My whole experience with this disease has changed over the past couple of weeks. My adult, fully vaccinated son has been sick with covid for 16 days now. He started with cold/allergy symptoms on 8/30. He believes he was exposed on 8/26. He has had O2 levels bounce up and down. He received monoclonal antibody infusion on 9/4. He isolated for the full 10 days. He was in the ER last night. This is not what we expected to see in a healthy (other than his BMI being a bit high) young man. Amazingly my daughter-in-law and granddaughter have remained well.
As an over 65 parent it’s concerning. Makes me much more intolerant of seeing people ignore the preventive and protective measures we can do.
Ugh I’m so sorry to hear about your son. Breakthrough cases are hard to predict which is what you see with the other family members who have not got a symptomatic case or perhaps even infected at all. Hang in there and I hope he feels better soon!
Wondered if you have or will speak to “booster” I have associates that are saying I can go to any pharmacy and say I am immunocompromised and receive a “booster” I am not but am curious as to your take on if we should get third (Pfizer). Also like my relatives that are older (80yo) ? Thanks for your blog! I appreciate you and your perspective.
I am really wondering about breakthrough cases for people who are Covid longhaulers. My husband and I and our two teens are all vaccinated. My kids attend a Chiristian school who did a fantastic job following public health guidelines last year. Two weeks before school started, we received the guidelines for this year. Masking is optional and they will social distance 3 feet, when possible. Meanwhile, my husband has been severely debilitated by long haul Covid for nearly 11 months. He is unable to work, drive or walk. My son, who is attending the school for the first time, would be the only kid in his class wearing a mask. He already struggles socially, and my daughter is made fun of sometimes for wearing one. At the same time, I feel like I need to protect my husband. It feels like a rock and a hard place. How vulnerable do you think a vaccinated long hauler would be from a breakthrough case via a vaccinated kid at a school with basically nobody wearing masks or social distancing? The other option we have considered is for our son to mask and social distance whole at home. But is that over the top? Thanks!
I’m so sorry to hear about your husbands long haul with COVID. That certainly is hard for many people and their families. We don’t really know who is at risk for a breakthrough case at this point, unfortunately. It sounds like you’re doing all the right things with masks and distancing and vaccinations. Hang in there!
A doctor friend I talked to a few days suggestedwe get him testedevery week on Wednesday. That way we would have a little extra layer of peace of mind going into the weekend when he is around dad more.
What are your thoughts on children under 12 being vaccinated? I know it is still being studied but from what I have read it is the adult dose and they have yet to study weight based dosing. I know several people that are anxious to jump at the chance to get their children vaccinated as soon as it's approved for emergency use but I'm on the fence. Our kids are 9, 8 and 5. Thoughts?
What is data showing regarding breakthrough re-infections for those who had Covid and were vaccinated after recovery. Is the vaccine essentially a "booster" or are we seeing similar breakthrough infections no matter?
Curious about this as well! My sister and her husband are our only unvaccinated family members. Both had COVID last fall and are claiming they don't need vaccines because they have "natural immunity." My sister has an autoimmune disorder and is now pregnant, and we are very worried about her.
I too am wondering the same. Have a couple of family members that recovered from it, one last fall and the other in August and they are thinking natural immunity is enough. I cannot find conclusive studies to say they are mistaken or not.
Reading the MMWR article, a potentially large (and unspecified) number of people who received one or two vaccines are included in the “not fully vaccinated” group. This adds considerable bias to the study if you consider vaccine injury as a possible cause of the observed hospitalization or death. Everyone who has a short term (<14 days) adverse event from the vaccine will be considered “unvaxed”. How can we tell if the higher hospitalization and death rates are caused by being unvaccinated or by vaccine injury?
Vaccine injuries are reported to the VAERS system. They are taken very seriously. But they are very very rare with Covid vaccines. MUCH more rare by magnitudes than hospitalizations due to infection. The vaccines are very safe and effective.
What are your thoughts on the data that suggests the breakthrough rate is much higher with Pfizer than with Moderna? If someone with high risk family members is going to get the vaccine should they they choose Moderna over Pfizer? Thank you!
Very clear review of the data. I noted one typo, I think you meant “vaccinated” in this sentence: “Notice that among those in the ICU, two were unvaccinated (out of the 31 persons in there).”
My whole experience with this disease has changed over the past couple of weeks. My adult, fully vaccinated son has been sick with covid for 16 days now. He started with cold/allergy symptoms on 8/30. He believes he was exposed on 8/26. He has had O2 levels bounce up and down. He received monoclonal antibody infusion on 9/4. He isolated for the full 10 days. He was in the ER last night. This is not what we expected to see in a healthy (other than his BMI being a bit high) young man. Amazingly my daughter-in-law and granddaughter have remained well.
