COVID: How many boosters are enough?

[PurpleRayne89]

If you’re vaccinated with all three jabs. When do you draw the line if we are expected to get a 4th or 5th booster?

When, If ever will you say it’s enough and refuse to be injected again until they develop something more long lasting.

What are you general thoughts on the vaccine?

No arguments, all opinions welcome and will be respected. Let’s discuss this in a mature fashion.

@MsAgnesDiPestoIf you actually read my post I have a needle phobia and that is the reason I won't be having vaccines more than annually. I cannot live my life knowing I will be having an injection every 3 or 4 months for example.

I think we need to look critically at the need for this in the young.

I remain unvaxxed and haven’t had anything since I suspect having covid very mildly March 2020. Despite numerous close contacts since caring for elderly relatives/kids with it,

We need to risk assess based on age and health and prior infection.

From Feb20-Dec 21, 76 people in my age bracket died with no co-morbidities according to the ONS.

With those figures my risk profile doesn't call for any.

For comparison, death in road accidents was 1,390 June 2019-2020.

I'll continue to have what I'm advised to have when I'm advised to have it, as I'm 60-something and, frankly a bit fat so at a degree of risk (and, yes, I'm trying to lose the weight, but its bloody hard post-menopause). I also want to travel, and would, therefore be happy to pay for extra boosters if it is required for some countries at times when we're not doing national campaigns. I am assuming (and I think I've read somewhere) that the scientists are working on vaccines that will last longer/be combined with flu vaccines as the pressure of running national vaccine campaigns on the NHS can't go on forever.

[quote PinkSparklyPussyCat]@MsAgnesDiPestoIf you actually read my post I have a needle phobia and that is the reason I won't be having vaccines more than annually. I cannot live my life knowing I will be having an injection every 3 or 4 months for example.[/quote]
Perhaps yours wasn’t the best post to quote then, but a lot of people are saying the same thing, and I am genuinely interested in the answer.

I haven't had the booster, neither has DH but both double jabbed. I just feel uneasy about it. Can't quite put my finger on why, but I can't work out why it's necessary to be boosted so soon if it doesn't prevent spread or prevent you catching it. I also have a friend who had a serious reaction to the first vaccine and now has a chronic, debilitating condition, which is very hard to witness so close to home. We've got no plans to travel abroad any time soon, so for now I'm not keen.

@ImALittlePea

I haven't had the booster, neither has DH but both double jabbed. I just feel uneasy about it. Can't quite put my finger on why, but I can't work out why it's necessary to be boosted so soon if it doesn't prevent spread or prevent you catching it. I also have a friend who had a serious reaction to the first vaccine and now has a chronic, debilitating condition, which is very hard to witness so close to home. We've got no plans to travel abroad any time soon, so for now I'm not keen.

It might not prevent you catching it but it provides good protection against hospitalisation and death. That’s good enough for me.

Perhaps yours wasn’t the best post to quote then, but a lot of people are saying the same thing, and I am genuinely interested in the answer.

I have nothing against the vaccine whatsoever! If it becomes available in a nasal spray I'll happily take it.

I'm quite happy to keep rolling my sleeve up with the following provisos:

-- That vaccines and boosters do the heavy lifting as a line of defence against covid, including for people with other intersecting conditions, meaning we can leave behind masks and distancing and whatnot
-- That an ongoing vaccination and boosting programme can be set up so that it doesn't impinge on NHS capacity, waiting lists, community activity and staffing levels

With those caveats in place, I reckon I'll be OK with a needle every year, maybe every six months. More often than that and I'll start questioning the benefit at a societal level, I think.

I've had 3. Reluctant to have another until next winter. Happy to have one a year. However I want to travel this year so would have one if forced to be able to do so, albeit very reluctantly

One of my main reasons for getting the booster was that I am sure you will need three to count as “fully vaccinated” sooner or later and I am concerned about having to isolate every time I am a close contact or the prospect of vaccine passports so I won’t be as desperate to get successive boosters if this goes away.

Living my life - DC in school, DH commuting on London Underground, going to the gym regularly, theatres, pubs, restaurants etc I am pretty confident that I will continue to get boosted by regular exposure to whatever is out there. I get colds 1-2x a month so it’s inconceivable I won’t come into contact with Covid every now and then.

I not had the first two. No more for me. I don't do flu jabs either.

That should read I DID have the first two 🙄

"Awalkintime
4 a year is standard for Depo injection and no one bats an eyelid at that. Not sure why the frequency of this injection is such an issue when others are ignored."

