The folks charged with assigning Greek letters got tired of the pandemic (and perhaps realized they were going to run out of letters).
Sorry, its been a while since I have gone over the surveillance reports due to year end work + no new mutations of importance have been flagged by the working group.
Seems that as at Dec 2022, we had BQ.1 dominant in the UK. 55% (not sure if this has materially changed as at April 2023)
See below:
Now that covid has become endemic in the UK, resources are focusing more on morbidity (long covid and NHS), and oddly enough the State Pension (they wanted to raise the age to 68 earlier but because life expectancy fell by 2% in 2022 they have put that on hold).
Quite a few research projects going on the longevity space right now. Older models need to be improved and calibrated to incorporate the longevity changes brought on by covid.
When it comes to vaccines, it is very likely that if you had not gotten the booster for XYZ you would have been even more ill.
For a nornal adult that might mean sick for 5 days and somewhat limited capacity for 1 month.
For older folks, that translates to really ill or death.
Yeah, we were mostly BQ1 back in January, but now it’s mostly XBB.
Anecdotally, people who caught another covid recently don’t seem to be catching it, though. It’s not like the changeover from Delta to Omicron.
Apparently those of us 65 and over will be able to get a second bivalent booster soon. That’s FDA approval. CDC approval is expected very soon.
(Some of these comments, including that statement about CDC, are based on a similar article in the Philadelphia Inquirer this morning, which would be paywalled.)
What the linked article doesn’t say is when a third booster will be available. The Inquirer article said the tentative plans are to move to a once a year booster for all adults in the fall.
In my personal case, I have somewhat elevated risk in June (two SOA exam committee meetings, one 2 day, one 4 or 5 day. The 2 day I could do by zoom instead) and the in Sept / Oct (another 2 exam committee meetings, both 2 day, plus a 13 day foreign vacation). So choice about a vaccine now would be influenced by when another is available.
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“People age 65 and up can now get a second bivalent dose at least 4 months after their initial bivalent dose. FDA said the second dose is supported by data showing that immunity wanes in this population over time, but that an additional dose restores it.”
Yes, immunity wanes but what are the possible negative outcomes with vaccines so close together?
“Those who are immunocompromised can get another bivalent dose at least 2 months after their initial bivalent shot, FDA said. They can have additional doses on top of that at the discretion of their healthcare provider, who can also determine the interval at which these doses are received, the agency said.”
If you are immunocompromised, then you can go to the right doctor and get more.
Fifth shot yesterday.
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Have deferred my fifth shot as I was advised that my recent bout of COVID illness makes deferment sensible. Will probably just get it in the fall when I get my annual flu shot.
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I changed my mind about getting another booster before vacation. I was sick when I would have gotten the shot, and all the shots have made me sick, and I am tired of being sick.
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I wonder when they will advise anyone to get the second bivalent booster. I got my first back in September, so I feel like I could probably benefit from another soon. Just googled the eligibility, and it’s still 65+ and immunocompromised, so I will keep waiting!
I expect a new monovalent (recent strain only) vaccine to be available to most of us this fall. Also an RSV vaccine for those over 60 and new flu shot. I’m hoping i can get them all at the same time.
When the medical advisor on the local radio news station was describing that, he said RSV vaccine and flu shot same time was a bad idea: had shown to significantly reduce the flu vaccine effectiveness. He said Covid and flu the same time was fine.
Oh, interesting. I guess it will be at least two trips, then.
Last fall i got covid and flu vaccines at the same time (and in almost the same spot, one bandaid for both) after talking with some doctors who study vaccines who said most of them were doing that, for the convenience.
Well, that’s going to suck. I had planned to get all three ahead of a long weekend, so I could get the side effects out of the way in one go.
Having two rounds of post-vaccine nastiness is not my preference.
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Curious how the vaccine effects will go. I’ve had side effects after Moderna but not after Pfizer. Got COVID about a month after the Pfizer bivalent, but it was so mild that in the before times I probably wouldn’t have realized I was sick.
It varies a lot. I’ve never had worse than a sore arm from a flu shot. I barely noticed the mpox vaccine. My tetanus booster always leaves me achy and feeling sick. Covid and shingles shots have been similar to tetanus. I got so sick from my childhood measles shot that my mom got a medical exemption to my getting the booster that most kids my age needed. (I was quite sick for more than a week. And when measles was in the news, i got tested for antibodies rather than just getting a new shot. Happily, the antibody test was positive.)
My kitten seems fine after having his rabies shot yesterday.
I let my wife be the guinea pig last fall and she had no problem getting the COVID and flu shot at the same session. I will try to do it that way this fall as it is a pain doing it in two separate visits.
I’ll do it in the same visit, but not in the same arm again. I know it’s a long shot that I’ll get another injury, but I will just do two different arms to be safe.
One shot per arm is my strategy as well. That way you can tell more easily which shot had what aftereffect.
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