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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Is Covid here to stay and will we keep needing boosters?

70 replies

Wbfa · 29/12/2021 22:32

Just that really. First they said get vaccinated. Then they said oops, get a booster. Then oops again, second booster for extremely vulnerable folks. Some countries are already doing multiple boosters. AIBU in feeling like nobody really knows what is going on or what to do next?

OP posts:
Mickarooni · 30/12/2021 10:44

@Wbfa

What did I say that was embarrassing? Is this not what has happened?
It’s a new virus, they were learning. Why do some people think they know better than epidemiologists and other experts?! I certainly don’t have any respect or trust for general government policy but I trust medics and scientists. If an annual booster keeps the country running without restrictions, I think it’s a sensible option.
traka · 30/12/2021 10:46

Give me strength

Wbfa · 30/12/2021 10:50

When did I say that I know better. My whole post is about nobody knowing anything and info changing every minute ffs.

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Sonex · 30/12/2021 10:50

No oops involved. It was entirely predictable to anyone scientifically or medically educated that we would need more vaccinations in the first years to protect against and entirely new virus that our immune systems had never seen before, using newly developed vaccines. In coming years the vaccines will be tweaked according to the dominant strains, exactly like the flu vaccines are, and I fully expect that in a year or so we will be offered an annual covid shot, just like the annual flu vaccine. It will also settle down to be advised mainly for older people or people with compromised immune systems. Exactly like flu. For most people, it will be a mild annual few days in bed, just like flu, as this new coronaviris settles down to be, basically, another cold virus, just like all the other colds that we get now that originally wiped out loads of cavepeople or whatever.

Entirely predictable that more doses would be required in the first year or two, especially as we are reacting to new variants that aren't year predictable, as it's only been around for a couple of years. Eventually, the clever scientists will be able to predict the dominant strains and prepare the annual covid shot in advance, with varying annual accuracy, just like flu.

The latest antivax thing of going on about oh we need 3 shots a year now and they never said that from the beginning is laughable, it really is. Any intelligent person can see that were still (in year 2) in the reactive stage of a response to this completely new virus and that, eventually, it will settle down into a nasty winter respiratory virus that can overload the NHS and will kill some older or weaker people every year. Entirely predictable and understandable. No oops involved.

MsAgnesDiPesto · 30/12/2021 10:50

Chris Whitby has been clear that a polyvalent vaccine is on its way, so the frequency of boosters will be greatly diminished or eliminated in future.

I don't know why people find it so hard to understand that we need to modify our responses to the virus as it changes. For now we just have to manage our response using the tools we have while we develop new ones, based on increased understanding.

Wbfa · 30/12/2021 10:51

Also its not an “annual booster” where I am some people have already received 2 boosters within the same year.

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montysma1 · 30/12/2021 10:52

Yes, what a bugger. 4 jags that take seconds, to keep yourself and other safe. Fuckers.

Sonex · 30/12/2021 10:53

@Wbfa

Also its not an “annual booster” where I am some people have already received 2 boosters within the same year.
So what?

It's the first year!!

wonkylegs · 30/12/2021 10:54

@Wbfa

For the people saying its nothing different from an annual flu jab, it is completely different. How many times have you been vaccinated for flu in the same year? For covid its 2 vaccines to be completely vaccinated and then a booster ideally within the same year (6 months where I am) and maybe more depending on where you are.
Take a quick look at the childhood vaccinations schedule for the U.K. and you will quickly see we have been boosting vaccinations over short periods in childhood for decades.
Mickarooni · 30/12/2021 10:56

@Wbfa

Also its not an “annual booster” where I am some people have already received 2 boosters within the same year.
In the UK , nobody has received 2 boosters.
StillWalking · 30/12/2021 10:56

Yes and Yes. No "oops" about it. The thing is changing and evolving at an alarming rate, a significant number of people are refusing to take sensible precautions to stop it spreading, we have a small, but crucial population of anti-vaxxers .... this thing is with us for the long game now and we're going to have to learn to live with it. If that means regular boosters, then so be it.

