Are you up to date on ALL of your vaccinations?
 

I believe that this wonderfully effective Covid-19 Vaccine is danged close to the best Christmas gift anyone could ask for.

We have wonderful doctors here in The Villages and prior to that in Cincinnati who have always recommended keeping up with immunizations.

I know you all know this but here it is all layed out for us by age. If you have recently become a grandparent to a little one, some are suggesting to be re-immunized for Whooping cough too.

Here for those who are interested.

Recommended Vaccines by Age | CDC

I see this new thread and it seems to be a reply to a posting asking about why you had told people to stay up to date including getting a whooping cough booster. I actually was surprised you didn't respond on the thread to that comment.

You are 100% correct. Whooping cough is almost never a serious disease in adults or older children but it can and does kill infants. The initial series of three doses usually given at 2, 4, and 6 months does not provide significant protection until the third dose so all those infants are not protected even though they are being immunized. Infants depend on not being exposed to be safe. Whooping cough is very contagious. In adults you will get a prolonged cough which most likely will be diagnosed as "bronchitis" or "sinus" as adult physicians will tell you they have never seen whooping cough. Well it has seen them.

In this country and around the world we immunize people to protect other people as much or more than to protect the vaccine recipient. The rubella vaccine is given to children to protect pregnant women from contracting the disease. Rubella itself except to a fetus is nearly harmless. But everyone, even boys, get vaccinated to eliminate wild circulation of the virus. Millions of shots to prevent a few thousand damaged newborns. Chicken pox is nearly harmless but about 1/1000 healthy people get very ill. And those with immune issues can die. How horrible to have your child survive leukemia then die of chicken pox because you chose not to get her immunized.

In public health while the concern is on the individual it is also strongly focused on the community, on the general well being. It is as much about You as about Me. In public health it really does take a village.

I won't lower my standards and pretend that being able to be vaccinated against a disease that didn't exist until 2019 is the best Christmas anyone could ask for. Those standards have to be pretty darned low, if that's the best you can get.

I have antibodies for german measles, because I had the german measles. The HPV vaccine didn't exist when I was younger, so I never got that one.

Other than those two I think I've gotten all the vaccines and boosters I need so far.

To me the vaccine is pretty special as it will allow us to resume a normal life.

Yes we are.

Question (sorta for fun)....after we get both doses and get to the point where we no longer wear a mask, does it follow that the anti maskers become more vulnerable to contracting the virus?

Had them all. Both Shingrix shots, Prevnar 13, and Pneumovax 23. Just re up'd my DTAP
and get the flu shot every year. I had the Asian Flu in 1957 and was in hospital for 5 days. No way do I ever want to got thru that again. Those who won't get the Covid vaccine out of fear derived from false crap on the internet are semi finalists for this years Darwin Awards.

I'll be getting the COVID vaccine, but I won't be rushing to get ahead in line. I'm not an "at risk" person and there are people much more in need than I am. Even when it's open for folks like me, I'll make sure there's no shortage before actually getting the appointment for the shot.

About half the nurses at the hospital my wife works at have "Decline at this time" on the Covid vaccine. It's not that they're conspiracy theorists, it's just they want to see a little more data before accepting. A good deal of the nurses in their child bearing years have declined out of an abundance of caution.

And that circumstance, as pointed out by Pfizer, is certainly a reasonable exception.