This exchange would NEVER happen in North America:
DER SPIEGEL: Is it also possible that the next variant will already be here before you even start production?
Şahin: I've been thinking hard over the past few days about why we're actually seeing a variant like Omicron right now, what caused it. In doing so, I remembered being concerned about one thing earlier this year: In people with suppressed immune systems, the virus might get too much time to accumulate mutations and evolve. It appears to me that this is exactly what happened with Omicron: The virus has been able to undergo a prolonged evolution in a small group of people.
DER SPIEGEL: Was that an unfortunate coincidence, or are such strongly mutated variants a constant threat?
Şahin: It certainly could happen more often. Basically, it’s like this: Once Omicron spreads, the virus variant that comes after it will have to come up with something new to make the leap into the next generation. We would then be constantly facing a new pathogen.
If? Isn't this how contagious respiratory diseases always work?
And on a completely unrelated note:
https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/09/13/493739074...
I absolutely would not recommend getting a vaccine booster shot every 3 months. Your plasma cells are not meant to proliferate to that extent.
Moderna holds 6 months on a 80% level. But the Moderna risk is a bit higher for younger, so the 3 months boosters are for the younger ones.
But this is all outdated with Omicron. They need adapted boosters first. Or wait for the real risk analysis. As it looks like COVID-19 goes the way of all such waves. The best surviving mutations get weaker and more infectious, until they end at the common cold. Omicron is extremely weak so far. Let's hope it stays that way
The pfizer vaccine trials ended over a year ago[1]. Why are we only finding out about the reduced protection now? If the vaccine only works for three months, we should have known about that 10 months ago.
[1] https://www.pfizer.com/news/press-release/press-release-deta...
[1] https://abcnews.go.com/Health/booster-shot-12-months-provide...
[2] https://www.cnbc.com/video/2021/09/30/pfizer-biontech-vaccin...
I refuse to live in fear.
The huge upside is getting to hang out with people who otherwise you only know via Zoom.
Constant boosters, lockdowns, etc are burning lots of good will offered by people who originally opted to compromise personal liberty for the greater public good. It's getting old and the ROI of the compromise is getting smaller every day.
My mother got the 3rd dose a few weeks before me and on the 3rd day one of her lower-legs went numb. She had some therapy in the hospital and is OK now, but I'm afraid how she could react to a possible future vaccination. I'm not even sure the vaccination was the cause.
I have many antivaxx coworkers and I would never mention something like that in front of them. Just today the most fanatical of them called in sick with "the flu". He doesn't even want to get tested for Covid.
The vaccine has real side effects, the faster we can have a civic conversation about it the better off we all are.
I have severe cardiovascular problems and cannot get the vaccine. I’m judged and called an antivaxxer all the time. It’s not us vs them, we’re all in it together.
Being open and honest is always the best path. Especially when you disagree.
My dad gets the flu shot each year. He’s not an anti-vaxxer. The COVID shot seems different though.
My dad still refuses to get a vaccine because all he hears is mis- and disinformation. He’s recently changed to “leaning toward getting the shot,” which is great, but he wants to drive another family member around this weekend who is currently suffering from COVID-19.
Being open and honest with him, I told him the most likely outcome for him, and even held back on how grim his particular prognosis would likely be given his risk factors. But people don’t want to hear the reality.
That reality is that these vaccines are, statistically, safe and effective for the vast majority of the population. (I know that you weren’t asserting otherwise, and that you aren’t in that majority.) There comes a point when refusal to engage with that reality in typical circumstances becomes a dividing line. It might be fear driven for those who don’t have a contraindicated condition, but it’s hard not think of refusal by people in medically typical circumstances, at this point, to be precious and selfish.
It's a long time since we were in this together. It's against the people who don't vaccinate now.
I'm sorry you're being judged, that's awful.
Now we are talking about more and more frequent vaccine booster doses. Shouldn't that be a concern?
