To Get the Booster or Not Get the Booster…That is the Question?
Boomers and Seniors, Is It Going to ‘Boost’ Our Wellness?
“Life is like a dance, with its twists, turns, pauses and spins. You don’t always get to set the tempo, but you do get to choose the moves. And, if you so choose, you can take the lead at any time.”
Wellness Pursuits
In keeping with the blog from last week as to whether it’s safe to travel with the onset of the new Delta variant, this week I wanted to share my views on the booster, or the third shot from either Pfizer or Moderna.
Everything I had read indicated upwards of 90+ percent efficacy with the two shot vaccine. Then along comes Delta and blows that number out of the water. Now the “experts” are recommending a booster to improve the overall effectiveness of the vaccine due to the Delta, and perhaps even the Lambda, and saying that America’s senior population should be getting the booster eight months following your second vaccination. That puts the timing for the booster in late September, at the earliest. For my BoomerGuy and me it would mean end of November.
They, and I do question who ‘they’ are, and ‘they’ say there will be 80,000 vaccination sites around the U.S. with most being offered by local pharmacies. In the same breath, ‘they’ say that the booster could be subject to change. Excuse me? Are we playing chess with our health and wellness, because the pieces keep moving.
“The experiment should be set up to open up as many windows as possible on the unforeseen.”
Frederic Joliot-Curie, Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1935
I am and have always been in support of freedom of choice. As many of us, we have a great number of questions still pertaining to mask mandates, physical distancing once again, and now whether people should be getting the vaccine by mandate. There are so many underlying issues it may take years to know all the effects of the various viruses. But one thing seems to be certain, COVID-19 in its variety of forms will most likely be with us for years to come.
My recommendation, be your own boss. Do your research and take whatever measures you deem necessary to protect you and your families.
Here in California, we hear that nursing home healthcare workers and employees are required to be vaccinated to keep residents safe. I still get notices from the nursing home where my parents both were residents and passed away this past January from COVID. The notices are a painful reminder that better protection should have been in place a year ago, and why did it take so long to get implemented.
If you have loved ones, friends or neighbors in one of these facilities, be certain to monitor very closely the health and sanitation protocols for all employees along with the various quarantine and isolation procedures to ensure patient safety.
If you get the AARP magazine, please read the article in the July/August 2021 Volume 62 on page 40. The contents are insightful where it states AARP is fighting for safer nursing homes throughout the U.S., and it talks about the AARP Foundation battling in court to protect residents.
With regard to the booster, my recommendation is to check with your doctor, whether it be your primary care or a specialist. They are certainly informed about the science and will suggest the best course of treatment for you and your particular circumstances.
This is uncharted territory and along with it comes uncertainty about the data. One of our physicians noted the first and second shots were too close together. They should have been spaced about 3 months apart, but we didn’t know then what we know now. He mentioned he would not be getting the booster because there is simply not enough data to support the effectiveness of the third dose.
I remember listening to so-called experts saying the pandemic would likely be in the rear-view mirror by the fall of 2020. Well, here we are one year later and sadly that is not the case.
Just know you’re not alone in all this. People I speak to all over the country are just exhausted because they don’t what’s true and what isn’t. This should never have become a game of politics, it should have been based on data and peer review from the best scientific and medical thinkers across the globe, not just here in the United States.
“We live in a society exquisitely dependent on science and technology, in which hardly anyone knows anything about science and technology.”
Carl Sagan
There will always be breakthrough cases…that is just the nature of viral transmission. Know this, they are small percentages so try to remain calm.
Read, research and make the necessary appointments with your medical professionals to take care of you and your needs first, then your family and so on.
Nothing is the same today as it was before the onset of the pandemic, and nothing is the same again with this new version. We have to be as informed as possible and make the absolute best decisions we can.
To that end, my BoomerGuy just had an appointment with his cardiologist and based on specific needs, he is considering a procedure called the Watchman. In general terms it is designed to help people with atrial fibrillation reduce the risk of stroke and get off the oral anticoagulants that are so punitive to one’s system.
I invite any of our readers who have experience with the Watchman to write us and provide your input. We would be most grateful.
I simply cannot end this blog without acknowledging the events unfolding in Afghanistan. My BoomerGuy and I send our thoughts and prayers to all who have served and are still serving this great country. We thank you and your families for your great sacrifice.
Thank you for checking in with BoomerGal. I realize this blog probably didn’t address all your questions about the booster vaccine, but then it wasn’t intended to do so. That would mean I know more than anyone else, and that my friends, is not the case. Rather, I leave it to you to know what is on the horizon with this pandemic and to be your own healthcare professional. “Physician Heal Thyself.”
I am Connie, your #1 BoomerGal.