As an over 65 parent it’s concerning. Makes me much more intolerant of seeing people ignore the preventive and protective measures we can do.
Ugh I’m so sorry to hear about your son. Breakthrough cases are hard to predict which is what you see with the other family members who have not got a symptomatic case or perhaps even infected at all. Hang in there and I hope he feels better soon!
Wondered if you have or will speak to “booster” I have associates that are saying I can go to any pharmacy and say I am immunocompromised and receive a “booster” I am not but am curious as to your take on if we should get third (Pfizer). Also like my relatives that are older (80yo) ? Thanks for your blog! I appreciate you and your perspective.
Regards,
Beth
We are definitely al watching the data and recommendations for boosters! It’s a bit unclear right now but I am watching. Thanks for the comment!
I am really wondering about breakthrough cases for people who are Covid longhaulers. My husband and I and our two teens are all vaccinated. My kids attend a Chiristian school who did a fantastic job following public health guidelines last year. Two weeks before school started, we received the guidelines for this year. Masking is optional and they will social distance 3 feet, when possible. Meanwhile, my husband has been severely debilitated by long haul Covid for nearly 11 months. He is unable to work, drive or walk. My son, who is attending the school for the first time, would be the only kid in his class wearing a mask. He already struggles socially, and my daughter is made fun of sometimes for wearing one. At the same time, I feel like I need to protect my husband. It feels like a rock and a hard place. How vulnerable do you think a vaccinated long hauler would be from a breakthrough case via a vaccinated kid at a school with basically nobody wearing masks or social distancing? The other option we have considered is for our son to mask and social distance whole at home. But is that over the top? Thanks!
I’m so sorry to hear about your husbands long haul with COVID. That certainly is hard for many people and their families. We don’t really know who is at risk for a breakthrough case at this point, unfortunately. It sounds like you’re doing all the right things with masks and distancing and vaccinations. Hang in there!
A doctor friend I talked to a few days suggestedwe get him testedevery week on Wednesday. That way we would have a little extra layer of peace of mind going into the weekend when he is around dad more.
What are your thoughts on children under 12 being vaccinated? I know it is still being studied but from what I have read it is the adult dose and they have yet to study weight based dosing. I know several people that are anxious to jump at the chance to get their children vaccinated as soon as it's approved for emergency use but I'm on the fence. Our kids are 9, 8 and 5. Thoughts?
I’m watching that data closely and will keep you updated!
What is data showing regarding breakthrough re-infections for those who had Covid and were vaccinated after recovery. Is the vaccine essentially a "booster" or are we seeing similar breakthrough infections no matter?
We don’t quite know this yet. Great questions though! I’m watching.
Are "re-infection" numbers just not being captured? I would think that would be an important statistic.
I wish those were being captured. They are not consistently and you are right about them being an important statistic.
Curious about this as well! My sister and her husband are our only unvaccinated family members. Both had COVID last fall and are claiming they don't need vaccines because they have "natural immunity." My sister has an autoimmune disorder and is now pregnant, and we are very worried about her.
I too am wondering the same. Have a couple of family members that recovered from it, one last fall and the other in August and they are thinking natural immunity is enough. I cannot find conclusive studies to say they are mistaken or not.
Reading the MMWR article, a potentially large (and unspecified) number of people who received one or two vaccines are included in the “not fully vaccinated” group. This adds considerable bias to the study if you consider vaccine injury as a possible cause of the observed hospitalization or death. Everyone who has a short term (<14 days) adverse event from the vaccine will be considered “unvaxed”. How can we tell if the higher hospitalization and death rates are caused by being unvaccinated or by vaccine injury?
Vaccine injuries are reported to the VAERS system. They are taken very seriously. But they are very very rare with Covid vaccines. MUCH more rare by magnitudes than hospitalizations due to infection. The vaccines are very safe and effective.
What are your thoughts on the data that suggests the breakthrough rate is much higher with Pfizer than with Moderna? If someone with high risk family members is going to get the vaccine should they they choose Moderna over Pfizer? Thank you!
Any new info regarding the current breakthrough infections with the J&J shot?
Not yet but I’m looking!
Very clear review of the data. I noted one typo, I think you meant “vaccinated” in this sentence: “Notice that among those in the ICU, two were unvaccinated (out of the 31 persons in there).”
Ugh. Fixed it! Thanks.