Just FYI we’re entering a summer Covid wave right now (especially western regions in the US); you can see it in the CDC wastewater plot here (and anecdotally a bunch of my friends are suddenly testing positive). www.cdc.gov/nwss/rv/COVI...
There’s not a lot of official messaging lately but we all know what to do by now. If not getting sick is important to you, masks (especially good ones, and especially in crowded/poorly ventilated spaces) are helpful, testing before gatherings is helpful, being up to date on vaccines is helpful.
everyone I know who has traveled has come back with it. Of a group of 50 who attended a gaming convention last week, roughly half have revealed a positive test since returning. Current strains are HIGHLY contagious.
The Girlfriend™ and I still wear an N95 mask, anytime we enter a populated building or crowded outdoor space. It's not that big of an inconvenience. Yes, we get some funny looks, occasionally, but that beats a potential hospital stay any day of the week. (We've also been vaxed 6 times [Moderna]).
I really wish we could choose to do a booster every six months if we were so inclined — feels like I’m catching COVID right at the wane of immunity from the last booster.
You kind of can if you're willing to lie a little bit and pay out of pocket, the drugstores aren't really checking that closely though YMMV and you may have to drugstore hop. The funniest thing is I got mine two weeks ago at the same drugstore chain (not location) that I got my booster in the fall.
I do think it's hilarious that it took a global pandemic to make me a consumate rule follower to be like fuck it, gonna work the system. All of my tricks are like how to get travel paxlovid though and like how to get metformin when your doctor won't prescribe it for you.
The lie a little bit is when they asked about the date of my last booster I maybe didn't tell the truth. That german dude got 200+ shots me getting a covid vaccine twice a year isnt going to kill me.
This is not medical advice: If you Google reddit travel paxlovid you'll find a path. You'll have to lie and say you actually have covid though but they run it through your insurance and dispense from a normal pharmacy. Also say youre obese and have no other preexisting conditions
Metformin is really really easy to get: just look for a longevity website like agelessrx - they mail it to you so this is too have on hand. For faster screws A friend was also able to get it via Pushrx they dispense through local pharmacies
Yeah — doable for me for sure though I’m sure that price would be out of reach for a lot. And ironically the failure of the social safety net means nobody even gets the time off to recover from the day or two of vaccine side effects so additional costs are invoked for sure. Ughhhh.
As someone who felt miserable for about 2-3 days after each of my 1st four vax, this trick reduced the symptoms to a mild headache for less than a day for 5th vax. Its something I share with everyone, as the difference to me was staggering - synecdochic.dreamwidth.org/805203.html
If you're willing to pay out of pocket, do you even have to lie? Last time around I decided to get both the Pfizer (mRNA) and Novavax (old fashioned cultured) shots, based on evidence that they interacted in useful ways. First I went to a drug store and paid for a Novavax shot.
Then I waited a couple of months and went to get my free Pfizer shot from my HMO. At first they balked because their computer told them I was up to date. But when I explained why I wanted both shots, they shrugged and went ahead.
You can! You can self-attest as high risk, they don’t require documentation, and there is absolutely no vaccine shortage so this is not an ethical no-no. We know that vaccine protection starts to wane around 4 months, so it is the right thing for your body (despite inexplicable cdc guidelines)
Sometimes you can. Pat was going in for surgery, and it had been ~7 months since our last boosters.
We figured "What do we have to lose?" and went to a pharmacy to see what would happen.
They gave us both our boosters w/o batting an eye and asked for no money.
I got a booster Friday… I’m old enough to qualify in Oregon but my wife is not… yet between the 2 of us she has more respiratory issues and yet had been refused a booster. I asked the pharmacist what the doctor had to do to get my wife a booster, she said even with an RX her management may refuse it
The term the pharmacist used was “out of protocol”… she said that Corporate was generally rejecting vaccinations that were “out of protocol” even with doctor’s instructions. She suggested we could try to find a more independent provider… so wow, good luck with that!
When I see articles of them complaining about throwing away doses, but somehow when I try to sign up for a booster, I am not eligible after 6 months... 😮💨
Quite likely true, also we have different strains taking prominence in the UK, on the continent, and in the US, all at once. Just like with flu, a vaccine can't hit every note spot on.
It was an absolutely miserable 9 days alone in the basement. Went to urgent care on day 3 & got fluids/xray/EKG b/c the telehealth dr. was so worried. My stamina is shot to hell, but slowly (VERY slowly) improving. I already have POTS, so we are taking it as easy as possible to avoid exacerbation.
Apparently you can self-certify as being eligible for multiple boosters? @matthewcort.land explained this to me but I’m dense and didn’t retain the fine nuances of what one has to actually tell the pharmacist.
As some have said you can game the system but CVSs are charging almos $200 a shot. Some of can't afford out of pocket and insurance or the bridge program wont cover for extra with out a dr saying you qualify. (At least thats my understanding)
Yeah, we got boosted in December and caught it in May, right on the cusp of boosting again.
Which not only makes me worry about the tailing off of the booster’s power, but about not being able to get another one now until November.
