Anyone had omicron unvaxxed?

[Squleamish]

Has anyone had omicron who hasn't been vaccinated? What was it like? People keep saying it's "mild for the vaccinated", but it seems to me we can't really assess direction of travel unless we know what it's like for unvaccinated too (which would mean we can compare more to alpha, which was around before the vaccines).

How do you know which strain you have? It doesn't specify on the text sent

Why do we need to compare it to alpha though? What's wrong with comparing it to delta to assess what you have called the "direction of travel"?

Are you not vaccinated @Squleamish

But it has been compared to alpha and even the initial variant? South Africa have produced quite a lot of data.

Off the top of my head I think it was milder and resulted in less deaths and hospitalisations than any of the other variants unvaccinated, not so much of a difference double vaccinated (because the vaccines work less well on omicron.. however itself is milder so it evens out) and again less deaths / hospitalisations after 3 vaccines.

Yes how does anyone know which variant they may have had? Are they even possible to detect with a pcr?

It said 75% of cases were the new strain.

Most of South Africa remains unvaccinated so there should be plenty of data.

A friend is currently isolating with her brother and his family after they all caught Omicron over Christmas.

She's triple vaxxed and testing negative. Her children have had one vax each and are both positive and asymptomatic.

Brother's family of 4 all unvaxxed and all positive - mild cold symptom / mild headache. All otherwise well.

Not sure that tells you much though as their age group (30s) would mostly have had mild illness with all varieties of covid so far.

On day 9 now and I'm not vaccinated.
It was an illness that I've never had before in that I can't even compare it to a cold as it was nothing like a cold for me.

I had an awful headache for the first couple of days but the worst thing was lower back pain which I still have now. I was also exhausted constantly but coming out of that now.
I had no cough, temperature, runny nose etc.
I am still testing a strong positive on my lateral flows and am wondering if this is because I'm not vaccinated. Most people have felt right as rain before I have and again I'm putting this down to not being vaccinated.

I'm 32 if that's useful information and otherwise healthy.

I think the vast majority of positive cases in the UK now are omicron.

I too would love to see a study looking at the intrinsic severity of the omicron virus, so how it affects people who are unvaccinated.

Also, whether the 'booster' (which still targets the original strain) actually reduces the severity of disease?

I'm unvaccinated, currently on day 4 (negative LFT late Christmas eve and strong positive Christmas morning after my sister tested positive)

Christmas evening I had bad chills and a temp of 39.1, since then have felt better apart from quite a bad headache. Today I'm bringing up lots of phlegm.

My sister is 12 years younger than me (I'm 39) and triple jabbed (booster 2 weeks before positive) and she's mainly felt sick and exhausted and been sleeping loads. I think we are about as rough as each other but it has manifested in different ways.

@SmallElephant

Why do we need to compare it to alpha though? What's wrong with comparing it to delta to assess what you have called the "direction of travel"?

Only because when delta arrived I think most of us were already jabbed? And jabs complicate the picture in terms of virus severity.

@Alisonb1234

I'm unvaccinated, currently on day 4 (negative LFT late Christmas eve and strong positive Christmas morning after my sister tested positive)

Christmas evening I had bad chills and a temp of 39.1, since then have felt better apart from quite a bad headache. Today I'm bringing up lots of phlegm.

My sister is 12 years younger than me (I'm 39) and triple jabbed (booster 2 weeks before positive) and she's mainly felt sick and exhausted and been sleeping loads. I think we are about as rough as each other but it has manifested in different ways.

Interesting, thanks. Hope you're all better soon :)

@Ihearthosesleighbellsringing

On day 9 now and I'm not vaccinated. It was an illness that I've never had before in that I can't even compare it to a cold as it was nothing like a cold for me.

I had an awful headache for the first couple of days but the worst thing was lower back pain which I still have now. I was also exhausted constantly but coming out of that now.
I had no cough, temperature, runny nose etc.
I am still testing a strong positive on my lateral flows and am wondering if this is because I'm not vaccinated. Most people have felt right as rain before I have and again I'm putting this down to not being vaccinated.

I'm 32 if that's useful information and otherwise healthy.

Thanks for posting your experiences. Sorry you've felt rough, and hope it's all cleared up v soon.

