Look, I’m not going to waste a lot of time, or a whole lot of words. You all know me by now, and I tend to wear my heart on my sleeve. You all already know that Teri and I are both fully vaxxed up. And since we’re all gathered together on a progressive site, I’m betting that most of you are vaxxed up too.
So please, do me a personal favor. Get. Your. Booster! MSNBC reported tonight that while almost 71% of Americans have at least one dose of the vaccine, and slightly more than 60% are fully vaccinated, only 23.4% have had their boosters, which have been universally available for more than a month now.
Look, I get it. You’re sick to fucking death of Covid, and so are we. We all went through this together. But even before Omicron, the CDC recommended boosters for all vaccinated citizens, and for a good reason.
Nothing good lasts forever. The Delta variant is one vicious son of a bitch, and time weakens the efficacy of your original vaccinations. Medical research has shown that a booster jacks your resistance to the virus above your original optimum level, even if you mix-and-match.
Everybody is mesmerized by Omicron right now, and that’s a mixed bag. While it appears that it is more easily transmissible, easier to catch, research, especially out of South Africa shows that it’s less virulent, meaning that people don’t end up in the hospital or dying from it. The trade off is that your body’s immunity isn’t so strong, leaving you more susceptible to another, possibly delta variant infection.
Teri and I got our boosters on Friday, and it was chocolate cake. My first two vaccines of Moderna flattened me for two days with fatigue, but the booster just gave me two days of site irritation. The same was true for Teri. The McGuffin is that while Teri and I were able to walk into Smith’s (Kroger’s Pharmacy) for our vaccines, we had to make appointments to get our boosters, so do your due diligence.
Please, I beg you. I’m too old to have to grieve good friends gone before their time. This is easy, it’s painless, and best of all, it’s free! Set a date, get your jab, and let’s all just finish this off together. Thank you!
Follow me on Twitter at @RealMurfster35
Thank you, Murfster. You’re right that the readers of this site are the most likely to be fully vaccinated, but some may not have the booster. Once again, you have performed a public service.
Since I’m two weeks past my booster (all three shots were Pfizer at the VA) shot so I’m now as vaxxed as one can get, at least at this time. Other than a little tenderness at the injection site for a few days I didn’t seem to have any reaction. My appetite for the Thanksgiving goodies I cooked up was just fine. Even after four days of lunches and dinners of the same stuff over and over! Even for those who aren’t as lucky as I was with lack of reaction I urge you to both get your booster AND to continue to mask up when out and about and wash your hands regularly as well as wipe down your door handles (both outside and inside that front door!) with a disinfectant wipe.
As for those we’ve lost, I don’t know where he got the statistic from but my cousin called earlier this evening and in the couple of hours we talked Covid came up. He said that of 180k deaths since June 174k were unvaccinated people. Again, I don’t know the source of that stat but from everything I see it appears hospitalizations and deaths seem to be particularly concentrated in red places.
Frankly, I don’t give a flying fuck about vaccine refusenicks who’ve gotten sick and died. What I DO care about are the innocent people they’ve infected due to their combination of willful ignorance and assholery. Some people who’ve gotten sick enough to be hospitalized or even died weren’t able to get a vaccination due to being too young or having some medical reason that makes certain vaccines more dangerous than not getting them. THAT is why it’s so important for everyone who CAN get vaccinated to do so. It’s readily available damned near everywhere and doesn’t cost a dime out of people’s pockets to get their doses.
One final point. If you’ve heard/read about “breakthrough” infections yes they sometimes happen even with fully vaccinated people. Most likely from them spending a significant amount of time exposed to someone or a group infected and shedding the virus. BUT, hospitalizations from breakthrough infections are rare and deaths are rarer still. So get your freaking shots!
I agree with Murfster and Delliot. Get the booster on schedule. I cannot worry about those who refuse to wear masks and vaccinate. I have tried to talk to some of them, but it is like talking to a brick wall. I do worry about some of my family members. I had my first two shots of Moderna in April and May. No side effects at all, no sore arm. Booser scheduled for next week.
What’s delaying me is the guideline that the booster should come at least 6 months after the second shot. Forme that would be on or after January 10, 2022. Believe me, it’s on my calendar.
Stick with the guideline…Teri and I were both done vaccing up in Aorilk, so we were fine…
Thank you for this public service announcement. I ‘m a month past my booster. Only side effect was my left arm hurt slightly. I got my flu shot in my right arm. My local pharmacist took care of me & my husband.
Been there. Done that.
My employer had a vaxx clinic on the premises and I was almost the first one in line for my booster. Convenient AND free–Sweet!
U sow lies & death…u reap what u sow. Funny how our judeo-christian culture ignores the book they claim to believe in. As Dylan once sang,” you say you’ve lost ur faith…u had no faith to lose & you know it.”
Question Scott…. I’m Murf’s wife. How is saving your life and others “death and destruction “? I believe your uninformed and feeding hate and ignorance. Bye.
So totally agree with you Murphy.
I had the opposite experience. Shots 1 & 2 (Moderna) were nothing-burgers; barely any site-pain. Booster (also Moderna) gave me about 18 hours of low-grade headache and general soreness/stiffness in neck and shoulder muscles.
Still, much, MUCH better than dealing with Covid itself, and I’m on board for a yearly booster, along with my flu shot, if that’s what it takes. I just wish we could convince the anti-vaxxers.