Is it time for my parents to get a 2nd booster?

February 11, 2022 4:10 PM

YAMD but I would like some thoughts on this issue. I have been wondering for some time if it's time for my folks to get a second booster (They were boosted w/Fizer in Aug-Sept), and I just read in the NYT that initial studies from UK and Israel show that "Covid booster shots lose much of their potency after about four months, raising the possibility that some Americans — specifically those at high risk of complications or death — may need a fourth dose." (src)

Israel started giving high-risk people and seniors boosters in January. (src) My dad is almost 69 and has heart disease (prior heart attack x 2), is obese per his BMI, and has high blood pressure and sleep apnea. My mum is almost 65 and has asthma, high blood pressure and high cholesterol.

posted by microscopiclifeform to Health & Fitness (15 answers total)

Response by poster: Oops of course i meant YANMD, and Pfizer. Sorry for the typos.
posted by microscopiclifeform at 4:11 PM on February 11, 2022

I am assuming you are in the USA, which is a statistically likely assumption I'm comfortable making. There is currently no CDC recommendation for a second booster dose, nor is a second booster dose approved by the FDA. Any recommendation to get a second booster would not be supported by evidence from a governmental agency in the United States.
posted by saeculorum at 4:35 PM on February 11, 2022 [1 favorite]

Pfizer is currently testing a second booster vs one specifically for omicron. You might want to wait anyway given that you could be getting something that’s better suited to the needs at hand
posted by raccoon409 at 4:44 PM on February 11, 2022 [1 favorite]

The only person I know who has had a fourth jab is my dad (and now some of his clinic peers) - his kidneys failed a few years ago and he is on dialysis three times a week now. He is also 87 and a longstanding diabetic. He received a letter from the government several weeks ago advising him he should get an appointment.

I don't think the fourth doses are going to be particularly widespread over here anyway, given the way the government seems to be dismantling precautions at the moment, and when we were trying to find a clinic / walk in centre for Dad to get his, his GP surgery flat out said they had no knowledge of the second booster programme, so I suspect it will be restricted to the clinically extremely vulnerable. I'm diabetic and don't expect to be called this time.

Given your dad's medical history in particular, my highly unmedical / non-professional feeling would be that he is at a similar level of vulnerability as my dad, and so a second booster couldn't hurt at the least. Omicron was rife when Dad had his second booster and to date he has not caught anything.

This is just completely anecdotal and probably of no help at all, but if your folks can get a second booster and it gives them (and you) peace of mind, then that's your answer.
posted by Martha My Dear Prudence at 4:55 PM on February 11, 2022 [2 favorites]

Saeculorum isn't quite right--you can have a fourth shot recommended to you by the CDC, but you need to be considered moderately or severely immunocompromised to fall within the guidelines. The conditions you list, though, might not fall into those:

* Active cancer treatment for tumors or cancers of the blood
* Had an organ transplant and are taking medicine to suppress the immune system
* Had a stem cell transplant in the last 2 years and are taking medicine to suppress the immune system
* Advanced or untreated HIV infection
* Moderate or severe primary immunodeficiency, such as DiGeorge syndrome or Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome
* Active treatment with high-dose corticosteroids or other drugs that suppress the immune response
posted by foxfirefey at 4:56 PM on February 11, 2022 [8 favorites]

What's the downside? Is there one?
posted by amtho at 5:26 PM on February 11, 2022 [2 favorites]

The question really is, will you be ALLOWED to get a fourth shot?
posted by jenfullmoon at 5:46 PM on February 11, 2022 [1 favorite]

My understanding is like foxfirefey - for some folks (like me, I'm on the bulleted list), the fourth shot would be the (first) booster, because the primary series included three shots. I had three full doses of Moderna as my primary vaccination series.
posted by Pax at 5:51 PM on February 11, 2022 [3 favorites]

I suspect if you give it 2-3 business days, there will be some additional guidance out around boosters. And if not, give their GP a minute to digest the information and see what their recommendation is or if they can specifically prescribe another booster.
posted by Lyn Never at 6:00 PM on February 11, 2022

Amtho, my understanding is that the concern is "antigenic sin" - that the immune system will get too trained on the original spike protein, and less able to train on mutated variant spikes. This is out of my field, but I'm trying to understand it better before I seek a 4th shot. Might wait for the omicron-specific booster
posted by Dashy at 7:14 PM on February 11, 2022

Good discussion here
posted by Dashy at 7:22 PM on February 11, 2022 [3 favorites]

IANAD, but my double vaxxed and boosted (in October) father, who has fairly progressed dementia and lives in a care home, is just past the tail end of a very scary bout of COVID in mid-January. The guy (77 this year) is quite healthy otherwise, but it someone knocked him out to the point he needed to be put on oxygen and we were quite scared he was going to die. Thank goodness he somehow persevered but wow, keep an eye out on the omicron-specific booster, but consider something earlier if it's available. Why wait if another booster is available in four months or so anyway?
posted by urbanlenny at 8:10 PM on February 11, 2022

The CDC published a study on this on Friday. https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/71/wr/mm7107e2.htm?s_cid=mm7107e2_w

If this justifies a change in the guidance, I assume it will be forthcoming..
posted by joeyh at 9:33 PM on February 11, 2022

I'm a vaccinator. I was asked to give someone a 4th shot, 2nd booster just last week. I had to refuse, though I wish I didn't. I agree that 4th shots are probably wise and are probably going to be approved, but I was not willing to put myself at risk for an unapproved procedure. What if something had happened to him? Because I gave him an unapproved dose I would have no place to hide. My employer, a pharmacist, would have been liable. I might have lost my license, and my professional liability insurance would have refused to defend me. And how would I have reported this 2nd booster to the vaccine registry of my health department?

Before the 5 - 11 group was approved I was asked several times to vaccinate 10 and 11 year old kids, and again, I had to refuse. I was sympathetic but the risk is just too high. If I vaccinated a 4 year old tomorrow who had an allergic reaction how could I possibly defend myself?

Please don't ask vaccinators to put themselves at risk. I get your frustration with the slow pace of 1) science and 2) bureaucracy. Clinical trials are the best way to access therapies being studied.
posted by citygirl at 8:42 PM on February 12, 2022 [1 favorite]

Txt edited after mangle:

Friend on maintenance chemo, at recc of their onco, they are boostered every 3mo. They've stayed with their original manufacturer but plan to go with another at the next 3mo.

They've gone thru a different clinic system for each booster, not bringing their vax card. Their doses will be collated in the state vax system, but that's after the fact.
posted by esoteric things at 9:12 PM on February 13, 2022