😂😂😂

@Awalkintime

BrightYellowDaffodil At no point did I compare the role or what was in the injections. I compared the frequency which is what the post is about. How often it is given. Nor did I say it was a vaccine. Please read things properly.

Did you mean to be so rude?

The point I was making is that the difference in function for the injections means there's different justification for why the frequency may differ in terms of acceptability. If Depo only works for a certain number of months then it has to be given at that frequency. Covid boosters wane over time, but their efficacy is dependent on a number of factors, as is the risk/benefit analysis.

@MsAgnesDiPesto

’m genuinely curious about you and all the people who say the same. What is it about the scientific evidence and the emergence of new variants which makes you sure that the arbitrary interval of one year is the optimum for a vaccine? Surely it’s linked to when new variants arrive, how dangerous they are, and when the vaccine for them is available? If you believe vaccines are useful in guarding against serious illness, surely you’d take them when public health officials say they’re needed, not at an interval you, as a lay person, deems acceptable?

As far as I'm concerned, the scientists were saying back in November that boosters, by and large, wouldn't be needed. And it should be remembered that there is no such thing as The Science to be followed; there is quite a range of opinions within the scientific community (generally, not just a few extreme outliers) like here: www.thetimes.co.uk/article/6f13ec0e-7b96-11ec-846f-fcbd721f9c02?shareToken=c9ac6b0b39b3e4b25e240d8b6fb70420 .

Yes, then Omicron came along but it's milder. I was happy to have the first two vaccines because it gave a high degree of protection at the time a more dangerous variant was circulating, and which gave a greater level of herd immunity required for the general re-opening of society.

Now, while I do understand that boosters give additional protection, it's a balance of risk and benefit. I've known people have some quite serious side effects from the vaccines and I was pretty ill after my second one. At the moment I don't feel that the benefits of the booster outweigh the risks. I also feel that the booster campaign was a bit of a 'Throw everything at it, just in case' effort, particularly in light of earlier scientific view that boosters wouldn't be necessary.

I have no particular opinion on what the 'right' interval for boosters, if any, should be. In my case I'm leaving it as long as possible in order to try and not have the illness so severely again. I'm also of the view that immune systems are more complex than just antibodies and repeatedly coshing ourselves with another dose of vaccine is like making someone take an exam again and again just to be sure, rather than trusting that they learned the first times around.

Omicron isn’t mild though without vaccinations. It’s mild(er) but still pretty nasty if you have no vaccine cover.

@Iggly

Omicron isn’t mild though without vaccinations. It’s mild(er) but still pretty nasty if you have no vaccine cover.

That's a pretty blanket statement. There are very many people who have had omicron with no vaccines and still state it has been mild.

@Iggly

Omicron isn’t mild though without vaccinations. It’s mild(er) but still pretty nasty if you have no vaccine cover.

This is nonsense, stop spreading misinformation

@Iggly

Omicron isn’t mild though without vaccinations. It’s mild(er) but still pretty nasty if you have no vaccine cover.

Now that’s not true, is it?

I’ve known people who are unvaccinated to have had it and have no worse than a cold (me, dh and ds two weeks ago), and triple vaccinated people (most of dh family) who have been absolutely floored by it.

So if I could say, in my experience and opinion, that it’s far worse if you have been vaccinated.

But I won’t, because that’s only a small sample of people and we are all very different.

My sister is just about to have her second boaster, is is classed as venerable

@Iggly

Omicron isn’t mild though without vaccinations. It’s mild(er) but still pretty nasty if you have no vaccine cover.

I've just had it. It wasn't pretty nasty. At midday it was an inconvenience. It was 3 days of sinusitis, complete loss of smell that returned after about ten days, plus a week of reduced fitness levels once out and about again. If it wasn't for testing and having to isolate, I would have kept up my usual activities. It was nothing like a cold but I've had much worse colds where I've needed a day in bed.

Sounds like you’re one of the lucky one @Buzzinwithbez

On average, covid isn’t mild. I know fully vaccinated people who are still struggling months later!

@Iggly

Omicron isn’t mild though without vaccinations. It’s mild(er) but still pretty nasty if you have no vaccine cover.

The folks I know who got Omicron (vaccinated) were very poorly. The unvaccinated people that caught it had minimal symptoms.

@Whyevencare

Why is it nonsense? Omicron is a nasty virus! Luckily most of us are vaccinated so most of us will be fine. It’s milder but not mild. A bit of Googling would tell you that.

I'm vaccinated and 'boostered' but my main motivation was the possibility of needing a vaccine cert for travel and potentially other activities, not so much fear of the virus itself.