Should my husband have the booster?

[justbananas42]

My husband (in his 40s, double jabbed) came down with Covid a month ago and was quite seriously ill. He ended up on antibiotics and steroids and is finally feeling quite a lot better, although he’s still a bit weak and has a continuing cough.

He’s now been offered a booster jab and is booked in on Monday - should he definitely have it? I know the NHS says to wait 28 days after a positive test (which he will be) but I’m just so scared about exposing him to Covid again so soon. He was quite ill for 24 hours when he had the initial vaccines. What should we do?

Of course he should have it. But why are you asking a bunch of strangers for medical advice? If you’re that concerned call your gp.

If I were him I'd have it. Massively increases protection and with him recovering from covid recently should give him much increased protection against omicron.

It’s a vaccine, not Covid.

Yes, he should

The vaccine doesn’t expose him to Covid. It’s not a live vaccine. I’d say he should definitely have it in order to be protected against the omicron variant.

Apparently the efficacy of the vaccine against omicron is really poor (0% for AZ and 30% for Pfizer) unless you have the booster, which then brings it up to 70% or so.
Also omicron is reinfecting more people than other variants, so he could be really unlucky and get Covid again if unprotected.

The vaccine doesn’t expose him to Covid. Side effects from the vaccine are an immune response not that you are actually ill with Covid.

Yes, a thousand times yes

Yes, because of omicron.

Yes.

Yes. It will boost his Protection against omicron.
It can help ease some of the longer term effects of actual covid.

It does not expose him to covid. It makes his body produce copies of the spike protein which his immune system.will react to.

Is this thread for real?

You aren't "exposing him to COVID" , the vx isn't full of virus. And his arm won't catch COVID either (just saying).

🤦‍♀️

Some people are find all this information around covid confusing due to so much mid information.

Don't try and make out the OP is stupid.

OP honestly I would seek advice from your GP with regards to this matter

No one on this thread most likely has a clue to be honest.

Talk to a professional x

Thanks for the information. The reason I’m asking is because it’s very hard to reach our GP - and DH is booked in on Monday. It sounds like it’s the right thing to do though?

Yes it is.

Studies ongoing looking at covid hospitalised patients and how soon after discharge they should have a vaccine so not a stupid question by any means.
My understanding is his natural antibodies will be very high right now so he could possibly delay. However advice would be to go ahead and that it is safe to do so.

If you’re that concerned call your gp.
Where do you live where you can call and speak to your GP?

I can't get near mine. I dedicated three days to ringing up and I still didn't get through. I've considered standing out in the street yelling at the the reception desk.

When he goes for the booster, he can explain all of this there. There should be a nurse to talk to (when I went for my second jab, they brought the nurse over because of my medical history).

It’s not covid he’ll be exposed to anyway - that’s not what the vaccine does. And if he had AZ it’ll be different - Pfizer or Moderna.

If you think you are exposing him to covid with a vaccine then this demonstrates how much ignorance there still is about how these vaccines are made. Yes, he should have the booster. No its not covid. In layman's terms its a fragment of covid to teach the immune system what to loom out for. You need a complete covid virus to become infected.

The booster is not exposing him to Covid. But he's likely to have a strong reaction because he probably has a lot of antibodies at the moment (2 jabs + recent infection).
Everyone I know who has had covid recently (last 4 months) after 2 jabs has had a rough two days after the booster.

For the snarkier responses, not everyone on social media actually has a PHD in vaccines. The op is asking genuine questions about the vaccine and how is works.

She clearly isn't against vaccines and is wanting to make the best choices with her family.

My family members who have had covid have had the booster when appropriate. For the most part we are all medical/healthcare professionals and agree with the rationale behind the vaccine schedule.

We wouldn't be human if we didn't worry about these things.

Well, I’m clearly not very knowledgeable about this stuff!

I just remember that he was quite unwell after his first vaccine, so the thought of him being exposed to even a fragment of Covid so soon after he’s been very ill with the virus is a bit nerve-wracking.

Anyway, I will get him to speak to the nurse beforehand just to put our minds at rest, as Iggly suggested.