Will You Get a Booster Shot?

[ApatheticNoMore]

truthfully since the authorities kept getting things wrong (and were (are?) deeply politically corrupted) I started getting pandemic advice from twitter in the middle of the pandemic. Sad I know, sad. I knew it was kinda crazy but it seemed the only sane thing. I followed Gregg Gonsalves, and Carl T. Bergstrom and Caitlin Rivers. Zeynep Tufekci the sociologist writer for the Atlantic is a kind of genius (I even made it through an Ed Yong or two piece too). I found them late but journalist David Wallace Wells (yes the Uninhabitable Earth) was also insightful although I wouldn't take final advice from them. etc. etc. etc.

There were major failures at the CDC and the WHO (from why did they get initial testing wrong with the CDC, to why didn't they acknowledge airborne transmission until long after it mattered - was it too inconvenient a truth?). I don't posit deliberate (sometimes you do wonder, but that's a high burden of proof shall we say) but we're not even going to evaluate what went wrong and just pretend they got things right? Gah, well that will sure prepare us for the next pandemic!

The case for the vaccine was just: what do you want to take your chances with covid or the vaccine? Because you can run but you can't hide forever from the virus. Uh duh the vaccine. Boosters, it's weaker as we don't even know how long immunity lasts, so convince me I even need a booster. Do I trust the current state of medicine? Oh gosh no, but this one disease is the most studied on earth right now, so there is that. But one still has to make health care decisions (like getting a vaccine) with imperfect information in the world as it is now.

[Yppej]

Yppej, who exactly is putting political pressure on fauci and the cdc to push for booster shots?

They're not doing this yet but it's very plausible that pharmaceutical companies and politicians who accept donations from pharmaceutical companies will. There is a revolving door between the industry and regulators. For instance, Scott Gottlieb who was the FDA commissioner is now on the board of Pfizer. Lobbying is another profession involved in this revolving door.

If you don't think there is a lot of politics behind medicine in this country ask yourself why the US is the only industrialized country without a single payer system despite the fact that we pay much more and have worse health outcomes than other economically advanced nations. Also ask why Biden has been completely silent on the public option he ran on now that he is in office even while he pushes for every other type of government expenditure under the sun.

[ApatheticNoMore]

Ok but there will be studies on immunity and how long it lasts, and I don't believe all the studies are corrupt. Sometimes they have flaws of course. But whether to get a booster before the data is in if it comes to that hmm ...

Single payer is really an entirely different issue wiht almost no overlap with this discussion. I do think single payer systems maybe esp fully socialized ones (NHS in the UK) often care more about their citizens health because they foot the bill (a cost not a profit center), BUT this is a global issue! It's not about the u.s. alone

[happystuff]

But one still has to make health care decisions (like getting a vaccine) with imperfect information in the world as it is now.

In my opinion, this kind of sums up the rest of your post and I agree... the point is that the information keeps changing AS MORE IS LEARNED about this disease! The learning is continuous so the responses will change as information is gained. And, yes, we each need to make our own decisions based on what is learned and what we believe, but that has always been the way, hasn't it? Sadly, these days, a wrong choice doesn't just mean illness, but actually death - not just for ourselves, but for others/everyone.

[jp1]

An interesting read on why the six foot rule about transmission is wrong.

TLDR version: it was based on flawed assumptions from long long ago that had never been further tested.

https://www.wired.com/story/the-teen...=pocket-newtab

[ApatheticNoMore]

What surprised me is how long it took to learn things, how slow it was acknowledged by the powers that be long after we knew, how deep the inertia. I mean I suppose it's relative, not slow in geological time , but really I imagine at this point there are things medicine has been getting wrong for 40 years and still is frankly, that's about how I see it. But it sure seemed slow in pandemic time while people were dying in a pandemic, a bit too convenient how slow it all was.

[jp1]

As someone with the perspective of living through the HIV epidemic I am impressed by how quickly science moved with covid. It was several years into the HIV epidemic before the transmission method was solidly established. A time during which many many many gay men (mostly) passed away without having a clue what was killing all of their friends.* And many more years where the only thing for gay men to do to keep themselves safe was to wear the HIV equivalent of a mask anytime they had sex. And even today we STILL don't have a vaccine for HIV, just prophylactic treatment that has to be taken regularly by anyone who is sexually active and not monogamous. And lifelong expensive meds for people who contract the disease. The fact that it took just a few months before it was recommended that people wear masks to reduce covid spread and less than a year before we had several excellent vaccines seems incredible to me.

*One of my two best friends in the world is a 72 year old gay man. Of all the friends he had 30-40 years ago only a couple are still alive today. Most died long ago from HIV related illnesses. Being 18 years younger I'm fortunate to only have a handful of friends who were killed by HIV.

[Gardnr]

What surprised me is how long it took to learn things, how slow it was acknowledged by the powers that be long after we knew, how deep the inertia. I mean I suppose it's relative, not slow in geological time , but really I imagine at this point there are things medicine has been getting wrong for 40 years and still is frankly, that's about how I see it. But it sure seemed slow in pandemic time while people were dying in a pandemic, a bit too convenient how slow it all was.

Do remember that President Trump was muzzling Dr Fauci and Dr Birx as well as the CDC. He did NOT rely on the experts. What they knew had to "leak out" for quite some time.

[JaneV2.0]

Do remember that President Trump was muzzling Dr Fauci and Dr Birx as well as the CDC. He did NOT rely on the experts. What they knew had to "leak out" for quite some time.

He proudly boasted that he mostly ignored Dr. Fauci's recommendations anyway. No surprise there.

[Gardnr]

He proudly boasted that he mostly ignored Dr. Fauci's recommendations anyway. No surprise there.

His super spreader events were ridiculous. Secret Service agents unnecessarily ill. Among all the other travesties of how he (didn't) handle the pandemic. Yet his followers continue to think he's the best ever