This German gentleman is a kook. He suffered no adverse effects but there’s no way to prove he has extra immunity, it’s doubtful.

What he did do was use up valuable vaccine doses that other people needed and wasted the time of health care workers at a critical time.

Only about 25% of adult Americans and 13% of children have the current updated vaccine booster. This could result in another domestic tragedy.

Flu season is coming. COVID is continuing to mutate because it's able to find so many hosts. Do your part. Mask up in public places so that you don't spread anything you might have and to reduce the chance you might pick up something that you could then spread. Get the shots, if they're safe for you, to lower your risks of infection and long-term damage. Air filters and good ventilation are also highly recommended.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Here's hoping 2023 brings us all health and happiness, adventure and contentment. Also, hopefully this is the year COVID reaches its end goal of being an omnipresent mild annoyance like its cousins.

Get your shots and be excellent to each other. Or to put it more succinctly...

Live Long and Prosper!

Pandemics don’t go away because people get bored with them. And COVID-19 has shown an unusual ability to adapt to our defenses against it. It is certainly not “just the flu” as some slackers and anti-vaxxers foolishly claim.

Researchers have discovered that the Omicron BA.2 subvariant can produce brain inflammation.

New research on the Omicron subvariant of the coronavirus has suggested the pathogen could be changing how it attacks the human body - shifting from infecting respiratory systems to increasingly targeting the brain. Researchers from Australia and France found BA.5 - the coronavirus subvariant driving what is now the world's biggest surge of infections in China - did much more severe damage to mouse brains and cultured human brain tissues than the previous BA.1 subvariant, leading to brain inflammation, weight loss and death. The findings challenge the common belief that viruses usually evolve to become less pathogenic. "Compared with BA. 1, we found that a BA.5 isolate displayed increased pathogenicity in K18-hACE2 mice with rapid weight loss, brain infection and encephalitis, and mortality. In addition, BA.5 productively infected human brain organoids significantly better than BA. 1," a manuscript of the research said.

The bivalent boosters from Pfizer and Moderna provide improved protection against BA.5.

New Covid boosters work better against infection than previous shots, CDC finds

The first real-world data on the new omicron vaccines find that they are better at preventing symptomatic Covid infections than the earlier doses, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Tuesday.

The findings fortify messaging from public health officials that the new shots, from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, should provide people with the best protection against Covid this winter, according to the CDC report.

Both Pfizer’s and Moderna’s new boosters target BA.4 and BA.5, along with the original coronavirus strain, in a single dose.

If you plan to attend a crowded New Year’s celebration, it’s a good idea to get the bivalent booster now.

Vaccines.gov - Search for COVID‑19 vaccine locations

EG.5 Boosters coming soon 😅

"It would be absolutely impossible" to test positive because you got the vaccine, says Jeremy Kamil, a virologist at Louisiana State University Health Shreveport.

Both Cohen and Kamil say that experts are predicting a surge in cases as the weather changes and the holidays approach due to increased indoor social activity. With that in mind, Cohen says "it doesn't make sense to necessarily skip or delay a vaccination when you might be heading into a surge."

These in more detail, and more FAQs, at the link above.

And just like that, I got my Omicron booster (Pfizer) and flu shot!

October 13, 2022

Yesterday, I received the COVID–19 booster shot. My minor side effects are fatigue, sore arm, headache, and body chills. Overall, it was a very positive experience. Thank you to the dedicated teams at Rowan University and the New Jersey Department of Health (DOH). ♥

Learn more about COVID–19 vaccines here.

hey got some important news. the affordable connectivity program that helps poor and disabled people afford internet is going to run out of funding by april 2024 if we can't convince congress to renew it

i know emailing and calling politicians often seems like a waste of time, but this is gonna hurt alot of people (myself included) if this program is allowed to disappear. we really need to raise some awareness and get this program the funding that it needs. ACP is a game changer for literally millions of people. this is the only way many homes can even get internet, and in this day and age internet access is pretty much a necessity for almost everything. its gonna be a huge blow to have this vital program taken away from those who depend on it.

surprise it's yuri!!!in 2024

The 2023 #COVID booster isn't available through my healthcare and insurance provider Kaiser Permanente in my area until the end of October. So I used https://myturn.ca.gov to find a nearby other provider for a sooner appointment, which is still 2 weeks away but I'll take it. #getvaccinated #GetABooster

Covid apathy and fatigue are real. Here's how to fight your Covid apathy and how to best protect yourself from Covid again as the virus is rising in many parts of the world.

#CovidApathy #CovidFatigue #stress

#trauma #PTSD #GetVaccinated

#GetBoosted

something I haven't seen people mention about The Hunger Games trilogy and movies is how it genuinely revolutionized the Minecraft server scene