Had third round of Covid vaccine (Moderna). Feel relieved.

[TiredBill]

My risk of exposure increased dramatically starting Monday with a wife in the classroom working with unvaccinated (too young) students with profound special need issues who are not practically able to mask or distance. Plus a son who is attending high school classes.

So I stopped at a pharmacy on Monday, told them I have myalgic encephalomyelitis, and they had a dose of Moderna that would otherwise been thrown out (as someone with an appointment did not show up).

Reaction was pretty mild. Tender arm. Felt pleasantly sleepy Monday night. And took a nice nap on Tuesday. Other than that, no side effects.

Feeling very relieved by reports that a third dose bumps the antibody protection into highly effective ranges given the extreme threat of contagion posed by Delta.

No downsides.

Bill

 

[Woof!]

The first Moderna booster that I've hear of. When did you get your original 2 jabs?

 

[Rebeccare]

Reaction was pretty mild. Tender arm.

How did it compare to your reaction to the first and second doses? About the same? I do plan to get a third dose if it becomes available, but if the reaction is similar to what I had with the first or second dose (a couple of days of feeling under the weather) it's good for me to know in advance so I can plan a few days off...

a wife in the classroom working with unvaccinated (too young) students with profound special need issues who are not practically able to mask or distance.

That's what I do, too (but only for a few hours twice a week). I'll be back in the classroom in October if nothing changes in the meantime. Thankfully most of my kids are old enough to have been vaccinated.

 

[TiredBill]

How did it compare to your reaction to the first and second doses? About the same? I do plan to get a third dose if it becomes available, but if the reaction is similar to what I had with the first or second dose (a couple of days of feeling under the weather) it's good for me to know in advance so I can plan a few days off...


That's what I do, too (but only for a few hours twice a week). I'll be back in the classroom in October if nothing changes in the meantime. Thankfully most of my kids are old enough to have been vaccinated.

With my first dose, I only experienced a tender arm. After the second, I had a thrashed night of non-sleep and awoke with a considerable headache. Felt crappy. After pounding coffee and water in copious amounts the headache lifted. By later in the afternoon, I was feeling mostly better. A draggy day to be sure. Next day was status-quo-ante.

I've had no change (positive or negative) in my health since getting the first two vaccines.

The third one is interesting. Sore arm. That night I felt pleasantly sleepy (I'm always tired, but feeling "pleasantly sleepy" is rare). I turned in an hour early. Slept pretty well (also rare). The next morning I felt good. Arm pretty tender.

Later in the day I felt like it might be extremely pleasant to take a little nap (I rarely nap unless I feel like crap and have no alternative) and that it might be delicious. It was. LOL.

A few days later I'm feeling no charge in my health or condition relative to pre-vaccination.

Bill

ETA: To be prudent I'd try to schedule the vaccination such that you could plan for a easy day or two. Kudos on your work. I'm proud of what people like you and my wife do.

 

[TiredBill]

The first Moderna booster that I've hear of. When did you get your original 2 jabs?

I understand that there have been well over a million third doses that have been given out thus far in the USA.

Different dispensing pharmacies are taking different stances on the window opened for people who are immunocompromised. Some go by the strict list of conditions and immunosuppressant medication, and others are more expansive.

My original shots were in mid March and mid April. I'm tracking the vaccine studies pretty carefully (especially the latest news from Israel) and determined it was time for me to get a shot if I was able to.

Bill

 

[Booble]

Thanks for the report!

 

[Mouse girl]

Good for you! congrats!

I'm going to get mine when I can too. I had Moderna too. I'm sick right now. I have no idea what with or how I got this. I have gone to the store and to the doctors but wore really good masks. My friend who helps me has been here and drove me but we always wear masks and he is careful and wears masks when out in public since he helps his elderly parents who can't get the shot due to health issues. I am vaccinated. This seems like a cold so far.

 

[Booble]

Good for you! congrats!

I'm going to get mine when I can too. I had Moderna too. I'm sick right now. I have no idea what with or how I got this. I have gone to the store and to the doctors but wore really good masks. My friend who helps me has been here and drove me but we always wear masks and he is careful and wears masks when out in public since he helps his elderly parents who can't get the shot due to health issues. I am vaccinated. This seems like a cold so far.

Hi Mouse -- hope you are OK. If you are in an area that is surging with COVID-19 right now you might want to go get a quick test just to be sure. If you have a pulse oximeter check that from time to time too just in case.

 

[TiredBill]

Good for you! congrats!

I'm going to get mine when I can too. I had Moderna too. I'm sick right now. I have no idea what with or how I got this. I have gone to the store and to the doctors but wore really good masks. My friend who helps me has been here and drove me but we always wear masks and he is careful and wears masks when out in public since he helps his elderly parents who can't get the shot due to health issues. I am vaccinated. This seems like a cold so far.

