Well, obviously.
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Somewhat, yes. But the major finding that vaccines had higher protection than prior infection was the generally obvious thing I was commenting on.
The secondary finding shouldnât surprise anyone who is familiar with coronaviruses. Coronaviruses play a cat-and-mouse game with the immune system. They attack the intracellular mechanisms that act as an early warning system for the immune system first. The virus leaves traps for antibodies tuned to it. It covers its tracks. Responding to coronaviruses is a balancing act for the immune system. Overreaction can be fatal - many fatalities from COVID are due to an overreacting immune system response causing inflammation and clotting. Under-reacting leaves the body susceptible to respiratory failure. So for some people who survive COVID, it makes sense that they would be more susceptible to subsequent infection - they already have established that their immune system doesnât overreact, doesnât under-react, but nontheless plays into the standard coronavirus playbook.
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This, exactly. Coronaviruses are notorious for not leading to lasting immunity. The fact that they developed a vaccine that could was probably the most surprising part of the whole thing.
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My local police scanner Facebook page posted about EMS responding to a drugstore where a woman passed out after receiving a flu shot.
Iâm shocked how many people in my community know someone who died after getting a flu shot.
One personâs relative died of a heart attack right after getting the shot, of course he defined right after as 6 months later so absolutely connected.
With that logic my heart attack was caused by the pickle I ate 3 weeks before the attack.
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Yeah, and in my experience, the people who refuse vaccines because they donât want to put something âdangerousâ inside their bodies have no reluctance at all about putting tons of stuff like potato chips, soda, cigarette smoke, and red and processed meats into them.
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Anecdote:
Iâm currently ill with COVID. I tested positive on Wednesday. I tested because I am in a COVID surveillance program run by a University as a research programme, not because I felt sick. (I had very light symptoms.of a cold, i.e. I sneezed twice on Tuesday.)
I alerted my coworkers and the people I was in close contact to. I wasnât surprised to find that one of my coworkers had tested positive. (They felt sick, and even during our conversation felt the fever rushing in.)
We assume that we both got infected at a party the Saturday before. Three other cases we know of have developed COVID since.
Nothing unusual so far, right?
[start confused rant]
Colour me surprised indeed: I tested positive two weeks earlier (on Halloween, no less). I had symptoms - change of smell (like a had an old ashtray in my nose), diarrhea, cold symptoms excluding fever. Those went away after several days, gradually. My family tested positive a day later, which again was a surprise since i had been away the whole week and some before, and just returned on the 30th. We figured they caught it somewhere else, which wasnât a surprise since all around us people reported infections. Literally, everywhere in our social bubble. Surprisingly again, I tested negative already on Nov. 5th, after inconclusive test results (i.e., clearly something on the OTC lateral flow test, but not in the position it should be) since the evening of Nov. 1st (another real suprise), so I figured it must have been a very weak infection. I tested negative since then. And I was happy, since my family was really ill, gradually recovered and just was fit enough on Nov. 10th to go to the party on the 11th. Where, apparently, I caught the bloody corona virus - again!?!
My understanding so far was that immune response would normally be high enough to prevent a re-infection already through expression of antibodies, which are even excreted in mucous. Since the infection was so , I fully expect my immune system to have fought properly, and being on par with the virus. Also, while we were quite careful, I lived more than a week secluded with my family, so I would have figured that I should have been exposed to the virus the whole bloody time.
I canât make proper heads and tails of it, but Iâve got symptoms, the tests are conclusive as fuck and I am quite convinced that my family and I had the bug from different sources.
Whatâs really annoying is that some weird symptoms I had two years ago are starting to return. My toes are turning blue at times, which which is especially obvious and maybe even more pronounced when I am taking a nice warm shower. Last time, it took about nine months to go away, and about two months after it started it hurt, there were visible subcutaneous micro-bleeding. Also, vertigo is back, which annoyed me no end after my last infection in March. I also have impulse control issues and some other psychological âdisturbances in the forceâ - but am dealing with it and try to see it as a training exercise.
