Some experts have recommended getting a COVID-19 vaccine to protect against the summer surge. “Now is the time to get a dose with this surge,” Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, told CNN on Sunday.
However, the only vaccines currently available target last year’s strains (related to the XBB.1.5 omicron variant), which are long gone and may not offer strong protection against current strains (JN.1 and KP.2 omicron variants). Even if the 2024–2025 KP.2-targeting vaccine is approved by the FDA this week and hits pharmacy shelves next week, a dose takes two weeks to produce full protection. By that time, the summer wave will likely be declining. In fact, it looks to have already peaked in some parts of the country, including in some southern and western areas.
The other thing to consider is timing for maximum protection for the likely winter wave. For healthy people five years old and above, the CDC recommended getting only one shot last year. The shots offer peak protection for around four months. If you get your annual shot at the beginning of September, your protection may be on the decline if COVID-19 peaks again at the turn of the year, as it has the past two years.
So you should get a shot now, but it won’t be available for at least a week, and then by the time it’s effective the Summer surge will likely already be over, and it won’t last long enough to cover the next (Winter) surge, so maybe hold off on getting the shot yet.
In this population of healthy young adult US Marines with mostly either asymptomatic or mild acute COVID-19, one fourth reported physical, cognitive, or psychiatric long-term sequelae of infection. The Marines affected with PASC showed evidence of long-term decrease in functional performance suggesting that SARS-CoV-2 infection may negatively affect health for a significant proportion of young adults.
Just in case all of those sick Olympians didn’t convince you, Covid is still quite serious.
Just had my first ever bout starting 3 weeks ago after 4 years of decent luck. It was “clinically mild”, but I’m still not quite right. The sprog who brought it home was feeling quite guilty, but I assured the child that “basically anywhere right now” was where he got it.
Sorry, man. It may be too late for this advice, but from everything credible that I’ve read, avoiding strenuous exercise for a few weeks after Covid can help one avoid Long Covid.
I don’t know. I’m not certain if a mechanism has been determined yet. I’ll give some background of what I know, so anyone interested can start duck duck going.
Note: This is getting out of my area of expertise as I’m not a doctor, but I’ll say what I can. Others can feel free to jump in to tell me what a fool I’ve been. And also I apologize if I over explain.
It’s all related to Post-Exertional Malaise (PEM), a condition sufferers of myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) and/or chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) frequently suffer from.
Doctors have in the past subscribed to the theory that these sufferers can power their way to better physical strength and health through graded exercise therapy (GET), wherein the patients strive to push through their symptoms to reach certain benchmarks, much akin to how a healthy person would workout. But if these patients over-exert themselves, they frequently suffer from PEM where they suffer extreme fatigue considerably disproportionate to the strain and exertion they put themselves through, and potentially are left with a reduced capacity afterwards, exercise essentially making them weaker rather than stronger.
Many of the more extreme Long COVID sufferers meet the diagnostic criteria for ME/CFS and have similar problems with PEM. (I make a point of saying “more extreme” because any post-acute effects of COVID are technically long COVID even if they don’t seem especially severe.)
I should note that some doctors still subscribe to the theory of exercise being the best medicine. Maybe they’re right. Then again, I understand in Florida the treatment is fruits and vegetables.
The equation is a bit more complicated than that, but yeah, pretty much. Pigs are vulnetable to human-adapted influenza, as well as a lot of zoonotic influenzas. Should a pig cell be infecyed with both a human and avisn flu virus, the opportunity to recombine and make something new occurs. Most of the time, nothing really happens, but that one in a gazillion chance can make something very, very bad. Pigs are not unique in this, but thete are a lot of them in very clise contact with humans. Yeah, this is not great news.
The points, however, were dismissed by the overwhelming opposition at the hearing, which argued that the vaccines should not be offered at public health clinics at all. The meeting included multiple presentations of anti-vaccine voices with national reputations for fear-mongering and spreading vaccine misinformation that the vaccines are dangerous. The presenters included Ryan Cole, a pathologist who has falsely claimed that mRNA COVID-19 vaccines cause cancer and autoimmune diseases. In January, Cole had his medical license restricted in Washington state for spreading COVID-19 disinformation and breaking medical standards by prescribing the anti-parasitic drug ivermectin for COVID-19 patients despite the drug’s ineffectiveness against the viral illness.
Similarly, there was also a presentation from Peter McCullough, a Texas cardiologist with a lengthy history of spreading COVID-19 vaccine misinformation, disinformation, and conspiracy theories, including that the pandemic was planned and medical authorities were conspiring to suppress ivermectin and the anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine.
Then there was also James Thorp, a Florida gynecologist who has spread misinformation about the safety of COVID-19 vaccines during pregnancy. And Renata Moon, a Washington pediatrician who relinquished her medical license after spreading COVID-19 misinformation.
The paranoia over mRNA vaccines reminds me of a question.
What does anyone know about Novavax? Are there any advantages to mixing it among one’s mRNA vaccines? Some claim it has the advantage of lasting longer, but I’ve not been able to hunt down good proof.
