The science is there to suggest getting a booster after 6 months is beneficial. It’s not there that waiting has any benefit.
cough meds are all bullshit. Some bourbon and honey would be perfect.
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waiting for a more perfect booster or some marginally better timing to get boosted is like a negative freeroll. vax is remarkably safe. this has been the single biggest worldwide drug rollout in history, and thankfully it came after a century of research into vaccines and how they can go wrong.
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It’s not wrong to say that the US is #20 in the particular statistic that is the number of samples sequenced divided by the number of total cases. It’s just not all that interesting or useful or reflective of the actual sensitivity to new variants. Searching for rare variants is not just a question of the percentage of cases sequenced but also of bulk cases sequenced. You’re more likely to see a 1% variant if you sequence 100 out of 10000 cases than if you sequence 1 out of 100, even though in both cases you’re sequencing the same percentage of samples. Could the US sequence more? Sure, I’m in favor of it. But the level of sequencing and testing and surveillance that we’re currently doing is not some travishamockery like churchill would like to claim. As has been cited, we’re sequencing at a level that should let us see omicron at a roughly 1 in 10000 level, and we’re at ~80000 cases per day. Whenever patient zero arrives here, then even if the person isn’t caught at the port of entry, the subsequent cases are likely to be caught within a week or so.
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Given the effectiveness of the booster that’s been seen so far relative to 2x-vaxxed people, it’s very likely that the waning effectiveness of the vaccine observed in 2x-vaxxed people from the start of this year to now is due to waning immunity more than the alpha-delta variants escaping immunity. The downsides of the vaccine are incredibly small: sore arm, maybe some tiredness, rarely a sucky day, and exceedingly unlikely to be any worse than that. The downsides of catching covid despite being 2x-vaxxed are much worse (even if they’re also much less than catching covid while unvaccinated).
Sure, you might have to get a 4th shot this spring, but again, the downsides to that will almost certainly be just as small. Meanwhile, you’re surrounded by delta right now, and it’s very dangerous. Getting boosted now protects you from that. We haven’t seen anything that indicates that you’re more protected by waiting more for a booster, but you very likely are getting less protected the longer you wait to get boosted.
I’m not sure what your hesitation is. You got two shots and you are fine. So maybe you are afraid of some long-term, unknown consequence? But if that’s the case it would have to be something where you’re fucked with 3 shots, but not fucked (or significantly less fucked) with only 2 shots.
There is obviously no evidence for that and even coming up with a plausible way for something like that to happen would really stretch the imagination.
Cliffs: Get the booster.
I’m not sure why I’m hesitant. Most likely just anxiety of getting a shot. I have admitted to never taking a biology class or having a clue how any of this works so that also contributes I’m sure.
I have no clue what the probability is. I hate shots. But I rolled up my sleeve for a booster a few weeks ago. Will gladly roll my sleeve up again if omicron is that bad and needs an immediate booster. Get boostered
Hooray! Reproduction rate has dropped below 1 in the Czech Republic!
Still 22,000 new cases yesterday though. But it’s been a considerable decline since its peak
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Nigeria identifies Omicron variant in sample collected in October
We reported earlier that Nigeria had confirmed its first cases of the Omicron variant but Associated Press is carrying more detail here – including that the country has now said that one case dates back to October.
Genomic sequencing of positive cases of Covid-19 in Nigeria identified two cases of the omicron variant among travellers from South Africa, the Nigeria Center for Disease Control (CDC) said in a statement issued by its director general.
The two unidentified travellers arrived in the west African country last week, but the variant has also been confirmed in cases in Nigeria prior to their arrival.
“Retrospective sequencing of the previously confirmed cases among travelers to Nigeria also identified the omicron variant among the sample collected in October 2021,” Nigeria CDC director general Dr Ifedayo Adetifa said.
Chinedu Asadu reports for AP that Nigeria is the first West African country that has recorded the omicron variant since scientists in southern Africa first detected and reported it, and adds to a list of nearly 20 countries where the variant has been recorded.
The Nigeria CDC urged the country’s states and the general public to be on alert and called for improved testing.
https://twitter.com/k_g_andersen/status/1465822536629821442?s=21
Interesting speculation, including the possibility that Omicron evolved in animals.
There’s lots of evidence for the effectiveness of vaccines waning, including against hospitalization and death, especially for Pfizer. It’s hard to put a concrete number on it, but 80% effectiveness is a reasonable guess. That’s still solid protection, but it’s significantly worse than the numbers we were seeing shortly after vaccination, where breakthrough infections were really rare, and ~never got serious. My brother had a breakthrough case a couple months ago that very nearly put him in the hospital, and he was low-risk as well.
There is also reason to be concerned that the effectiveness of vaccines will drop further with Omicron, so it makes sense to get your immune system in fighting trim now. There might well be an Omicron booster, but it’s months out and will likely be rationed for at-risk people first for a while. I was on the fence about the booster for a while for equity reasons, but Omicron pushed me over.
I don’t really care for shots either, so I feel you on that. I recently realized that I was subconsciously tensing up when I was getting shots, which makes them hurt a lot more. So, I dunno, relax somehow.
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I keep reading news that repeats as fact that omicron is milder than other strains. Do we have any solid evidence of this yet?
Ghana and South Korea announce detection of Omicron
Ghana ’s health ministry said it had detected the country’s first cases of the novel Omicron variant of Covid-19 on passengers who arrived at the Kotoka International Airport in Accra on 21 November.
Chosun Ilbo newspaper reported that health authorities in South Korea had confirmed the country’s first cases.
As of my last knowledge, Germany wasn’t requiring a negative test if fully vaccinated. I’ve uploaded my vax card with Deltas verification system.
Going to double check that with my colleague shortly.
I will need a negative test to fly back next week.
Omicron case found in Ireland
The Republic of Ireland has recorded its first case of the Omicron variant.
The National Public Health Emergency Team says the case is linked to travel from a country in southern Africa.
There’s reports that the testing requirement to enter the US will change from within 3 days to within 1 day. Keep an eye on that.
Not a good source, but WHO is saying something sort of like this too, albeit with a big “preliminary” asterisk on it:
I don’t see how anyone could be in a position to say whether the disease is more or less mild than Delta at this stage.
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