So I expect booster or no booster, frankly it just won't matter much at the population scale. I also don't understand the mas…

There’s a serious disconnect between public health experts and the general public, and the experts have continued to not learn that lesson over the last year plus. It’s mind-boggling. Earlier in the summer, we lifted mask mandates “because the vaccines were preventing disease”, and regardless of the technical facts behind that decision, the perception was reality for the general public. Now they are trying to walk th…

Agree 100% with your comment, there has been a breakdown when it comes to technical definitions. The medical professional's definition of "airborne spread" for example. By their textbook definition, "airborne spread" was impossible and it got into the definition of what a droplet is.

Re: Vaccine experts: Covid-19 booster shots aren't needed now

#333
post #286

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If someone were struggling with alcoholism, and I offered them an FDA approved shot to remove their addiction to alcohol, I would consider them fairly stupid if they refused it. Handling diseases and addictions is a long term struggle, not similar to a one time choice at all. It is orders of magnitude easier to get a covid shot than to rid yourself of an addiction.

There are FDA approved medications which are effective in treating alcoholism. https://www.webmd.com/mental-health/addiction/features/fight...

Those are all drugs which try to make curing addiction easier, but it's still hard and you're going to suffer withdrawal symptoms and take these drugs for months. Very different from this magical hypothetical. Probably taking something like one of these is, however, advisable if trying to get off alcohol?

Re: Vaccine experts: Covid-19 booster shots aren't needed now

#334

The whole booster conversation seems like a political game. If you have a vaccine, then your risk of death is far below that of the flu (statistically). If you don't have a vaccine by now, you want covid instead and this booster conversation is irrelevant. Kids are banned from taking anything. So I expect booster or no booster, frankly it just won't matter much at the population scale. I also don't understand the mas…

>Biden should frankly push legislation to replace or reform the FDA

That's a very American-centric view. I'm not aware of any regulatory bodies (WHO included) which allow vaccination for kids under 12.

Re: Vaccine experts: Covid-19 booster shots aren't needed now

#335

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is some value in fitting in with society and showing those who are skeptical that there's nothing to be afraid of with a vaccine. And with more mandates going into place it's easier to just get vaccinated.

I've said from the beginning of this year that I'll get vaccinated as soon as the government gets out of it. At this point, the mandates are specifically why I refuse to get vaccinated. I caught covid in August so I'm immune for the next year at least. So there's no reason for me to get vaccinated and every reason not to.

> I caught covid in August so I'm immune for the next year at least.

Yeah and if you got vaccinated you probably wouldn't have caught it in August. Great hill to (hopefully metaphorically) die on.

Re: Vaccine experts: Covid-19 booster shots aren't needed now

#336

The whole booster conversation seems like a political game. If you have a vaccine, then your risk of death is far below that of the flu (statistically). If you don't have a vaccine by now, you want covid instead and this booster conversation is irrelevant. Kids are banned from taking anything. So I expect booster or no booster, frankly it just won't matter much at the population scale. I also don't understand the mas…

> Is it to protect the unvaccinated? COVID is not going away, so IMO here we just want everyone in this population to get the disease as fast as possible to get it over with. No we definitely do not want that. There are large deaths of the country where vaccinated people are dying of unrelated conditions simply because hospitals are too full of dying unvaccinated COVID patients. The only way this works is if hospital…

Where are people dying because the hospitals are too full of unvaccinated patients dying of COVID-19?

Re: Vaccine experts: Covid-19 booster shots aren't needed now

#337
post #246

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If you have a vaccine, then your risk of death is far below that of the flu (statistically). That seems worth checking. US flu deaths per year over the last 10 years ranged from 12000 to 61000, averaging 35900 [1]. That's 3.7 to 18.6 per 100k, averaging 10.9 per 100k. Weekly COVID deaths among vaccinated people is 0.1 per 100k [2]. The flu season is typically about 8 months. A weekly death rate of 0.1 per 100k over…

Any kind of equivalence statement to the flu is a well-known conservative "dog whistle"

That is not true at all. I'm fairly progressive and I found the analysis done there credible and welcome the information.

Re: Vaccine experts: Covid-19 booster shots aren't needed now

#338
post #246

The whole booster conversation seems like a political game. If you have a vaccine, then your risk of death is far below that of the flu (statistically). If you don't have a vaccine by now, you want covid instead and this booster conversation is irrelevant. Kids are banned from taking anything. So I expect booster or no booster, frankly it just won't matter much at the population scale. I also don't understand the mas…

> If you have a vaccine, then your risk of death is far below that of the flu (statistically). That seems worth checking. US flu deaths per year over the last 10 years ranged from 12000 to 61000, averaging 35900 [1]. That's 3.7 to 18.6 per 100k, averaging 10.9 per 100k. Weekly COVID deaths among vaccinated people is 0.1 per 100k [2]. The flu season is typically about 8 months. A weekly death rate of 0.1 per 100k over…

I get so frustrated by this stuff.

Here’s where you went wrong.

Your number is not based on efficacy last week. It’s cumulative!

The vaccine efficacy wanes. For those who get a vaccine 8 months ago, it’s almost worthless now.

The worst part of you logic, you lump all risk groups together! A 90 year old is not a 20 year old. Argh! People have been doing this, even public health people, since the beginning of the pandemic. Teenagers and children have never been at risk really. It’s not about you, it’s about high risk groups. Old people, obese people with diabetes over a certain age.

I get so very frustrated.

Re: Vaccine experts: Covid-19 booster shots aren't needed now

#339
post #166
post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Link?

https://thehill.com/opinion/healthcare/571022-to-boost-or-no... https://www.politico.com/news/2021/08/31/biden-booster-plan-... https://endpts.com/breaking-in-a-major-blow-to-vaccine-effor... These are authors of this report.

You said

> Biden administration seems to have asked

Nowhere is that reported, or even suggested, in the links you posted.

Two researchers resigning in disagreement is seriously, seriously different from the administration forcing people out.

One is researchers protesting decisions by their own senior leadership. The other is the administration censoring scientific disagreement.

Re: Vaccine experts: Covid-19 booster shots aren't needed now

#340
post #76
post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, I'm not flying to Vietnam tomorrow, so I'm not claiming I personally need a booster shot. However: - Vietnam is an epicenter right now, so my odds of catching COVID would be high. - They are well beyond hospital capacity, so if I do have a serious case, it's uncertain I'll receive quality care (and if I do, I'm taking a bed from someone else) We don't have full data, so the right way to think about this is with…

I think you are trying to overanalyse and overrule the experts here. Experts are saying that with the regards to the whole population currently community wide booster shots are not needed. It may not apply to each individual case (such as immunocompromised etc., or people with very specific risk, like those going to Vietnam) but this was never to be meant an individual assessment. Many people are confusing these two…

That's unfair. I'm trying to overrule bad reporting, not experts. The experts made a nuanced point which seemed reasonable, and the reporters screwed it up.
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