Will you be taking a booster?

I work from home and live in a rural area so my level of contacts is fairly low and I've always considered myself at a low risk of ever picking up this virus since I haven't really picked up any virus, flu or sickness since graduating from college. I would never normally get flu jabs for that reason but regardless I got the first two vaccine jabs last summer when they were available to me since we were told not doing so could pose a risk to older, more vulnerable people and with my parents in mind I thought it best to get them.

The side effects from the jabs were uncomfortable to say the least. I got some tightness in my chest and faster heart rate for the afternoon after getting both, pretty anxiety inducing when you're not sure what's going to happen and the general sensation of something strange happening to your body. 2 Weeks later after the first jab I got some sudden muscle pain for no reason which had me out of action for a couple of days, no idea if it was caused by the vaccine but can't imagine what else could have caused it. The sore arm and tiredness was there as well like with everyone but those weren't a problem.

I thought I was done after all that at least but we've seen a gradual creep in the messaging since from "two and it's over" to "it's a 3 dose" to "it's probably an additional jab every few months for who knows how long". At what point does the risk/reward proposition of these vaccines stop making sense for a healthy young adult?

Should I just continue signing up for endless boosters and hope for the best on side effects?

does the vaccine reduce transmission?

If yes we should all get it.

If no, what’s the point in healthy people with a low risk of getting sick, receiving the vaccine.

This is the single most important question in all this.

Yep, AZ as well. I wasn't lying in bed delirious or anything like that, just quite uncomfortable, and as I type, the only remaining symptom is tenderness at the injection site.

But it is working.. Numbers contracting Covid were higher than last year but hospitalisations and deaths were down relative to the numbers. That's not a co-incidence.

Unfortunately it's not working for as long as we'd like but I'm sure that is something that will be developed over time. Hopefully not too much time.

My wife has had her booster and I'll be taking it as well.

That's a fairly simplistic representation of people who are unvaccinated. Why do you imagine such people automatically will meet others? Your likelihood of meeting more people is down to your own lifestyle and circumstances.

Vaccines are now running into a more challenging environment. They were originally hailed as the solution to our problems but this crop may now need to be boosted very regularly. It's not that people are against boosters per se , but there are questions over how useful they may be in healthy under 50s, even healthy under 60s. HPSC data is showing reduced infections in the much older groups and it is now moving down to the over 65s. These are the groups most at risk and as that risk falls so too should hospitalizations, thus easing the pressure on the health system.

Outside of such groups there is the ongoing drive to try and persuade some of the unvaccinated to take a jab and that is probably most useful to all of us. Whether boosters are really useful in the whole population remains to be seen and people are entitled to question that without generating the type of opprobrium the unvaccinated automatically get.

Surely if the booster makes you less likely to pass it on over a period of time compared to non boosted that’s a benefit to society?

I don't understand the logic of "two doses wasn't enough so I'm not getting a third".

It's like being in a restaurant and saying "I'm still hungry after my starter and main course, no way I'm having dessert".

I'm expecting a call sometime this month.

I'm not afraid of a little needle and a drop of liquid so I don't have to make excuses to cover cowardice.

It's the patriotic thing 😊