One year ago today, J and I took a 45-minute drive to Worcester, where we and a couple hundred other people received our first dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine at a clinic in a gymnasium at Worcester State University.
Like seemingly everyone else in the spring of 2021, I had horror stories of trying to get the vaccine as soon as J and I were eligible. After trying for days to find an available appointment, I nearly wept with relief when I was able to book two simultaneous appointments for a Friday afternoon in April: a Friday that happened to be Good Friday, a day I immediately dubbed The Best Good Friday Ever.
Receiving the first then second Pfizer dose changed everything. In April 2021 I’d been teaching in-person since September 2020, relying upon nothing more than social distance, a KN95 mask, and my body’s own immunity to keep me safe. Getting the vaccine allowed me to continue teaching without fear of catching the virus, developing complications, and dying.
Although getting vaccinated didn’t end the pandemic–the Delta then Omicron variants dashed our naive hopes of quickly returning to our Old Normal–being able to navigate the world with a strong layer of protection has been life-changing. The vaccine isn’t a silver bullet: plenty of people have caught COVID (especially the Omicron variant) despite being fully vaccinated. But for those of us who are up-to-date with our shots, COVID is no longer a death sentence. I can’t overestimate how grateful I am for that.
Back in October, exactly six months after our second shot, J and I got boosted. And next week, just shy of six months after our booster, J and I have appointments for our fourth dose–a jab I’m calling our re-booster–at the pharmacy where I get my flu shot every year. If our New Normal means getting a COVID shot every six months or so, I’ll be the first in line.
Hoarded Ordinaries 
Apr 2, 2022 at 8:40 pm
there’s two aspects to vaccine induced immunity, the first is antibody, but the problem is that the current vaccines are targeted for delta not omicron, i know of someone who got quite ill with omicron by catching it to soon after getting the booster, because the immune system was preoccupied with making useless antibodies for the wrong variant as programmed by the vaccine and of course, omicron escaped them
however the long term t-cell immunity continues to improve up to 6 to 9 months after the shot, that’s the real value of the current generation of vaccines
i have had one pfizer shot and i have been taking 3000iu of vitamin D a day along with 90mcg of vitamin MK-7/k2 and have blood type O which means less lung involvement if you get covid and honestly i can’t tell whether i have had covid or not despite a lot of exposure
i would be more worried if i had blood type A or AB
to me i would be cautious about endless booster shots targted at obsolete variants, there are second gen vaccines in the works, i may get a booster of the old type in the six to nine month range, but basically 2nd and third is gen vaccines are where its at vaccine wise
but people are happy to get ill rather than do basic supplementation or even think a bit
well, my “rave”, this is what comes of reading quite a bit of the research, one forms an “informed” opinion
what has happened to covid is what happened to syphilis, it initially was fatal then evolved into a less virulent form, so imo we are now stuck with omicron and its variants being continually in circulation until broad action 2nd and third generation vaccines become available
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Apr 3, 2022 at 9:09 am
Cite your sources?
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Apr 3, 2022 at 8:42 pm
so, the basic point is this two pronged approach to immunity the body has, antibodies versus the long term T-cell response
so here’s something on t-cells
https://www1.racgp.org.au/newsgp/clinical/t-cells-provide-long-lasting-immunity-against-covi
omicron antibody escape
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-04389-z
basically there’s heaps of research around, well funded for obvious reasons, what is interesting is the way “public health advice” has lost “synchronization” with it, there are considerable lags between what the research shows and what advice should be given
if you are interested in the history of syphilis and not everyone is, there has been a surprising amount of recent academic research on sorting out where it came form and what actually happened
historically syphilis is of huge interest because you really have a “syphilitic era” from 1494 to the introduction of antibiotics that blighted humanity, at some points 50% of the population was infected with this scourge, from a literature point of view, so many writers were infected
i had the thought writing this that the ability to read research papers is something that could be taught in english courses and is a very useful life and employment skill
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Apr 3, 2022 at 8:54 pm
I *do* teach my students how to read scholarly articles, and one of the examples we look at is the example you cite about Omicron’s resistance to vaccines.
I’ve already read the research on T-cells as well.
You provide no sources for your claim that certain blood types are less susceptible to COVID, nor do you provide sources for your claim that one Pfizer shot plus vitamin supplements is medically advisable.
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Apr 4, 2022 at 10:01 am
In two months (June 1), I will celebrate my vaxxiversary. I had my second shot on June 22, 2021; my booster shot was administered on December 28, 2021. I guess I’ll be getting my second booster in about three months.
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