I got covid for the 1st time in early Oct. My primary care doc said if symptoms were mild (cold-like) treat with OTCs. If I got a fever/sicker he would prescribe Paxlovid.
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Problem is, Paxlovid is supposed to be started early, so the decision to use it or not may have to be made before one knows whether the COVID-19 infection is serious.
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Received a Moderna booster and a flu shot last Friday. Felt like I was under the weather on Saturday. Feeling a little better on Sunday. The arm that received the flu shot is still quite sore.
No regrets about getting the booster. I have big Thanksgiving plans in a few weeks.
I got the Covid booster last Monday. I woke up Monday night very nauseous. I was so sick on Tuesday and Wednesday that I was unable to eat or leave the house. Tired and sleeping all day. Very bad reaction. Actually, it was almost worse than when I had Covid.
Which brand?
I got the 2023 Moderna/Spikevax two weeks ago. I had about 36 hours of chills, body aches, and tiredness.
I spend a lot of time in elementary schools (usually masked, but not always) and lots of time at activities/games of my GS and GD. I want to be as protected as possible.
I did have Covid (XBB1.5 Kraken) in April, seven months after the Bivalent Booster. I was pretty miserable with a sore throat, head ache, body aches, stuffy nose. My clinic did prescribe Paxlovid and I did feel much better in a couple of days.
Ok, we got Pfizered today. And also got our flu shots. I requested the pfe shot into my left arm because I sleep on the right side. 
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Update. No bad reactions at all. Just a slightly sore shoulder on the pfe side and general sleepiness. The upside is that we slept like logs that night!
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My husband, son and I got the booster October 19th. We all got covid this week. I was much sicker than the first time I got it in May of 2022. Paxlovid worked its magic and I’m much better now.
It must have been so scary getting covid back in the early days of the pandemic when there were no vaccines and very little treatment. I could feel myself getting sicker and sicker. I dont know how bad it would have been without the Paxlovid.
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Folks, flu is coming… Just a PSA!
https://www.cnn.com/2023/11/10/health/puerto-rico-flu-epidemic/index.html
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Adding…the flu vaccine looks to be a good match to the strains most likely to be circulating this flu season (that happens less than half the time).
Here is the CDC’s US weekly flu tracker, so you can see what things look like near you (US Map about 2/3 of the way down the page):
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I’ve had COVID and flu vaccine. Only reaction to COVID shot this time was being rather lethargic the day after.
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I had my Covid shot while I had a fairly bad respiratory virus. I didn’t have much if reaction to the shot. The cold bothered me more.
I’m having a hard time getting myself to get another vaccine. Feel like I’ve had so many, I’m just burnt out. No flu shot this year, think I’ve only had the flu once in my life (and always feel terrible after the shot, I get those maybe once every four years). Not an anti-vaxxer at all, just had more vaccines than most (military service makes you a pincushion). Feel like I should do it, but just sick of it all. Can’t believe that Covid is still a thing!
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If you have reactions after the typical egg-based flu vaccines, you may want to consider looking for the non-egg-based ones the next time. The brands are FluCelVax (vaccine virus grown in dog cells instead of eggs and then inactivated) and FluBlok (recombinant bacteria grown in insect cells produces a vaccine protein).
A description of various types of flu vaccines is here: How Influenza (Flu) Vaccines Are Made | CDC
SARS-CoV-2 seems to be a quick mutator to get around immunity induced from last year’s virus or vaccine, although people who have had more past exposure from vaccine and/or infection are less likely to get severe cases in subsequent infections (though people who get repeat infections, especially after also getting vaccine, may want to be more wary of the virus, since that can indicate that they have a weaker immune response to the virus).
Personally, I do not find getting one flu vaccine and one COVID-19 vaccine per year to be a significant hassle or anything like that.
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I just got Novavax today. Around me CVS and Costco are the only options. As you said the CVS website won’t let you schedule it but it says all pharamacies have it in stock and to just walk in. We went to the closest one to us and the staff had no idea what we were talking about and then the pharmacist said they didn’t have it. So we called a CVS pharmacy located in a Target nearby and they said they had it and to come on in. It’s been about 7 hours and so far neither of us have any side effects except my husband has a sore arm.
I emphasize with you! On top of every COVID vaccine except the latest monovalent, in the last couple of years I also had both Shingrix and pneumonia shots. And one flu a couple of years ago. My last bivalent was mid-June so it’s been long enough now. Other than the first Shingrix, my reactions have mostly just been a sore arm. And now that I know to get the shots as low in the shoulder as possible, reactions have been better.
But I’m being lazy; don’t travel, don’t have work or family get togethers, and mask inside stores and groceries. Living in San Diego, I haven’t eaten inside a restaurant since the pandemic began. I’ve never had the flu and only got that vaccine if I was going on a cruise.
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The Covid vaccine only reduces your chances of getting Covid from 4-29%. So if you aren’t at risk, or exposing someone else who is at risk, why would you get it now?
It’s weird how some people get Covid and otters don’t. One friend has gotten every single shot and booster, has gotten Covid three times. Ultra healthy guy. His wife, zero times, cancer, brain tumor. Me and my husband have gotten it one time (after a cruise), our kids, one possibly got it once, the other, zero times. We have had massive exposure, constant travel that increased when Covid began. It doesn’t make sense. The vaccine doesn’t seem relevant any more as far as avoiding infection.
I think that Shingrix vaccine is the one that really did it for me. I was sick after all the Covid vaccines and flu vaccines, but SO sick after the Shingrix vaccine. You know what, that vaccine ended up costing me 15K. I made an incredibly stupid mistake agreeing to purchase a product that was completely wrong for our house (and ended up cancelling and losing the deposit), because I was so very sick when the rep came over, and just agreed to it.
Still glad I got the vaccine (shingles is awful) but the moral of the story is to not plan for anything but bedrest the next day!
I asked the CVS pharmacy if they knew of any others that had it, and they said no, and that I would have to call around. Rite-Aid allowed scheduling for Novavax, but then said (when my H went) that they didn’t have it and he could have either Pfizer or Moderna. That is bait-and-switch, and of course once there my H got Pfizer and flu and RSV shots. When I called to see about MY Novavax appt. a few days later, I was told they had gotten one box of Novavax when it was first approved, they couldn’t order more, and to complain to Rite-Aid’s corporate website about the scheduling issue. I didn’t do that, but I did contact Novavax. I know Novavax is depending on this vaccine for their financial future, and if people can’t find it and pharmacies are non-responsive, it doesn’t bode well for them.
I had a sore arm and a slightly “yuck” feeling after all my boosters (all Pfizer). I had Moderna for my initial series, and had a robust and unpleasant reaction after the second shot. As I wrote before, it may have been the vaccinator’s excellent technique that I only had a slight twinge if I lifted my arm all the way up after Novavax, and no “yuck” feeling at all. I just hope Novavax ends up being as good as they think it might be!
Now to get the senior flu shot. I still don’t know if I’ll get the RSV shot.
I have read about the severe shortage of the RSV preventive antibody recommended for all newborns (nirsevimabr), and that pregnant women only have a short window of time in their pregnancies to get vaccinated against RSV and confer some immunity from that on their babies. That would make me very anxious if if there was a newborn in my family born during this RSV season who couldn’t get the med after birth or whose mother couldn’t/wouldn’t get the RSV vaccination.