The current major variant in the US is LP.8.1, while NB.1.8.1 is now growing in Asia. Both are descendants of JN.1.
Here is a comparison of mutations between NB.1, LP.8.1*, and the previous vaccine targets KP.2 (2024 P/M), JN.1 (2024 N), XBB.1.5 (2023), BA.5 (2022), and B.1 (2021). The web site does not yet have NB.1.8.1.
Maybe insurance companies would find it in their interest to pay? Ah, a girl can dream! I al almost 77 so I qualify (as of right now).
My husband currently has Covid. Somehow I was spared. Maybe this variant is less contagious?
We both got it at Christmas 2022 and the nurses we spoke to told me there was no way I wouldnāt get it, and of course I did.
We are both vaccinated, and so is our young adult son.
Hereās an issue I wasnāt expecting..my husband started an antiviral on Monday. Itās apparently considered a high tier drug with our insurance and was $970. The pharmacy had some $300 coupon that brought the price down to $670.
Thatās crazy. So no antiviral for poor people either? It was free when we got them in 2022.
Which yearsā vaccines did you and he get? The 2024 vaccine against KP.2 or JN.1 would be more related to the current variants than the 2023 vaccine against XBB.1.5 or the actual virus you got in late 2022.
The last two times Iāve gotten Covid - January 2024 and November 2024 - no one in my orbit, including my H, got it. I was up to date with vaccinations & have no idea where I got it either time. Itās a strange virus.
Weāve gotten vaccinated every year (maybe more often when this all started?).
Our latest vaccines were fall of 2024, so they were just a better match for the variant? That makes senseā¦ thank you!
We got our latest covid vaxes (Moderna) in late April. So far we only had COVID onceāwhen everyone at our table at a crowded 80th birthday party got it, the day before my momās funeral in 2023. I tested positive when I got home from the funeral but no one got sick from funeral nor lunch following it.
In my non medically trained opinion, itās probably a combination of a less contagious version, your body is more used to seeing/warding off covid, and some peopleās bodies are just better at fighting it off with no symptoms.
My husband and his Dad are the latter. He worked as an elem PE teacher during Covid. They were in person since fall 2020. He got covid twice. Both times the worst he had was heād clear his throat more than usual for a day or two. He did get all of the shots.
His 90 year Dad? He lived with my MIL (now deceased) until maybe late 2021? And since with my SIL/BIL who watches their 4 grandchildren. They are anti vax/anti mask people despite being in poor health. Theyāve had covid at least 4 times with horrid symptoms lasting from 2 weeks to several months. My FIL has never gotten it! And his only vaxes were the first series and the first booster. None since. He is in otherwise poor health too! Leukemia, bad heart, high BP, poor lung function, broken back, bulging disks, etcā¦
My recent shot was about $165 I think, billed to my insurance.
Truly poor people have medicaid which would pay for it. Those on Medicare would have a $590 deductible this year (but if on medicare couldnāt use the coupon) and then a 24% copay on the drug. Unless your medicare advantage uses different math on the drugs until you get to a $2000 OOP per year.
You must be a CPA to figure this out! It is May and Iāve met my $2000 OOP,but I havenāt paid that much (still WAY too much) OOP because United health uses different math than Aetna.
My pharmacy contacted me to get another Covid shot. I looked it up and it said those over 65 should get 2 per year. I donāt know if the other conditions (cancer, diabetes, BMI, etc) also recommend 2 per year. I usually just do what they recommend and stick out my arm.
Are those who have already had covid eligible for a free shot? Seems they should be as arenāt they more likely to get it again?
Iāve never had covid (and still refuse to get it) but Iām eligible for the shot under about 6 of those conditions. However, I want EVERYONE to get vaccinated as herd immunity keeps ME safe too
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I donāt believe that Medicaid will cover it if the person is not in a category for which it is recommended.
All else being equal, infection+vaccination improves resistance against future infection compared to either alone.
However, some people seem to be more or less vulnerable (genetically or otherwise) to COVID-19 infection or serious effects from it. So the population of never-infected may be the more resistant ones.
In the first place, there have been no decisions on whether insurers will cut back on covering the covid vax 100% by not covering the young healthies.
But as to your question, and assuming that insurers do reduce coverage to the FDA list, then the answer is that it having had covid is not a factor, so that by itself is a No.
Yes, herd immunity is great, but not sure I can find the regs that say protecting someone else is a reason for my insurance to pay. OTOH, its a great reason for Public Health clinics to distribute the vaccines.
At least where I am Public health clinics are dependent on insurance reimbursement as well even if they otherwise subsidize the vaccinatorsā time and those whose insurance doesnāt pay. Only kidsā vaccines and occasionally uninsured adults are paid for by the government. COVID shots are over $100 each, if insurance doesnāt reimburse then unless your local health department is able to come up with hundreds of thousands of dollars to buy vaccines healthy adults arenāt getting them from public health either. With the way public health is getting cut right now I just donāt see that happening.
My brother has had covid 4x so far. H and I and our 2 adult kids have all had it once, when H and I got it at an 80th birthday party, the day before my momās funeral. Fortunately we all had pretty mild cases with Paxlovid and fully recovered fairly quickly.
Moderna mNEXSPIKE vaccine has been approved by the FDA, but only for people age 65 and over and people age 12-64 with a risk condition. mNEXSPIKE is a COVID-19 mRNA vaccine targeting only the RBD and NTD of the spike protein (the parts that change rapidly) instead of the entire spike protein. It uses a smaller dose of mRNA (10 Āµg versus 50 Āµg for current Spikevax and 100 Āµg for the original two dose Moderna vaccine). Clinical trials appear to have been done in 2022-2023, when Spikevax was the ancestral / BA.5 bivalent formulation.
YLE writes about COVID-19 vaccines during pregnancy, including that pregnancy is a risk factor in COVID-19 severity.
I am scheduling for a booster now. Will I get the new Moderna?
The Moderna press release says that āModerna expects to have mNEXSPIKE available for eligible populations in the U.S. for the 2025-2026 respiratory virus season, alongside Spikevax and mRESVIAĀ®, the Companyās approved respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine.ā