Annual Bivalent Shots?

Got a COVID-19 bivalent booster of a Moderna/Spikevax bivalent. This is my second booster/fourth shot over May 2021 to November 2022. Since I haven't been ill with Covid-19, I should get this booster. It's possible that I had been infected and been completely asymptomatic. At least when I did the occasional testing, all were naught; the major period of feeling unwell turned out ART-negative and PCR-negative for 15 days in a row. 

After the bivalent booster, my jabbed arm didn't ache at all; I went to pilates class the next day. No fever, no headaches, nothing. I was smart to pop antihistamines for the next three days. Three weeks after the shot, there were no allergy flares and no vertigo. Whewwww. How does the bivalent shot feel for most people? I dunno. It's an even distribution of side effects, I'd think. Nothing damaging so far in the majority in Singapore. 

We tend to look at US data loads. Yes. I look at the medical data, but I take a step backwards for infection rates in the population, simply because of different vaccination reach and the attitude of the population which differs greatly from city to city. There're current fears of a winter surge. There's been one every winter so far, and more, really. Katherine J. Wu's 'The Bivalent Shot Might Lay You Out' in The Atlantic published on October 21, 2022 said, for the US,

If this is how every autumn will go from now on, so be it: A few hours of discomfort is still worth the rev-up in defenses that vaccines offer against serious disease and death. But it’s not hard to see that gnarly side effects will only add to the many other factors that work against COVID-vaccine uptake, including lack of awareness, sloppy messaging, dwindling access, and spotty community outreach. Back in the spring, when I spoke with several people who hadn’t gotten boosters despite being eligible for many, many months, several of them cited the post-shot discomfort as a reason. Now I’m getting texts and calls from family members and friends—all up to date on their previous COVID vaccines—admitting they’ve been dillydallying on the bivalent to avoid those symptoms too. “I don’t know if we’re going to continue to get strong buy-in from the public if they have this sort of reaction every year,” says Cindy Leifer, an immunologist at Cornell University.

The good news, at least, is that experts told me they don’t expect this bivalent recipe—or future autumn COVID shots, for that matter—to be worse, side-effect-wise, than the ones we’ve received before. It’ll take a while for data to confirm that, especially considering that more than a month into this fall’s rollout, fewer than 15 million Americans have received the updated shot.

So what now?

At this juncture, it's entirely a personal choice to get a booster, or not. We get a say. At this rate, we might need a booster yearly, similar to the flu shot. You choose whether to get it. It's pretty obvious by now that different countries handle the pandemic rather differently, and with different results. Singapore leads the way and also learn from what other countries do, and do what's applicable to us. TBH, our government has been pretty efficient and effective in managing the pandemic, instilling lockdowns, setting and lifting restrictions, rolling out vaccines and such. 

Year-end vacations and parties are back in fashion. It's no longer irresponsible to head out to the theater or a gig. Although I cut on those stuff since I'm not very keen on them anymore. I mask up in public transport because it's mandatory; I mask up in cabs and private hire cars because I can't bear the smells in them. One should mask up anyway to avoid catching other horrible respiratory viruses. I keep an eye on the news and the medical newsletters. I note the waves of variants and the newly discovered mutations, and its risks to Singapore and how close it cuts home for me. If I need to get an annual Covid-19 vaccine shot, I will.

I know it's not 'just the flu'. BUT. How else am I supposed to react? Remain in a bubble? Remain in a bunker? And not live? Sure, the virus is not discerning. SO. I go about life as though the pandemic is the least of my concerns now. Well, in many ways, it is, until a severe variant rears its head and paralyzes the world again. I've got slightly more pressing things to mull over. The cases landing in my (volunteer's) lap tell me that many people don't have the luxury of worrying about COVID-19 when their family income has been slashed, and they're out of jobs, and their children need even more money for school and daily expenses. 

The SOPs (national and on the personal front) are in place and will stay dormant till they're needed. I go about work and attend conferences and such. I can be an introvert and half a hermit, but I can't have my movements restricted. Dohhh. Most of us hang out as per pre-pandemic trends, albeit with close friends and a smaller social circle. I don't see my friends weekly either. That's unnecessary. But it's lovely to gather for chats once in a bit. It has been an excellent period to weed out people whom we don't need in our lives. Well.

Till the next big one.