When trying to decide whether to get the Covid vaccine, I try to block out noise and focus on important issues.

I am over 50, 6ft, 200lbs, minor high blood pressure / low dose, take aspirin, zinc, vitamins - to optimize almost all blood results. By definition, I guess I have 2 close comorbidities, but both are marginal.

Been exposed to Covid many times, never got it...never stopped traveling / going out and never wore mask. My twenty something year old kids got it and it kicked their azzes for 10+ days.

I have not been sick for 6-8 years. Really, no sickness of any type.

Relatives got vaccine and had no side effects / issues to date.

Above is just reference for blood / hereditary data points.

Here are the only questions that seem relevant to me. Would like KidDoc and Marcus thoughts... and anyone else who have treated or researched this and have trusted data.

1. Is it a proven fact at this point that the majority of severe, hospitalized cases are unvaccinated / Is it a proven fact the vaccines mostly prevent cases with severe outcomes? Data backed percentages?

2. Severe or long term vaccine side effects... should I be concerned and if so, of what? As a Dr, why do you trust the mRNA vaccines? What makes you convinced these have no long term ill effects that could be debilitating? Data backed percentages?

3. I already got Moderna dose 1, should I get the 2nd dose and why (pros / cons)? Reason I got dose 1 is that I figured I was pushing my luck afyer recently knowing way too many first hand serious cases or deaths.

4. Anything else except above, I classify as noise. Are there any other fact / data based concerns?

Appreciate any guidance.

Per the CDC data, the 50-59 agre group is where the death percentage really shoots up over the lower age demographics (1.39% vs 0.39% for 40-49). Read my posts on this bard, I'm not one to say to get the vaccine just because. I'm very pro-personal choice. If it were me, I would look into getting it due to the death rate making the biggest jump within your age group. But at the end of the day, you have to do what you feel is best for yourself.

For reference, both my 63 and 66 year old mom and dad had it and were not vaccinated. My mom had fatigue for a week or so and my dad actually got sick, but nowhere sick enough to go to the hospital. My mom had it in Oct '20 and my dad had it in August of this year (they're divorced). Mom got vaccinated earlier this year (not sure why since she already had it) and my dad is even more on the "not getting it side" now that he's had it. My dads unvaccinated fiance had it about like my dad at the same time, and his vaccinated healthy mid-50s sister spent a week in the hospital, but I think the sudden death of a sibling 3 days before symptoms contributed to that due to the emotional drain.

https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#demographics

Appreciate the responses. My Dr is good at cardiology and general care. He doesn't treat Covid casis and is beyond scared to death of this virus.

Zobel said:

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1. Is it a proven fact at this point that the majority of severe, hospitalized cases are unvaccinated / Is it a proven fact the vaccines mostly prevent cases with severe outcomes? Data backed percentages?

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The way you're phrasing this question is difficult. "Proven fact" is kind of loaded. I think it is true and demonstrably so that all things being equal you are much more likely to be hospitalized if you are not vaccinated than if you are. It is also true that in every study when these things are measured - meaning when you control for age, comorbidity, and so on - being vaccinated dramatically reduces your risk of hospitalization and death (like by ~90%+).

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2. Severe or long term vaccine side effects... should I be concerned and if so, of what? As a Dr, why do you trust the mRNA vaccines? What makes you convinced these have no long term ill effects that could be debilitating? Data backed percentages?

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You shouldn't be concerned. There's no clear mechanism as to how these vaccines could cause lasting harm, because the mRNA itself decays quickly in your body - it's gone within a few days. It's impossible to disprove a future event, so the best thing to do is look at other things and give some kind of prior probability estimate. Based on that the risk is low, because vaccines don't cause long term side effects. The side effects they do cause are all in the first few weeks after being delivered. When these vaccines have been studies in large groups, they are very safe. The safety signals we might expect to find we found (like the increased risk of myocarditis).

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3. I already got Moderna dose 1, should I get the 2nd dose and why (pros / cons)? Reason I got dose 1 is that I figured I was pushing my luck afyer recently knowing way too many first hand serious cases or deaths.

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When they did the tests, the efficacy rises a lot after the second dose. This has been observed in the original clinical trials and later studies, and is also backed up by direct measurement of things that correlate with protection like antibodies generated from the vaccine.

Also I'm not a doctor, so don't listen to me. But that is a summary of a lot of good quality research that has been shared here.

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Dr or not, I appreciate well though out and clear responses which yours was. Also, factual was not the best use of words, didn't intend for it to mean 100% absolute.

Also looking for what Dr's or other health care professionals treating this on a daily basis have been seeing.

All you can do is gather info and make your decision.

I'm not vaxxed and came up positive on 09/30. Symptoms started 09/28 with a slight headache and occasional dry cough. Wednesday was the same. It felt like allergies coming on. Thursday saw a pretty good headache and eye tenderness. I did a Binax home test and it was positive. Went to the ER as I was told they had rapid PCR tests and did antibody infusions. No such luck on either since the state opened the infusion center in CS. Doc diagnosed me positive based on symptoms and referred me for infusion on Friday. PCR was positive.
I got the infusion at 12:30 on Friday. Got chills starting around 14:30, and they let up around 6. As the evening progressed, my temp got higher and o2 level got lower, to the point of 104.4/89 at 02:30 Saturday morning. At 07:30, numbers were 97.6/96. Numbers have been normal since then.
I feel like I have a stout case of allergies. Head congestion, stuffy nose, slight cough, and tiredness. If it stays this way, I'll be blessed.

snowdog90 said:

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Ivermectin.

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CMP-00- said:

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BadAzzBohemian said:

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When trying to decide whether to get the Covid vaccine, I try to block out noise and focus on important issues.

I am over 50, 6ft, 200lbs, minor high blood pressure / low dose, take aspirin, zinc, vitamins - to optimize almost all blood results. By definition, I guess I have 2 close comorbidities, but both are marginal.

Been exposed to Covid many times, never got it...never stopped traveling / going out and never wore mask. My twenty something year old kids got it and it kicked their azzes for 10+ days.

I have not been sick for 6-8 years. Really, no sickness of any type.

Relatives got vaccine and had no side effects / issues to date.

Above is just reference for blood / hereditary data points.

Here are the only questions that seem relevant to me. Would like KidDoc and Marcus thoughts... and anyone else who have treated or researched this and have trusted data.

1. Is it a proven fact at this point that the majority of severe, hospitalized cases are unvaccinated / Is it a proven fact the vaccines mostly prevent cases with severe outcomes? Data backed percentages?

2. Severe or long term vaccine side effects... should I be concerned and if so, of what? As a Dr, why do you trust the mRNA vaccines? What makes you convinced these have no long term ill effects that could be debilitating? Data backed percentages?

3. I already got Moderna dose 1, should I get the 2nd dose and why (pros / cons)? Reason I got dose 1 is that I figured I was pushing my luck afyer recently knowing way too many first hand serious cases or deaths.

4. Anything else except above, I classify as noise. Are there any other fact / data based concerns?

Appreciate any guidance.

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1. Overwhelmingly true, not even remotely a disputable reality that the vast majority of hospitalized patients are unvaccinated at this point. I do this all day, every day.

2. Why do I trust the vaccines? Probably 99% of physicians are vaccinated now. More than 6 BILLION doses of these vaccines have been administered to over 3.5 BILLION people worldwide over the last year. We know the vaccines are effective and the risk of serious side effects is LOW. Billion… with a "B."

3. Absolutely. Science says the second dose makes a big difference. The studies which formed the basis for approval of these vaccines showed they were safe and effective when given this way. Anything else is made up and not based on evidence.

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Really appreciate the response.