Will you be able to get a COVID vaccine?
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Some info from Katelyn Jetelina, M.D. Her blog on substack is Your Local Epidemiologist.
Is it okay not to get the Covid-19 vaccine anymore? Does having had a vax + some boosters provide any long-term protection? For how long?
The science hasn’t changed: The vaccine is still safe and effective. What has changed is the environment: most of us now have some level of immunity, which is why Covid-19 is no longer an emergency.
Immunity has two layers: short-term antibodies and long-term memory cells (T cells). Covid-19 antibodies fade within about 4 months, so without a recent vaccine (or infection), you’re more likely to get infected and more likely to spread it to others. Memory cells last longer and help prevent severe illness—this doesn’t seem to fade for healthy or young individuals, but not everyone’s immune system holds onto that protection equally well. That’s why high-risk groups are prioritized for ongoing vaccinations, like pregnant women, children under 2, adults over 65, and those with chronic conditions.
Lots more good info here:
https://yourlocalepidemiologist.substack.com/p/covid-19-vaccine-license-change-12
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@wtg my doctor has been saying the same for a few years. I've been getting them anyway. I'm pretty close to the age barrier.
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Many states are in the process of delinking from CDC panels and doing approvals on their own. This is because some pharmacies (like CVS) are unwilling to provide vaccines in their states because they believe existing state policy mandates CDC approval.
New Mexico for instance:
https://www.nmhealth.org/news/vaccine/2025/8/?view=2267
This ruling came out a day after I told Governor Grisham (on her BlueSky account) to do precisely this. Must have been my forceful note!
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New England states are exploring banding together to do something similar
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This is all part of the "soft secession" process. It's just a bit more organized than one-issue challenges to this or that federal policy. Blue states are indeed coordinating resistance to federal rules and requirements in ways that challenge the idea of a long-lasting political union. We will be in the end-stage of that process when wealthier states find ways to stop sending revenues to the poorer red states that fleece them.
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SK:
If you have a portal for out of office questions for your provider, might that be a good alternative to such a question in a meeting?Nevermind.
I see wtg already asked about this option, and you looked into it.
(Your obligatory PCP change sounds like a humongous nuisance.) -
I'm unhappy to see Massachusetts is one of only three states where CVS won't dispense the vaccine with or without a script. (I wonder why. Same question re Florida with all their retirees.) One son who lives in MA is working as a paramedic (exposure!).
I hope other pharmacies there will fill scripts. -
SK:
If you have a portal for out of office questions for your provider, might that be a good alternative to such a question in a meeting?Nevermind.
I see wtg already asked about this option, and you looked into it.
(Your obligatory PCP change sounds like a humongous nuisance.)
