Posted on 09/29/2023 5:18:33 PM PDT by nickcarraway
— And if I do, how long should I wait?
Updated COVID shots are becoming available in the U.S. amid what appears to be a surge in cases -- leaving some to wonder whether they need an updated shot if they recently recovered from an infection.
Official CDC guidanceopens in a new tab or window states that people who are currently infected should wait "at least until recovery from acute illness" before getting a shot.
But they also "may consider delaying" their updated shot by 3 months from symptom onset, or from a positive test if the infection was asymptomatic.
Camille Kotton, MD, clinical director of transplant and immunocompromised host infectious diseases at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, who was a panelist on CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), emphasized that during the ACIP meetingopens in a new tab or window on updated shots, it was noted that patients "can wait 3 months after an infection to get an updated vaccine."
"Wait about 3 months after recovery from infection to get the immunization," William Schaffner, MD, of Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee, told MedPage Today. "That way the immune system will respond best to this shot. We know that the longer duration from the last stimulus, the somewhat better the response."
Some experts think the interval can go even a bit longer.
John Moore, PhD, a virologist at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York City, said there should be at least 4 months between infection and another shot.
Paul Sax, MD, clinical director of the division of infectious diseases at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, said "even 6 [months] is reasonable" to wait before getting a new shot.
Moore said there's evidence "suggesting that a short interval can compromise the ability of the booster to trigger a strong antibody response" -- something the CDC acknowledges in its official recommendations.
"Studies have shown that increased time between infection and vaccination might result in an improved immune response to vaccination," the CDC guidance states. "Also, a low risk of reinfection has been observed in the weeks to months following infection."
While there are several studies supporting the notion of better results with a longer interval, Moore said a September 2022 paper inopens in a new tab or window Cell stands out, showing that people who got a booster dose within 2 months of infection didn't have a robust neutralizing antibody or memory B-cell response compared with those who were boosted and didn't have a recent infection.
"B-cell responses to booster vaccines are impeded by recent infection," the paper concluded.
"There is no 'danger' involved, just reduced potency," Moore said.
Sax also noted that studies have shown that "people with hybrid immunity have sustained protection from hospital admission or severe disease."
Again, several studies have demonstrated this, Sax said, most notably a January 2023 review published in the Lancet Infectious Diseasesopens in a new tab or window showing 97% effectiveness against hospital admission or severe disease at 12 months for hybrid immunity with primary series vaccination and infection.
Others remain unconvinced of the need for getting an updated shot after a recent infection at all. Paul Offit, MD, of Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, has long questioned the need for additional doses of the COVID vaccine beyond the primary series.
He had three doses of Pfizer and a natural infection in May 2022, and doesn't plan on getting the updated shot.
"This virus hasn't evolved away from T-cell recognition," Offit told MedPage Today. "T-cell recognition sites are well conserved. That's why we've gotten on top of this pandemic."
Someone who's young, healthy, and has recently been infected should have good protection against infection for 3 to 6 months, he said -- long enough to get through the winter.
Offit did say that someone recently infected who is over 75, or who has comorbid conditions or is immunocompromised, would be a different story, and additional protection against infection with an updated vaccine might be beneficial.
Moore similarly cautioned that especially for immunocompromised patients, "a physician who knows the patient's history well" would offer the best guidance for them.
Indeed, CDC guidance notes that "individual factors such as risk of severe disease or characteristics of the predominant strain should be taken into account when determining whether to delay getting a shot after infection."
While he's recommending the shot, especially to high-risk patients, Sax lamented the lack of data available for making the best recommendations around patient questions about updated COVID vaccines.
For people "who have had their primary vaccine series plus either a booster or COVID or both," Sax noted, "we lack prospective data from randomized trials that a strategy of further boosters (compared to none) will protect against severe disease."
"I do wish we had such data to make the recommendation more data-driven," he added.
Kristina Fiore leads MedPage’s enterprise & investigative reporting team. She’s been a medical journalist for more than a decade and her work has been recognized by Barlett & Steele, AHCJ, SABEW, and others. Send story tips to k.fiore@medpagetoday.com. Follow
NO! Stay away from all shots!! Fortify your immune system with daily Vitamin C (1,000 mg at least), Vitamine D3, Zinc and Quercetin. If you test positive for covid, find a medical practitioner who can prescribe Ivermectin or Hydroxychloroquine.
Search FR using the keyword “vaccines” or FR user ransomnote. There is a massive amount of verified information there on the dangerous effects of the shots, including clots and heart defects. Also, no matter what the CDC or your local heath department say, the shots, whatever little worth they are, are definitely not for children, healthy adults, or pregnant mothers.
You’ll need one forever. sarc
Yes, get every shot that comes down the pike, especially if they are free!
Hey you naive, ignorant, stupid arse writer of this article, I beg of you to get AS MANY BOOSTER SHOTS AS YOU POSSIBLY CAN.
My sweater is getting wet in the rain. Should I put another sweater over it?
Please don’t get one. Most conservatives regret getting one or more Covid ‘vaccines’. The aren’t vaccines - they are gene therapy according to an FTC filing which ruled they could be marketed as ‘vaccines’ in order to avoid ‘vaccine hesitancy.’
They don’t work. Covid is not severe enough to warrant it and treatments are available. For now - stash some ivermectin away and check into pharmacists/doctors who do treat with antibiotics.
This website has a wealth of information - treatment protocols for Covid and other illnesses etc., leads to doctors who prescribe and online pharmacys which fill orders for Ivermectin and other drugs.
https://covid19criticalcare.com/treatment-protocols/
Off the top of my head, I’ve heard FReepers say good things about ALLDayChemist.com, which doesn’t require a prescription for Ivermectin manufactured in India.
Answer: no.
Next.
I’m in favor of brain-dead pseudointellectuals getting every experimental injection that Fauci and the CCP can design. Especially if they’re old cow worshipping piss drinking hostile foreign invaders.
Of course I’m not going to get one. I have resisted all the pressure from media, family and friends this long and not going to give in now.
In our little neighborhood, a few neighbors get together on Fridays to share friendship and community gossip. I am usually not home for these but took time an hour ago to join the couple across the street on our dead-end road on a beautiful early fall afternoon. I brought out a chair to sit down, a beer and some snacks for a small table. It turns out the lady is deathly afraid of covid and requested that I move my chair at least six feet from her and her husband and not put snacks on her table (she went and got a another small table just for me). Both of them are scientists at a national lab and have followed completely all the liberal government BS including maintaining social distancing. She did not wear a mask tonight but I have seen her drive off with windows up and wearing a mask in the car.
Sure…an Aran sweater will keep you nice and dry .
…..
6 months might not be an unreasonable wait, or maybe 6 decades - just to be sure.
You need 666 Covid shots....
That is 666 more than I will ever have.
Lol.
“...[she]requested that I move my chair at least six feet from her and her husband and not put snacks on her table (she went and got a another small table just for me).”
You should have gotten up and smashed the chair over her stupid effing head.
Your story is amusing—Howard Hughes was considered an eccentric kook for his fear of the spread of disease.
He lived in the wrong era.
Talk to Jill Biden and other who’ve gotten COVID after shots and boosters.
I thought it was COVID clot shot. Boosters 1-7 and then frontal lobotomy.
Sure, why not? If the Wuhan virus doesn’t kill you, the Wuhan vaccine will.
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