Coronavirus spreads. But don't panic! (topical thread)

[Tres Leches]

An expert review of scientific evidence to date has concluded that Covid-19 vaccine booster shots are not needed at this time for the general public, a group of leading U.S. and international scientists said Monday in the peer-reviewed journal The Lancet.

The conclusion by scientists, including two senior Food and Drug Administration officials and the World Health Organization, came as studies continue to show the authorized Covid vaccines in the U.S. remain highly effective against severe disease and hospitalization caused by the fast-spreading delta variant.

While Covid vaccine effectiveness against mild disease may wane over time, protection against severe disease may persist, the scientists said. That’s because the body’s immune system is complex, they said, and has other defenses besides antibodies that may protect someone from getting seriously sick.

“Current evidence does not, therefore, appear to show a need for boosting in the general population, in which efficacy against severe disease remains high,” the scientists wrote, adding the wide distribution of boosters is “not appropriate at this stage in the pandemic.”

They acknowledged that booster shots may eventually be needed for the general population if vaccine-induced immunity wanes even further or a new variant emerges that can evade the protection of the shots.

They said there are risks to distributing boosters too soon, including the potential for side effects such as a rare heart inflammation condition known as myocarditis, which is more common after the second dose of mRNA vaccines.

“If unnecessary boosting causes significant adverse reactions, there could be implications for vaccine acceptance that go beyond COVID-19 vaccines,” they wrote.

(CNBC)

Interestingly there's an article in yesterday's New York Times suggesting people who received the J&J shot lie to get a booster shot.

Notably, numerous doctors and some prominent experts who themselves received the J.&J. vaccine have chosen to receive a follow-up Moderna or Pfizer vaccine. The list includes Bill Enright, a biotechnology C.E.O.; Zoë McLaren, a health economist; and Angela Rasmussen, a prominent virologist. The city of San Francisco also began offering a Moderna or Pfizer booster shot to J.&J. recipients about a month ago.


There is little data on these vaccine combinations, which is probably the biggest reason to be cautious. But there is data on another relevant combination.
The AstraZeneca vaccine — which is being given in many countries but not the U.S. — is similar in design to the J.&J. vaccine. Many people in Europe and Canada received AstraZeneca for their first shot and Pfizer for their second, and they appear to be faring well.

This approach is sometimes described as “mix and match,” and it makes some intuitive sense. People are receiving the immunity benefits of two different types of vaccines.

Even if you want a follow-up shot, the U.S. government has not approved one, and doctors have generally said no to patients who have asked.
Many people are understandably frustrated by the situation: Some experts are urging a follow-up shot, pointing to the scientific evidence.  And some doctors have figured out how to get a second shot for themselves.
Yet if you walk into a doctor’s office and ask for one, you will probably be turned down. It can feel as though there is one set of rules for people with medical connections and another set for everyone else.
What to do? If you want a follow-up shot, you have a couple of options. You can try different drugstores or clinics, hoping to find one that is willing to give a Pfizer or Moderna shot to a J.&J. recipient — or one that won’t ask questions about your history. Or you can choose to be less than fully honest. You won’t be alone.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/13/brief...ainer.html

So, go get a booster shot with little data to back it up and since others are lying about it, you can too, because getting the booster intuitively feels right.

I've had the J&J shot and I'm definitely not rushing to get a booster without solid science behind it.

There's no difference between these people lying to get unproven boosters because they feel it works and the people lying to obtain unproven Covid-19 remedies like ivermectin prescriptions because they heard it works. The only difference is their voting preferences but neither's decisions are tethered to reality.