The rest is within the expected experience, but better than expected in its extent. It feels like I run a half-Marathon, but without the heart rate. In fact, my heart rate and SpO2 are looking fine. No fever, not much coughing, less nose congestion than a hay fever.
But what the fuck is up with those ig A I was placing my beliefs upon? Shit. There goes my advice I gave everyone and their dog when asked: out of the window! ă˝(`Đ´)ďžď¸ľ âťââť
[/end confused rant]
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So, Iâm 59 but because of my heart disease my doctor wrote me a prescription and a referral thingy for Blue Cross to get the RSV shot.
Insurance said nope, now it goes back and forth and will eventually get approved but I have to wait.
I asked how much the shot costs without insurance. 300 bucks and change.
Weâre every fortunate that we can afford that so I said if it donât get straightened out by next week Iâll just pay out of pocket.
They said âyouâre going to pay that, Why?â
Because a friend had it a year ago and he still needs oxygen 24/7 and he very rarely leaves his house, thatâs why.
We decided 300 bucks is better spent on a vaccine than other things.
But why isn that vaccine free for people without insurance, not me, but actual poor people?
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Why?
Yachts for CEOs.
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Itâs cheaper for insurance companies to just let people die.
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I hope you get it soon, either way.
I wonder if that one packs as much of a wallop for most people as the Covid booster. That one sent me to bed, though the worst of it only lasted for about 24 hours.
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The Covid shots also take me out for 24 hours, fever chills, muscle aches.
So far my wife isnât having any side effects from the RSV shot.
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Oops, spoke too soon, sheâs had fever, chills, muscle aches, and cramps for most of the night, she says itâs pretty bad.
She took some Tylenol and is starting to feel better.
Hopefully it will all pass in time for the parade in Detroit Thursday morning.
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Update: tested negative on the 20th. Tested positive on the 21st and today, the 22nd.
Whatâs is up with this infection, I do not know. It is annoying. And I feel so tired⌠At least as soon as I try to work. 
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You may continue to test positive for weeks. Sorry.
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Just got flu and covid in either arm the other week and I could just about feel that they had been given in my arms. Wasnât exactly into holding a downward yoga posture for long. But that was it. Felt grand!
Delighted with that, theyâve mostly been a bit crappy so I donât look forward to it. Now I know they donât have to be.
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Itâs weird with the flip flopping results, though, isnât it?
When I got it, I tested positive for 2 weeks, but I didnât have any negative tests in between.
@LutherBlisset - any chance some of your tests could be faulty, either through user error or being past expiration dates?
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I am provided with one weekly test by a surveillance research program, and bought the other ones fresh OTC.
A higher amount of mucus on the test swab (due to, well, infectionâŚ) is a variable which I have the feeling could have an influence. When I test directly after getting up, i.e. basically on the first cough, I have the feeling that I test more consistently positive.
But three drops on the lateral flow device are three drops, either way. It might influence the results, but it should not. Also, the advice is to do exactly that: test first thing in the morning, before drinking, eating, or taking any medication. Blow your nose without wiping, use the swab.
Another possible confounding factor is that Staphylococcus aureus infection can consistently lead to false positives, and those bugs are a quite common superinfection if you have a cold, right?
However, the last days, I have had clear mucus, which is odd at this season in its own right.
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This sounds horribly familiar
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IIRC, the at-home tests have higher sensitivity and lower specificity, meaning false positives are rare, but false negatives arenât uncommon.
Disclaimer: Iâm a medicine-user, not a doer.
(Sensitivity and specificity since I can never remember which is which)
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I am a medicine-doer (
) and had trouble with that. Sensitivity has an ânâ, good for avoiding false negatives. Specificity has a âp.â Good for avoiding false positives. Mnemonics to the rescue!
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