Artist Silvia López applies a anti-graffiti solution on top of the mural in case someone decides to tag it. (Jesse Costa/WBUR)
Pfizer. We’re nearly two weeks out from our last Pfizer vaccine, when we’ll be 95 percent protected against Covid.
Maybe. Not enough is known yet about the multiple variants, but we hear all sorts of warnings about them. Even so, today – 12 days out from my 2nd vaccine- I donned my mask and went to the gym. This was the first time since February 2020. I’d almost forgotten what the inside of the place looked like.
It was around 10 a.m. The place was nearly deserted. I had to get a new plastic I. D. card that fits on to my key ring, then started working out. The front door remained open. I liked that. I liked that the gym looked and smelled clean, that the restroom was clean, that some of the employees were cleaning even when I was there. I didn’t realize how much I’d missed going.
I left a few minutes before Rob did and walked over to Beale’s and found a new pair of workout pants.
Today, April 6, I entered our local mall for the first time since February 2020, and I think the place may be dying. It was incredibly liberating to walk into a store, actually try on clothes, and then buy two outfits because they fit great and were exactly what I was looking for.
Slowly – really slowly – South Florida is emerging from this pandemic, but not because Governor DeSantis has done anything extraordinary. The media is finally investigating him for making vaccines eligible first to some of Florida’s wealthiest communities, who donated big time to his campaign. After the heiress of Publix gave him a hefty donation, he awarded one of the vaccinations sites to Publix, who then turns around and charges insurance companies 40 bucks per shot. Go figure.
People who have gotten vaccinated can come out of hiding now, at least part way. The gym, a plane trip planed for May… Then what?
How will creativity have changed? Love and romance? Marriage and divorce? Shopping? Or future plans? How will life after this pandemic be different? What will the new normal be?
I’m glad to hear you’re all vaccinated. Me, too. But I am going through my days as if hadn’t been. I went to the gym a couple of times but didn’t like the feel of it and will wait awhile longer before returning,
I KNOW WHAT YOU MEAN, DJan. The other day, some young men came in without masks and I left.
Trish
Robb
April 16th for me, but what comes next I wonder. will we be having a booster shot in late Fall / Winter?
still better than not being vaccinated!!!
be well
Laurence
Yay, Laurence! I’ve been wondering about the booster, too.
Pfizer CEO says third Covid vaccine dose likely needed within 12 months
PUBLISHED THU, APR 15 20211:23 PM EDTUPDATED THU, APR 15 20213:13 PM EDT
Berkeley Lovelace Jr.
@BERKELEYJR
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KEY POINTS
Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said people will “likely” need a third dose of a Covid-19 vaccine within 12 months of getting fully vaccinated.
He also said it’s possible people will need to get vaccinated against the coronavirus annually.
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President Joe Biden listens to Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla speak at the Pfizer Kalamazoo Manufacturing Site February 19, 2021, in Portage, Michigan.
President Joe Biden listens to Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla speak at the Pfizer Kalamazoo Manufacturing Site February 19, 2021, in Portage, Michigan.
Brendan Smialowski | AFP | Getty Images
Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said people will “likely” need a booster dose of a Covid-19 vaccine within 12 months of getting fully vaccinated. His comments were made public Thursday but were taped April 1.
Bourla said it’s possible people will need to get vaccinated against the coronavirus annually.
“A likely scenario is that there will be likely a need for a third dose, somewhere between six and 12 months and then from there, there will be an annual revaccination, but all of that needs to be confirmed. And again, the variants will play a key role,” he told CNBC’s Bertha Coombs during an event with CVS Health.
“It is extremely important to suppress the pool of people that can be susceptible to the virus,” Bourla said.
The comment comes after Johnson & Johnson CEO Alex Gorsky told CNBC in February that people may need to get vaccinated against Covid-19 annually, just like seasonal flu shots.
Researchers still don’t know how long protection against the virus lasts once someone has been fully vaccinated.
Pfizer said earlier this month that its Covid-19 vaccine was more than 91% effective at protecting against the coronavirus and more than 95% effective against severe disease up to six months after the second dose. Moderna’s vaccine, which uses technology similar to Pfizer’s, was also shown to be highly effective at six months.
Pfizer’s data was based on more than 12,000 vaccinated participants. However, researchers say more data is still needed to determine whether protection lasts after six months.
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Earlier Thursday, the Biden administration’s Covid response chief science officer, David Kessler, said Americans should expect to receive booster shots to protect against coronavirus variants.
Kessler told U.S. lawmakers that currently authorized vaccines are highly protective but noted new variants could “challenge” the effectiveness of the shots.
“We don’t know everything at this moment,” he told the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis.
“We are studying the durability of the antibody response,” he said. “It seems strong but there is some waning of that and no doubt the variants challenge … they make these vaccines work harder. So I think for planning purposes, planning purposes only, I think we should expect that we may have to boost.”
In February, Pfizer and BioNTech said they were testing a third dose of their Covid-19 vaccine to better understand the immune response against new variants of the virus.
Late last month, the National Institutes of Health started testing a new Covid vaccine from Moderna in addition to the one it already has, designed to protect against a problematic variant first found in South Africa.
Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel told CNBC on Wednesday that the company hopes to have a booster shot for its two-dose vaccine available in the fall.