I hope it is just a cold and that you feel better soon.

Bill

 

[andyguitar]

My original shots were in mid March and mid April

So how long will protection from the booster last do you think? In the uk we are getting a booster programme which should start in a few weeks. Sounds like the idea is to stop a winter surge of the Delta variant.

 

[TiredBill]

So how long will protection from the booster last do you think? In the uk we are getting a booster programme which should start in a few weeks. Sounds like the idea is to stop a winter surge of the Delta variant.

Honestly Andy, I have no idea. I'd hoped the two doses of Moderna I'd had would keep me feeling "liberated" for the remainder of 2021, but Delta had other plans.

What studies I've seen have shown that "boosters" ramp up antibodies considerably.

Moderna, which I got by dumb luck--and which I believed at the time was the ever-so-slightly inferior to Pfizer--seems to be holding up better against breakthrough infections than Pfizer.

For "normals," the best data still shows pretty good protection from hospitalization and death, but I saw data today suggesting that 30% of new cases where I live (Los Angeles) are breakthroughs.

If I had not felt ravaged by ME/CFS for 37 years, I might be more accepting of the risks of contracting an illness that seems to cause an illness (Long Covid) that seems indistinguishable from our own, but given my history I hope to avoid even a "mild" case if I can.

At this point there seem to be speculation that a third dose *might* be all that's need to give longer term protection, but who knows? Not I.

I just do not want to give Covid the opportunity to take hold in my body if there is something reasonable I can do to stop it.

Avoiding exposure to Delta entirely seems like it will be very difficult generally. With the additional infectiousness clear, and not having my wife and son at home--but instead at school, and my wife working with unmasked and unvaxed special needs kids w/o social distancing, my personal risk assessment pushed me to act.

Fortunately, I've experienced no side effects from the third dose (outside the temporary things mentioned upthread).

Bill

 

[andyguitar]

At this point there seem to be speculation that a third dose *might* be all that's need to give longer term protection, but who knows? Not I.

The other angle being talked about here is that the booster will reduce the amount of virus in circulation which in turn will reduce the numbers of breakthrough infections.

Avoiding exposure to Delta entirely seems like it will be very difficult generally

Yes it's a nasty variant and I wonder how long those who have not been jabbed are prepared to continue with trying to avoid catching it and taking supplements/drugs that might stack the odds in their favour. Covid wont go away. We are probably stuck with it for years and years.

 

[TiredBill]

The other angle being talked about here is that the booster will reduce the amount of virus in circulation which in turn will reduce the numbers of breakthrough infections.
Yes it's a nasty variant and I wonder how long those who have not been jabbed are prepared to continue with trying to avoid catching it and taking supplements/drugs that might stack the odds in their favour. Covid wont go away. We are probably stuck with it for years and years.

I hope very much that boosters will lower the virus in circulation. As much as *I* do not wish to get sicker, the thought that I might spread an illness to a young person that is akin to ME/CFS horrifies me. I've seen suggestions that with Delta (unlike Alpha) that vaccinated people can carry and spread this disease. It is a big part of why I got the third jab.

Trying to avoid the alpha wave w/o vaccinating--while risky, did seem like it was doable if people isolated, masked, and distanced. I do not think avoiding infection from Delta is in the same ballpark.

Delta is much more contagious and it is spreading everywhere. I do hope those who has not been vaccinated rethink their hesitancy.

Bill

 

[TiredBill]

I've been pushing...pushing...pushing all day long trying to arrange a third shot for my highly-exposed wife.

Finally I just got her an appointment. So barring an unforeseen complications she should get round 3 of Pfizer in about 25 hours. Fingers crossed.

She has immunocompromised children with autism and other serious challenges in her daily care and they are too young to be vaccinated and can't practically mask or distance. She feels a strong need to protect them.

Good woman. I'm blessed.

Bill

 

[andyguitar]

She feels a strong need to protect them.

Good for her!

 

[TiredBill]

Quick update. We were able to get my wife (who does not have ME/CFS, but is very exposed at work) a third dose this afternoon. Yippie!

Takes a load off my mind. As we drove home we heard a repost on Long Covid on National Public Radio with experts discussing the similarity to ME/CFS and that drove home the point in my mind.

Bill

 

[PatientlyWaiting]

Glad you're able to get peace of mind Bill.

I've been thinking about this some as well. No one knows the cause of ME/CFS for sure, but at least in some people, viral illnesses are thought to have provoked an immune response in the body that those people never fully recovered from. Knowing that we likely had an abnormal response at some point, should this make us feel more protected or less? I mean on the one hand, I could see an argument that we ALREADY have a sort of "long covid", can you get that twice, or get it worse, from another virus? On the other hand, maybe we are more vulnerable since our bodies have already demonstrated at least once that they can have prolonged symptoms. Interested in anyone's thoughts on this.