Sonex · 30/12/2021 10:57

Exactly - I lost count of how many diptheria and meningitis boosters they had in the first few years. Because that's the current best way of stopping your baby dying from meningitis. Evil scientists using multiple doses of a vaccine to protect people!

RampantIvy · 30/12/2021 10:57

@Mickarooni some cancer patients have had them. One of my friends has.

Sonex · 30/12/2021 11:00

Yes I know someone recovering from cancer that has had 4 separate injections of the vaccine. And they're grateful.for them as their immune system is shot to pieces due to chemo. Again, so what. There's nothing special about a booster, it's just another dose or a half dose of the same vaccines. Eventually they will be tweaked more to better respond to variants.

Again, so what.

Wbfa · 30/12/2021 11:00

I am not in the UK.

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OldaRailer · 30/12/2021 11:01

I guess it will settle down and we'll be offered an annual vaccination in autumn.

ToykotoLosAngeles · 30/12/2021 11:03

Nobody once said one vaccine would be enough. It was always 2 jabs, 3 months apart to have the best protection balanced against what was safe to give us as a dose.

I had AZ for the first 2 which isn't as effective against omicron so gratefully accepted my Pfizer!

Mickarooni · 30/12/2021 11:06

[quote RampantIvy]@Mickarooni some cancer patients have had them. One of my friends has.[/quote]
No they haven’t had 2 boosters. They’ve had 3 primary vaccines (healthier people only need 2) followed by a booster. I am in this group of people and I am grateful for the opportunity.

Sonex · 30/12/2021 11:06

People whining about being lucky enough to be offered a third or fourth vaccine within one calender year is really unedifying when there are many people in other countries who haven't even had access to one dose yet.

IVflytrap · 30/12/2021 11:06

It's a new virus, so no one had immunity when it spread, which is why we're having vaccines and boosters. Once the general immunity of the population is improved, we won't need so many jabs.

I'm not sure whet the problem is, as it sounds like you're angry at the scientists and medical professionals who are simply doing the best they can with the information they have gleaned along the way. It's why it took the time it did to develop a vaccine (which was still record time considering it was a brand new virus). You're annoyed they weren't clairvoyant enough to know exactly how we would need to handle the disease from the get go?

Mickarooni · 30/12/2021 11:07

Interested to know which countries are offering a 2nd booster? I know of Israel but not really been following elsewhere.

Wbfa · 30/12/2021 11:08

I think what I said is being misunderstood. Its not about vaccines good/bad. Its the way people were made to feel that things would slowly go back to normal once we got vaccines/followed rules and then told well actually you still cant get your treatments/surgeries on time, you still cant travel, restrictions etc until you get your booster. Fair enough we go get the booster. Then another and another. Whose to say things will change? Probably won’t. It’s all a-bit dismal to me.

OP posts:
Mickarooni · 30/12/2021 11:08

@Sonex

People whining about being lucky enough to be offered a third or fourth vaccine within one calender year is really unedifying when there are many people in other countries who haven't even had access to one dose yet.
Agreed. We really do need to address the issue of unequal access and look at ways of overcoming this.
ToykotoLosAngeles · 30/12/2021 11:08

@Sonex

People whining about being lucky enough to be offered a third or fourth vaccine within one calender year is really unedifying when there are many people in other countries who haven't even had access to one dose yet.
I know! Wah wah, woe is me, I won the birthplace lottery.
PlanetNormal · 30/12/2021 11:09

Yes, covid is here to stay. Forever. The virus will continue to evolve & mutate because that’s what coronaviruses do. Over time, it is likely (but not certain) to become more transmissible & less severe. We are all going to get it in the end, which is why the vulnerable will need annual boosters, in the same way they had annual flu jabs before this pandemic. A combined flu & covid jab would seem likely.

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