@ditalini

A friend is currently isolating with her brother and his family after they all caught Omicron over Christmas.

She's triple vaxxed and testing negative. Her children have had one vax each and are both positive and asymptomatic.

Brother's family of 4 all unvaxxed and all positive - mild cold symptom / mild headache. All otherwise well.

Not sure that tells you much though as their age group (30s) would mostly have had mild illness with all varieties of covid so far.

Thanks @ditalini. Interesting to hear this.

I'm unvaccinated and covid positive although not 100% sure what varient.

I am 28, asthmatic and pregnant. I have felt awful (sore head, like something is sitting on my chest, really high RhR, no energy). I'm on day 8 and feeling a bit better, I pray that's me over the worst of it now 🤞 interestingly, I always felt good in the morning after a sleep, it was as the day went on I feel/felt worse

I’m double vaccinated and reacted badly to the second Pfizer jab.
Husband is completely unvaccinated (after seeing what happened to me).

We both have/ had what we thought was omicron. He was under the weather for about 2 days, bad headache, no temperature.

I was and am still unwell at day 8. Temperature that still comes and goes, coughing, difficulty breathing if walking too much, complete loss of smell etc.

@Cheekymonkey3112

I'm unvaccinated and covid positive although not 100% sure what varient.

I am 28, asthmatic and pregnant. I have felt awful (sore head, like something is sitting on my chest, really high RhR, no energy). I'm on day 8 and feeling a bit better, I pray that's me over the worst of it now 🤞 interestingly, I always felt good in the morning after a sleep, it was as the day went on I feel/felt worse

Sorry you've felt so rough, and glad to her you're on the mend. Must have been tough while pregnant.

@Heathway

I’m double vaccinated and reacted badly to the second Pfizer jab. Husband is completely unvaccinated (after seeing what happened to me).

We both have/ had what we thought was omicron. He was under the weather for about 2 days, bad headache, no temperature.

I was and am still unwell at day 8. Temperature that still comes and goes, coughing, difficulty breathing if walking too much, complete loss of smell etc.

Sorry to hear you're feeling so rough @Heathway, and that you had a bad reaction to the jab. Hope you're better soon. Glad to hear your DH hasn't suffered too badly. It all does seem a bit random, doesn't it?

@thewhatsit

But it has been compared to alpha and even the initial variant? South Africa have produced quite a lot of data.

Off the top of my head I think it was milder and resulted in less deaths and hospitalisations than any of the other variants unvaccinated, not so much of a difference double vaccinated (because the vaccines work less well on omicron.. however itself is milder so it evens out) and again less deaths / hospitalisations after 3 vaccines.

True. Just interested in personal accounts, as "mild" can mean so many things.

@MaxNormal

Most of South Africa remains unvaccinated so there should be plenty of data.

I think it's still tricky to compare as many S.Africans will have had Delta, therefore they're not 'Covid virgins' at it were and could mount a better immune response if they get Omicron. Ditto for anyone unvaxxed here.

I have not taken the vaccination. I had Covid the first variant before any of the vaccines and felt a bit crappy with flu like symptoms for about 3 days. I have just had what I'm presuming to be the latest variant and other than feeling slightly feverish and really tired for about 2 or 3 days it was fairly mild.

Certainly from the friends I know who have taken the vaccines, the side effects of those have been as bad if not worse than how I felt with it.

@Squleamish thank you! I definitely feel so much better today so praying thsts me out the worst of it. Baby is still kicking away so praying she is absolutely fine 🤞❤ I'm 27 weeks. Xx

I’m unvaccinated and on day 9 of Covid, no idea whether it’s Omicron. I had a high temperature for the first few days and have had a mild cough. I have also now lost my sense of taste and smell. Apart from that, the main symptom has been tiredness but not so bad I had to stay in bed. Today is the first day of feeling normal.

I've had Delta 2 months ago and currently have I presume Omicron. Unvaccinated, fat and over 40. Delta was a weeks cold not the worst I have had by any stretch. Omicron a blocked nose and a stiff back for 2 days. I do take daily Vit D and C in large doses which may have helped. DH is double vacced has Omricon currently, few days feeling achy, 1 night with a fever now ok. 6 year old has it, runny nose and feeling ok.