Also I've heard that they're recommending boosters at 8 months, or maybe 6. Not sure how long you waited, but are you planning on boosting up every few months ? Did you get any questions?

 

[TiredBill]

Glad you're able to get peace of mind Bill.

I've been thinking about this some as well. No one knows the cause of ME/CFS for sure, but at least in some people, viral illnesses are thought to have provoked an immune response in the body that those people never fully recovered from. Knowing that we likely had an abnormal response at some point, should this make us feel more protected or less? I mean on the one hand, I could see an argument that we ALREADY have a sort of "long covid", can you get that twice, or get it worse, from another virus? On the other hand, maybe we are more vulnerable since our bodies have already demonstrated at least once that they can have prolonged symptoms. Interested in anyone's thoughts on this.

Also I've heard that they're recommending boosters at 8 months, or maybe 6. Not sure how long you waited, but are you planning on boosting up every few months ? Did you get any questions?

My assumption is that long Covid is a form of ME/CFS. My own disease began with a bad viral illness from with I've never recovered.

I can not prove it scientifically, but the risk assessment of my own inner-intelligence left me feeling quite vulnerable if I contracted an additional (novel) virus that has been shown to be capable of provoking a ME/CFS-like illness. In no measure do I feel "protected" or invulnerable--quite the opposite. I figure if my body can react to a virus in a way that causes ME/CFS once, it can do it again. I don't feel immune to future devastation.

In addition to to not wanting to contract an illness which risks making my condition severe or very severe (if not leading to my death), I have an overwhelming ethical sense that I do not want to become a disease vector for Covid and to put other people at risk of developing a ME/CFS-like illness.

Nothing would be more horrifying to me that if my actions (or inactions) led to someone else contracting Covid and then developing LC-ME/CFS. I could not live with that.

As to the need for additional boosters, I hope that is a long way off. I will look at the best evidence and the experience of what's happening in Israel (as they have taken the lead in early vaccinations and boosters). I will weight the evidence of whether antibodies appear to be waning and what breakthrough case numbers look like. Neither looked good to me.

I will also consider the level of risk. If my wife and son had remained working/studying from home (and we were effectively "locked down") then I might have (likely would have) waited. Instead both are in school and my wife is working with unvaccinated children who can not practically mask in a closed classroom. High risk in my calculus. So I acted to protect myself and to protect others.

Bill

 

[Learner1]

@TiredBill Thank you for sharing about this. Can you tell us when your first and second doses were, in comparison to the third? I had my second dose in mid-April and plan to discuss it with my doctor in 2 weeks.

@Rebeccare It is currently available in Massachusetts. I got a letter from Dana Farber saying to just go get one and tell them I'm immuunocompromised, And I have two elderly neighbors who got them at CVS and Shaw's respectively.

 

[TiredBill]

@TiredBill Thank you for sharing about this. Can you tell us when your first and second doses were, in comparison to the third? I had my second dose in mid-April and plan to discuss it with my doctor in 2 weeks.

@Rebeccare It is currently available in Massachusetts. I got a letter from Dana Farber saying to just go get one and tell them I'm immuunocompromised, And I have two elderly neighbors who got them at CVS and Shaw's respectively.

Sure. My first shot was pretty uneventful. Some tenderness at the site of injection. Felt "something" almost immediately--in fact the response was so fast I wonder if it could be psychosomatic, but it persisted. Mild. no other reaction.

The night I got my second shot I had a thrashed night's sleep. Had a response. Arm more sore than #1. "Woke up" the next morning with a bad headache and felt crappy. But I got up, hydrated, slammed a lot of coffee, and by later in the day was mostly recovered. Tired that day. By the next day felt back to status quo.

Shot 3, had mild arm tenderness. That night felt pleasantly sleepy (rare for me). Not exhausted or wiped out, just felt relaxed and that sleep would be delicious. Slept well (also rare for me). Awoke feeling fine. During the next day again got the feeling that a little nap (rare for me) would be delicious, so I took one. Generally I take to bed only if I feel terrible. I did not feel bad at all. Enjoyed a little nap. Again, back to "normal" by the next day.

Have not felt any changes (aside from the transitory ones mentioned) in my condition after receiving any of the rounds of vaccines, which can't be discounted.-other than the mental relief that can't be discounted.

Bill

ETA: Will add that my wife (non-ME/CFS) recently had her third shot of Pfizer. She slept all day after #2 and in the decades we've spent together it was the first and only time I've known her to do that. Recovered by the next morning. With shot 3 she also felt sleepy the night of the shot and went to bed early. She was feeling "up at at 'em" in the morning.