If there ever were a year where they might provide some value to you, it's this year. With the flu viruses not very prevalent last winter, and a decent chance they aren't real prevalent this year either, many of us could be looking at a two season gap without exposures -- Meaning our immune systems may still be on versions from two years ago by the time they do experience and exposure. The result of that is it will take our immune systems longer to clear an infection - For those of us who are relatively healthy, that means catching the flu will suck more than usual. For those who are actually at some risk to develop pneumonia, or worse, from the flu, it could mean a pretty dangerous situation.
I don't typically get the flu vaccine, but I will be getting one this year.
BTW, I'm doing some digging to figure out if we know if this won't be a concern (and I hope it is confirmed to not be a concern), but a hypothesis I have is if you get a Covid booster, then later get the flu vaccine, the "viral interference" effect from the Covid booster neutralizing antibodies could prevent the flu vaccine from causing an immune response that updates your long-term immunity (B/T-cells).
So, for a few different reasons, those of us who are healthy and low risk against Covid should NOT get a Covid booster. Because it's just a third-dose of the same old vaccine - and not a updated vaccine like the yearly flu vaccine - It likely will be counter productive in the long run to those who aren't at moderate-high risk to Covid even after being vaccinated.
I don't typically get the flu vaccine, but I will be getting one this year.
BTW, I'm doing some digging to figure out if we know if this won't be a concern (and I hope it is confirmed to not be a concern), but a hypothesis I have is if you get a Covid booster, then later get the flu vaccine, the "viral interference" effect from the Covid booster neutralizing antibodies could prevent the flu vaccine from causing an immune response that updates your long-term immunity (B/T-cells).
So, for a few different reasons, those of us who are healthy and low risk against Covid should NOT get a Covid booster. Because it's just a third-dose of the same old vaccine - and not a updated vaccine like the yearly flu vaccine - It likely will be counter productive in the long run to those who aren't at moderate-high risk to Covid even after being vaccinated.
