Efficacy time-frame of the vaccine and feasibility of a "maintenance" schedule

[A Vestigial Mote]

My daughter (unvaccinated) caught Covid from her boyfriend and passed it on to me (vaccinated in April, 2nd shot almost exactly 5 months ago).

In comparing notes, we don't seem to have faired any better or worse than the other in terms of symptoms and severity. Both experienced mild-ish fatigue, bouts of fever (controlled fairly simply by scheduled Ibuprofen), one night of feverish dreams, loss of taste/smell soon after that night, and a light amount of mucus/drainage despite an unexpectedly clear nasal passage. I'm probably lagging her by a bit over 24 hours (exposure, incubation, onset), and I am about 24 years her senior, which shouldn't be discounted either (in support of argumentation for the case that I may, indeed, have been worse off if not for the initial vaccine I got).

All things considered, this leaves me with concerns for the plausibility of ongoing vaccination for anyone/everyone within regular, rolling 3-5-ish month periods. Does this seem feasible? Is it likely that, at some point, they will begin charging for Covid boosters and vaccines like is currently done for the flu? Will there be shame in the offing for people who don't get in line to pay their dollars for a Covid booster every 3-5 months? I want all this worry and tension to end as much as anyone else - I've just lost a bit of faith that vaccination is actually going to make much of a successful impact toward that particular end. I am sure it has saved lives thus far, which is great - but can we keep it up for the long haul, and can we simply expect everyone to toe that line when there are various avenues of cost involved, and pretty short term guarantee of returns? Is it a practical ask?

Note this has nothing to do with the simple measures like wearing masks, or social distancing, or doing necessary things first and foremost and only unnecessary things when precautions are taken. This is specifically about the availability and ongoing/future cost of vaccination in particular (to all involved: manufacturers, distributers, innovators, recipients, etc.).

 

[Alienistic]

They have no idea the waning period, so many that have already received it could have little to no immunity. And requiring boosters left and right almost itself shows its ineffectiveness. All of the people that I know that have died from “covid,” family, acquaintances, colleague, friend were all fully vaccinated, some with mass organ failures... hardly “not as serious effects” if vaccinated.

Those that wish to not be listed as unvaccinated will have to likely toe that line with getting boosters within certain timeframes.

 

[Wandering Monk]

The waning immunity being talked about so much these days is really just waning antibodies. BUT, antibodies are only part of our adaptive immune response. Our immune system has other elements like memory B and T cells, and macrophages. B and T cells remember previous viral encounters and activate if exposed to those viruses later. Most of the time, the adaptive immune response can last years, even a lifetime. For instance, people who were infected with SARS1 in 2003 still have the memory cells from that infection today.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adaptive_immune_system

 

[Wandering Monk]

They have no idea the waning period, so many that have already received it could have little to no immunity. And requiring boosters left and right almost itself shows its ineffectiveness. All of the people that I know that have died from “covid,” family, acquaintances, colleague, friend were all fully vaccinated, some with mass organ failures... hardly “not as serious effects” if vaccinated.

Those that wish to not be listed as unvaccinated will have to likely toe that line with getting boosters within certain timeframes.

Boosters are only to raise antibody levels. As for effectiveness of mRNA vaccines, which effect are you referring to? Effective against infection (about 40% effective), against hospitalization and death (about 90% effective.)

Covid-19: Unvaccinated face 11 times risk of death from delta variant, CDC data show

 

[dybmh]

@A Vestigial Mote ,

I think what you'll find is that the vaccines get better over time. If I understand, development of the Covid vaccine uses statistical analysis to predict how the virus will mutate in the future. It's proactive. This is similar to the flu vaccine which is developed long before flu season. This is possible because the manufacturers are able to predict what the flu viruses will be in like in the upcoming season.

I suspect that in the short term covid boosters every 6 months makes sense. But eventually it will become a yearly vaccine that is bundled with the flu vaccine all in one shot.

 

[sun rise]

I've also been reading that using a different vaccine as a booster is beneficial as well. That might become part of the ongoing vaccination program.