Are you going to take the Bivalent Covid 19 booster?

 I went to Costco and took it yesterday. My last booster was in April and according to the FDA website" 

"individuals 12 years of age and older are eligible for a single booster dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine, Bivalent if it has been at least two months since they have completed primary vaccination or have received the most recent booster dose with any authorized or approved monovalent COVID-19 vaccine"

This is the fifth covid vaccine shot I have taken and so far I have been lucky. To the best of my knowledge I have avoided a Covid infection. I wear a N-95 mask while taking public transportation and treating patients. That being the case,  lately I have not been a complete hermit. I attend small group study club meetings where food is served and none of the attendees are wearing masks and I occasionally eat out at restaurants with several people sitting at my table.



Many of us are "through" with Covid, but apparently Covid is not through with us... It appears to have become endemic and seems to be here for the long haul. While fewer people are dying  from this infection, those over 65 are at a higher risk for hospitalization and possibly mortality. Recently, when I was at the Spear Summit I saw one lonely looking man wearing a mask and I complimented him on not being susceptible to peer pressure( I felt stupid wearing a mask while no one else did). He related that three days ago one of his best friends had died from Covid and he wasn't taking any chances. 

When I am at NYU College of Dentistry I often eat lunch in the faculty lounge with other faculty. Most are over 65 and on Friday several confided that they had recently recovered from Covid infections. They seemed OK but one of them had a lingering cough that hadn't yet gone away. Many of the young people I know  are not planning on getting the new booster. Most have already experienced Covid at least once and seemed to have fully recovered. 

I guess at this point, each of us must make our own decision on what makes sense  since it's really not that clear how often we should get a booster shot and even medical doctors do not always agree. Personally I am comforted that the vaccine was available and now I am probably better protected from suffering a serious Covid infection.






from Ask Dr. Spindel - http://lspindelnycdds.blogspot.com/2022/10/are-you-going-to-take-bivalent-covid-19.html - http://lspindelnycdds.blogspot.com/

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