I'm in Pfizer's COVID vaccine trial, ask me anything.

[Jonnydread]

I do volunteer work with HIV+ kids so I'm eligible for the booster, went last Friday and got my flu vaccine and my Pfizer booster. I still generally wear a mask indoors if I'm going to be around a lot of people just in case. Shoot dat science into my veins!

[JonM]

My wife and I both got our Pfizer shots back in January. Here we are ten months later and the boosters are now available. I got mine the week before Halloween and she was scheduled to get hers this week. Unfortunately, my wife is currently at home knocked on her ass with COVID. It seems we were both exposed at the same time, but she's the one who ended up getting sick. It got to the point where I had to take her to the hospital yesterday. Thankfully, she's back home resting. However, it's apparent that the efficacy of this vaccine does diminish over time. That said, while pretty rough, her fight with COVID could have been far worse had she not been vaccinated. Her history with asthma could have been a death sentence otherwise. Even if you've had your shots, please continue to be careful. If you're eligible to get your booster, get it. I'm living proof that it works. If you haven't gotten any shots at all yet, get off your ass and do it. If more people were vaccinated, we wouldn't be in this mess to begin with.

[Diomedes]

YES! I know in the US every combination of JJ, Pfizer, and Moderna is being tested, and we expect approval for mixed boosters pretty soon. Plus younger kids starting as soon as October. I can't wait.

[lhamilton1807]

Been off the forum for a while - home remodeling stuff happening. Anyway, the kids are 2wks last their second Pfizer jab today. I’m so glad they got the shot since a large portion of the homeschool community is heavily anti-vax. They’ve lost two great grandparents to COVID-19 (tested & confirmed) since the pandemic started, and a 3rd wasn’t tested but passed away in her sleep after feeling crummy for a week. Makes me feel more at ease knowing the family’s risk of participating in a spreader event is lowered.

Regarding boosters, the UK has been officially allowing vaccine mixing (I.e. booster from a different manufacturer than original doses). Makes sense this is a good strategy, as it seems any strengths of one would fill in the weaknesses of another.

[lhamilton1807]

The implications should, by now, be universally obvious. Masking has never been a big ask - it’s a piece of cloth - and for some reason in the US it’s been made into a rage topic. I don’t get it. Glad there’s a study that quantified their efficacy though - I always appreciate having the numbers.

[un2xs]

A new study from St Louis: https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/70/wr/mm7036a3.htm

What is already known about this topic?

During January–May 2021, Saint Louis University implemented a modified quarantine protocol that considered mask use when determining which close contacts required quarantine among an almost entirely unvaccinated student population.

What is added by the report?

Compared with only masked exposure, close contacts with any unmasked exposure had higher adjusted odds of a positive test result. Each additional exposure was associated with a 40% increase in odds of a positive test.

What are the implications for public health practice?

Universal masking and fewer encounters in close proximity to persons with COVID-19 can limit the spread of SARS-CoV-2 in university settings.

[shocker_monkey]

I think the problem stems from the types of tests. According to Mayo Clinic the antigen test is less accurate and has an increased chance of false negatives, but the PCR test is more accurate. If I were to hazard a guess I would say the early tests may have been of the antigen type and were simply false negatives where the person still had a low viral load.

[Grendel]

I'm no expert, but I had a pretty bad [but short] reaction to both the 1st and 2nd shots [Moderna] and I was told that there was a high likelihood that I had Covid prior to the 1st shot without knowing. They said it was not uncommon for people to be sick with Covid without serious symptoms and recover at home and that the anecdotal evidence at the time (March/April 21) was that Moderna vaccine reaction was more severe/pronounce for that population. I asked to be tested out of curiosity if I had had Covid earlier unknowingly but everyone told me the test would not necessarily be positive if I had had Covid early on and recovered (basically a year earlier) and most likely would be negative so it would be a waste to test for it and still leave me in the dark. I basically am operating on the assumption I did have COVID and recovered at "home" with basic care and rest

When the lock downs started I had just been travelling and had been sick with "the flu" while in SC visiting my new granddaughter (once I started getting sick I had kept myself away from my granddaughter to be safe so I saw her all of 10 minutes). The Friday after I got back from travelling was when they started making us work from home and everyone started shutting down. I had pretty strong flu like symptoms (fever, cough, shortness of breath, fatigue, body aches and terrible headache) for about a week and then got better.

[Magmoormaster]

Sorry if this has been asked already, anything past 10 pages I'm not willing to go back and dig.

I've heard a hypothesis that if you have previously had covid, you will experience worse side effects from the vaccine. I've also heard a hypothesis that if you get a bad reaction to the first dose, that means you've had covid before. I am highly skeptical of that, but figured our favorite Warrior of Athena would be the guy to ask.

Also have a different question that involves more storytelling.

This last week in school, we went on a field trip to San Francisco. We drove from SLC in a sprinter van. One of the guys' wife got a positive covid test the day before we left. He got tested that night and got a negative so he decided to come with. He started getting sick a couple days later, went and got tested again and got another negative. We got back, he got more sick and then got a positive. A few of us decided to go get tested on campus, and we got another positive. Not surprising since we were crammed together in a van for several hours for about a week.

I don't know what type of test the guy who got 2 negatives did, but from what I can find each ahve at least a 90%+ accuracy. It seems unlikely that he got two false negatives in a row, especially after having experienced symptoms. The statistical likelihood is just so damn small. But it makes me question the negative result I got back. So like. What's going on here?

The annoying thing is that we spent a lot of time on the trip arguing about vaccines.

[un2xs]

Diomedes, it was my understanding that Type O blood types were either more resistant to COVID or are affected less. This was in the news last year. Have studies either confirmed or negated this?

[The Inflicted]

It's not any of my business, but why are you "collecting" (for lack of a better word) the shots? Don't they all do basically the same thing?

Some reports indicate that the J&J shot is less effective at preventing Delta than the mRNA shots but that combining it with the first shot of either mRNA vaccine regimen will correct this.

https://www.reuters.com/business/hea...ng-2021-06-25/

[Brokeass_baller]

Oh ok. I must have misunderstood something then. Thanks

[Rusty Brass]

Phase 3 was completed a while ago.
https://www.pfizer.com/news/press-re...vid-19-vaccine
There is more evidence/data behind the Pfizer vaccine's safety/efficacy than any other drug or treatment the FDA has ever reviewed. Over 200 million doses... it's safe.

[Brokeass_baller]

I thought they vax was still in phase 3 trials for another year or two? How did they get FDA approval without competing the trial?

[Diomedes]

To my knowledge, no differences by blood type. Edit: Looked it up, there have been some large studies on this, no evidence of differences in outcomes based on blood type.