Originally Posted by
noteggs
As many know, I’m pro vax. However, I completely don’t understand what the hell government and medical community are doing! This vaccine campaign is now like the flu shot.
What I mean is the flu shot is historically somewhat effective against the current strain which is initially based off a guess from other countries data (longer story but you get the point). No adjustments are made with flu vaccine because “well we came close and hope we get better next year.” Current covid vaccine is/may still be a good option to protect yourself from serious outcomes or hospitalizations.
Of course, not great either. But we have known the specific variant lineage in all 10 mutations (ok we eventually know with the flu season but we accept the consequences) and haven’t done a damn thing about it. We are extremely late to ask the pharma companies to adjust the vaccine based on other variants and that goes for monoclonal antibodies.
Why wasn’t this done when Delta was becoming prevalent last summer? I can see why someone would delay the booster a month or two until the vax companies can come up with a tested and more effective formulation (big if) for the variants. Not for elderly and immunocompromised of course. Also, if you feel strongly on getting the booster, please do so because this is just one man’s rant and there are benefits in doing so.
I’m just upset we haven’t been proactive and government/medical knows damn well we could have done better. Selling a covid booster to the public with better effectiveness would be so much easier especially with the number of breakthrough cases people hear about on a daily basis. Better yet, just show you are trying to do something differently vs just saying “get the jab, booster or wear a mast.”
Sorry if we have an abundance of current vaccine in stock, but it’s just matter of time before the virus starts to evade the vaccine and natural immunity if they don’t act now. Sounds like the Omicron has 15 mutations in its receptor binding domain compared to 2 for Delta. Even though late in my opinion, it would be a good time to start with the Omicron if it becomes prevalent. Yes I know, jury is still out on Omicron, but we should be prepared nonetheless.