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I'm vaccinated but do not plan to get a booster of the original vaccine. If a new and dangerous variant shows up, and we have a vaccine specifically for that va

I'm vaccinated but do not plan to get a booster of the original vaccine. If a new and dangerous variant shows up, and we have a vaccine specifically for that variant, I will consider that new shot, just as I do with yearly flu shots. What many people miss when they advocate for boosters is that antibody count is not the full story. When it comes to protection against severe disease, cell-mediated immunity is key and doesn't go away. Here's the most relevant science I've found about the effectiveness of the booster. https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2115926 https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2115926 If you look at the results table, the booster does benefit everyone. I can't argue with that. However, the absolute counts shown in that table paint a more nuanced picture. While the 60+ crowd gets significant benefits from being boosted, making it a no-brainer for them, the under 60 crowd has less benefit. The under 60 crowd is already relatively safe from severe disease and death with the original vaccine dose. Being healthy and under 60, I need to weigh these mild benefits with the cons: 1) normalizing mandated boosters as an ongoing way of life and 2) extending the pandemic by using up booster doses instead of sending them to undervaccinated countries (the ones where new variants are popping up). Instead of getting in the habit of being boosted with the same vaccine every 3-6 months for mild benefit, I think it makes much more sense to take a holistic view that helps us end this pandemic. [Edited for clarity]

disgruntledphd2 5y ago
> While the booster does have significant benefits for the 60+ crowd, the benefits are not nearly as great for other age groups. For me, the cons of getting boosted outweigh the pros, and so I won't. Hmmm, interesting. I read that paper and thought, wow, I'm glad I got a booster ;). > What many people miss when they advocate for boosters is that antibody count is not the full story when it comes to protection against severe disease. Cell-mediated immunity is key and doesn't go away. This appears to be very true (although I am not an immunologist). > Instead of boosting our antibody counts ever 3-6 months with the same vaccine and normalizing mandated boosters, I think it makes much more sense to send these to undervaccinated locations where variants are evolving. Sending the boosters to the rest of the world makes far more sense than boosting the general populations in the developed world. We should definitely do both, but if we can only do one then it should be vaccinating as much of the world as possible.
- iamdamian 5y ago
  > Hmmm, interesting. I read that paper and thought, wow, I'm glad I got a booster ;). I think your take and mine are both reasonable and based on different interpretations of tradeoffs. With the original vaccine doses, you and I probably agreed. There was a somewhat objective case to strongly encourage vaccination of everyone. The alternative was to remain in lockdown indefinitely or risk some sort of collapse of the healthcare system. Now, though, as we consider the booster, I think the choice is less objective or obvious. Our healthcare system is not at risk, and we can largely be free of lockdown with just the vaccine. There are real cons to a booster, including normalizing government mandates and not vaccinating the rest of the world. Some people may choose to have the peace of mind that comes from a booster. Others may choose not to. I'm hoping, though, that we can agree that mandates are not the way.
  - kataklasm 5y ago
    I assume you are talking about the US there, since here in Germany we are racing to booster as many folks as possible right now as the nth wave is tsking over the country again. Hard restrictions for unvaccinated people, as makes sense. But the thing that counts is: our health care system is on the brink of collapse. The hospital staffs around the country are edging on breakdown. Health care workers simply can't hold off the storm much longer and we are headed right into a big wave of infections and thus bad disease courses. Unvaccinated people are clogging our ICUs, directly leading to deaaths of multiple groups of people waiting for surgery of various means. There's also an uptick in healthcare professionals leaving the field and major mental health issues even leading up to higher suicide rates.

disgruntledphd2 5y ago

> While the booster does have significant benefits for the 60+ crowd, the benefits are not nearly as great for other age groups. For me, the cons of getting boosted outweigh the pros, and so I won't. Hmmm, interesting. I read that paper and thought, wow, I'm glad I got a booster ;). > What many people miss when they advocate for boosters is that antibody count is not the full story when it comes to protection against severe disease. Cell-mediated immunity is key and doesn't go away. This appears to be very true (although I am not an immunologist). > Instead of boosting our antibody counts ever 3-6 months with the same vaccine and normalizing mandated boosters, I think it makes much more sense to send these to undervaccinated locations where variants are evolving. Sending the boosters to the rest of the world makes far more sense than boosting the general populations in the developed world. We should definitely do both, but if we can only do one then it should be vaccinating as much of the world as possible.

iamdamian 5y ago
> Hmmm, interesting. I read that paper and thought, wow, I'm glad I got a booster ;). I think your take and mine are both reasonable and based on different interpretations of tradeoffs. With the original vaccine doses, you and I probably agreed. There was a somewhat objective case to strongly encourage vaccination of everyone. The alternative was to remain in lockdown indefinitely or risk some sort of collapse of the healthcare system. Now, though, as we consider the booster, I think the choice is less objective or obvious. Our healthcare system is not at risk, and we can largely be free of lockdown with just the vaccine. There are real cons to a booster, including normalizing government mandates and not vaccinating the rest of the world. Some people may choose to have the peace of mind that comes from a booster. Others may choose not to. I'm hoping, though, that we can agree that mandates are not the way.
- kataklasm 5y ago
  I assume you are talking about the US there, since here in Germany we are racing to booster as many folks as possible right now as the nth wave is tsking over the country again. Hard restrictions for unvaccinated people, as makes sense. But the thing that counts is: our health care system is on the brink of collapse. The hospital staffs around the country are edging on breakdown. Health care workers simply can't hold off the storm much longer and we are headed right into a big wave of infections and thus bad disease courses. Unvaccinated people are clogging our ICUs, directly leading to deaaths of multiple groups of people waiting for surgery of various means. There's also an uptick in healthcare professionals leaving the field and major mental health issues even leading up to higher suicide rates.