For the last booster (bivalent BA.5+ancestral), the government bought a lot more than actually ended up being used.
For the XBB booster, it will come through typical commercial channels, with a significantly higher list price than what the government paid per dose, so there may be some providers and pharmacies that may not want to buy a large stock to keep around. Production by Pfizer, Moderna, and Novavax may also be scaled down if they anticipate low demand based on the prior booster uptake. If the providers, pharmacies, and manufacturers underestimate demand, then that could lead to a shortage situation.
Of course, Novavax is not yet available, apparently due to slower production.
I got the new shot yesterday, along with the flu shot. I don’t regret it, but this is the first time a vaccine has laid me out. Since about 8 pm last night, low grade fever w/associated shivering and chills, bad muscle aches, and pain in my joints. Also headache and just feeling yucky. I’ve napped 3 times today.
Looking forward to tomorrow, when hopefully I’ll be through this.
I got both the flu and Pfizer Covid vaccine this afternoon. So far I feel fine, hoping I don’t feel bad tomorrow as I’m watching 18 month old in the morning. My husband had both shots as well so keeping my fingers crossed we don’t feel bad.
We got it at CVS and had appointments. They were busy and the pharmacist giving the shots said she had been busy all day.
Hope you do well. My DH never has any trouble after vaccines. My brother had the Shingrex series and never felt a thing, while friends have said it put them in bed for two days. It’s interesting how differently everyone reacts to the stame stimulus.
Other than a sore arm, I feel back to normal this morning, thank goodness.
"Pfizer (PFE.N) expects 24% of the U.S. population, or about 82 million people, to receive COVID-19 shots this year, CFO David Denton said at a conference on Monday, reiterating the vaccine maker’s estimates from earlier this year.
During the last re-vaccination campaign, when most Americans had either already had the COVID virus or been previously vaccinated, only around 56.5 million people got the updated booster shots, according to federal data.
Rival Moderna (MRNA.O) has also said it expects U.S. demand for the shots to reach 50 million to 100 million doses in the fall season."
It will be interesting to see if all the people who say they are interested actually end up getting the new shot. If one person gets the shot and then ends up feeling quite ill from an infection, then that will probably discourage some of their relatives/friends/acquaintances/coworkers from getting the shot. Also, I wonder how many people still think the vaccine will prevent infection to a much greater degree than it actually does. Of course, most people are probably going to get the shot and then practice no other mitigation strategies (no masks, no avoiding crowded places, indoor dining, etc.), so a number of those people might think the shot wasn’t worth it to them (and, again, discourage others from getting it).
Wasn’t flu vaccine participation lower than usual last year? I wonder how many people will get the RSV vaccine?
Once it became clear that the shot didn’t necessarily prevent infection, my take on it was that I was going to continue to get boosters because it DID clearly reduce hospitalization/death. I figure if I were to get a serious infection, that was evidence that without it, I would have fared much worse.
I don’t see vaccine participation being very high, though.
But you are a believer in vaccine science, as am I. But many many people don’t know much at all about the science behind the vaccines and are apt to listen to ignorant people. I don’t know what the general level of understanding among the public – do most people still read at a 6th grade level? Or is it even lower now?
I don’t think vaccine participation is going to be very high, either.
Isn’t this one only for people over 60? I’m not there yet. But I’m definitely more afraid of getting shingles vs RSV. I had RSV when younger S got it as a newborn. I don’t want shingles! Hence me getting vaxd on my 50th bday
I’ll get the covid boosters because I think it might help with the severity of the illness, but I don’t think it does to prevent getting it anymore.
Right – the RSV vaccine is for people over age 60 (and for pregnant women now, too). Go ahead, rub it in, you young thing, that you don’t qualify for the RSV vaccine.
Yes, Shingrix against shingles is a wonderful thing.
After 3 cancellations from 3 different pharmacies, walked into one and got appointments the next morning. Have only had a sore arm for a couple of days, a big change from getting knocked on my butt by the earlier COVID vaccines. Antibodies are more familiar to our immune systems, I guess. Being over 60, will probably get the RSV vaccine soon as well.
I agree 1000% regarding shingles. After watching dear wife suffer through shingles years ago, when my doctor told me to get the vaccine, I got the old one the same day, and started Shingrix the same day he suggested that one as well.
As the commercial reminds us “SHINGLES DOESN’T CARE!”
It has been shown in multiple studies that people who are vaccinated on the whole have much milder cases than those who have not been vaccinated. I have multiple underlying conditions-I’m pretty sure that unvaccinated, I would have fared worse.
My DH got the Pfizer booster yesterday and has a bad headache and feels fairly crappy today. I am scheduled for Pfizer on Monday. We have an event on this coming weekend, so getting boosted before that. He typically reacts more to shots than I do. I rarely have anything except a sore arm and the COVID boosters I have had make my lymph nodes in my neck feel slightly activated, like a tiny bit swollen, but that’s it. No fever or anything.
I also have not had COVID. We were heavily exposed when our young adults got it on a beach trip in 2022 and we all rode back in the same car together when they had active cases but we didn’t know that’s what it was. Younger one had a mild case, but tested positive right away. Older one felt really really bad but took 3 or 4 days to test positive. DH felt bad, but never tested positive. I never felt bad and never tested positive. I have a bit of an overactive immune system so maybe it worked in my favor. I dunno. I rarely get sick.
I got the Shingrix vax (both shots) last year with no reaction except maybe a sore arm. I usually just move the arm around and that dissipates by the next day. Tetanus is the worst for the sore arm.
Up until a short while ago, New Jersey tracked vaccine vs non-vaccine (also boosted vs non-boosted) cases, hospitalizations, and deaths. At every point, non-vaccinated had more cases, more hospitalizations, and more deaths. Non-boosted less difference but still some. So no, you can’t absolutely assert that any one case would be more serious, but the odds that it would be are really, really strong.
One can be a believer in vaccine science and if a young-healthy, still choose to be ambivalent about the vaccines. (Unlike the flu vaccine or polio or many others, any long-term covid vaccine effects are still unknown unknowns.)
I’m not saying you wouldn’t have gotten a more serious case if you hadn’t been vaccinated. And as an immunocompromised person, I’m glad you had the vaccine and didn’t test that theory. However, I was pointing out that it is NOT evidence that you would have had a more serious case.
I have a friend who is immunocompromised who chose not to get the vaccine. When she had Covid it was so mild it was barely a cold. Maybe I could say that is “evidence” that she would have been asymptomatic had she been vaccinated……… but I won’t say that because it’s not true.
It’s just a pet peeve of mine when people say that with absolutism that they would have had a more severe case or they would have died without the vaccine.
Long term side effects of any vaccine are extremely rare…this is an issue that anti-vaxxers have used to sow doubt and confusion about the covid vaccines. The vast majority of side effects happen within two months of vaccine administration of all types.
MRNA in particular degrades quickly (within a few days) in the body after administration. At this point, MRNA covid vaccines have been used in humans for 3.5 years. MRNA non-covid vaccines were first dosed in humans in 2013.
Let me just add, my motivation is also to reduce chances of ending up with long CoViD. Seeing some cases in my circle, and how debilitating (and outright uncomfortable) it can be for some, and for a long time…
Correct – in vaccines that have been in use for decades. But it is scientifically unsound to make the same assumption for the covid vaccine. We don’t know what we don’t know. (There’s a reason why FDA has an ‘emergency use’ authorization.)
“Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration took action approving and authorizing for emergency use updated COVID-19 vaccines…”
