Did you get you teen a covid shot?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, our teens received the booster. Our doctors (they have different doctors since one is an adult, but still a teen) encourage it and ask about it. They are still seeing a lot of problems with COVID-related problems with teens and all been with those not vaccinated in awhile. One said these stories aren’t being reported in the media since they are never asked and would never voluntarily call up a reporter. Incidentally, one also said venereal diseases are like nothing they have seen in their careers. Apparently people have started refusing testing (including adults). They think it is a bizarre offshoot of the anti-vax movement.

they said “venereal disease”?

[Anonymous]

NO

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My teen got the flu shot, but we decided to wait until winter break for the COVID shot. Reasoning is that there is a high probability that he's already been recently exposed at college, we aren't really traveling for winter break or having visitors, and he plays a spring sport so he'd theoretically like to still have good protection then (starts to wane around 3 or 4 months).

Of course, if he gets really sick with it in the next couple of months we'll be kicking ourselves, but this was the choice we made.

why are you making choices like this for your adult child?

[Anonymous]

If our pediatrician were pushing the Covid booster for my boys, I'd be finding a new doctor as I wouldn't trust her judgment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My teen got the flu shot, but we decided to wait until winter break for the COVID shot. Reasoning is that there is a high probability that he's already been recently exposed at college, we aren't really traveling for winter break or having visitors, and he plays a spring sport so he'd theoretically like to still have good protection then (starts to wane around 3 or 4 months).

Of course, if he gets really sick with it in the next couple of months we'll be kicking ourselves, but this was the choice we made.

why are you making choices like this for your adult child?

My guess is that they made the decision together, which isn’t unheard of for an older teen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I promise I'm not a paranoid still wearing masks, but can the folks saying no say why? At this point, why isn't it any different from getting the flu shot?

We all got three covid shots in our family (my teen boys are 17 and 18 now). No more covid shots for us for a few small reasons that add up to a totally unnecessary shot in our opinion --
1. We all caught covid (some of us have had it twice) in the 3 years since being vaccinated in 2021, and it was always just a very mild cold (sore throat, fever, slight cough for a day or two)
2. The covid shots made us feel blah and feverish for a day or two
3. No doctors (at our family practice, at the college health center, at the ER after a broken bone, at the ortho) are asking us if we have had a covid booster. They only ask if we have had our flu shot (which we all have).

So we always get a flu shot (and have for the past 20 years) in September. But we do not see any reason to get a covid shot. It is no longer a novel virus. Our bodies fight this coronavirus very easily, and getting a shot does not prevent us from spreading it to others.

So I hope that helps you understand our reasoning!

The mildness of your covid symptoms is an argument for the booster, not against.

I got my third shot in Oct 2021. I caught covid in Dec 2021 during the omicron wave. Then I had it again in Aug 2024. Even though it had been almost 3 years since getting a booster shot, I was barely sick with a bit of a runny nose and sore throat for about 24 hours. The only reason why I tested was because my co-worker said that she had covid. The mildness for me is because my body has experienced the virus before, not because of a recent booster shot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No European country recommends Covid boosters for kids, so no. The US is an outlier with their indiscriminate recommendation, which is clearly driven by Pfizer lobbying.

What are your thoughts on the US auto lobby?

How is this relevant here? I'm sure it's strong, lol.

The same people that are against European innovations such as functioning public transportation and universal healthcare (they’re socialists! It would never work here! Etc.) suddenly citing European policies and recommendations when it comes to their anti vaccination beliefs just strikes me as funny.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I promise I'm not a paranoid still wearing masks, but can the folks saying no say why? At this point, why isn't it any different from getting the flu shot?

My teens don't get a flu shot either.

Honestly, we have no idea what the long term effects of yearly shots (like flu shots and Covid shots) will have. So, we pass.

My teens are fully vaccinated otherwise, so I'm not an anti-vaxxer. Just don't see enough benefit to warrant yearly flu/Covid shots.

We also have no idea what the long terms effects of yearly covid infections are. Seems like it’s looking bad for lots of people from what little data we have.

[Anonymous]

No teen boys.

[Anonymous]

To pp who says he would find new pediatrician if they recommended the Covid booster - that is ridiculous. The cdc recommends it so that pediatrician would just be doing their job! Not recommended it would actually go against professional guidelines. I'd be surprised by pediatricians at least not offering the vaccine.

[Anonymous]

I thought these were for the over 65 crowd.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No European country recommends Covid boosters for kids, so no. The US is an outlier with their indiscriminate recommendation, which is clearly driven by Pfizer lobbying.

What are your thoughts on the US auto lobby?

How is this relevant here? I'm sure it's strong, lol.

The same people that are against European innovations such as functioning public transportation and universal healthcare (they’re socialists! It would never work here! Etc.) suddenly citing European policies and recommendations when it comes to their anti vaccination beliefs just strikes me as funny.

Ha! I figured that was what you were trying to imply. Sorry to break it to you, but I am from Europe, a liberal, firmly in favor of public transportation and universal healthcare, currently losing sleep over the prospect of Trump winning the election, and YET I think American liberals have been crazy in their approach to Covid, particularly school closures, masks, and vaccines. No other country has politicized Covid to this degree, and that you still assume that someone who thinks that teens don't need Covid boosters must be a right-wing "anti-vaxxer" only proves my point. Good luck, America. This shit is what might win Trump the election.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I promise I'm not a paranoid still wearing masks, but can the folks saying no say why? At this point, why isn't it any different from getting the flu shot?

My teens don't get a flu shot either.

Honestly, we have no idea what the long term effects of yearly shots (like flu shots and Covid shots) will have. So, we pass.

My teens are fully vaccinated otherwise, so I'm not an anti-vaxxer. Just don't see enough benefit to warrant yearly flu/Covid shots.

We also have no idea what the long terms effects of yearly covid infections are. Seems like it’s looking bad for lots of people from what little data we have.

That’s true. We don’t really know. I don’t know anyone who has had covid yearly but I’m sure they exist. Or at least if they did have covid, it was unknown and they weren’t sick.

But we can put the herd immunity argument to rest at least.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To pp who says he would find new pediatrician if they recommended the Covid booster - that is ridiculous. The cdc recommends it so that pediatrician would just be doing their job! Not recommended it would actually go against professional guidelines. I'd be surprised by pediatricians at least not offering the vaccine.

I’m not the PP you’re responding to and I wouldn’t switch pediatricians, even though our teen boys haven’t gotten any boosters. But their pediatrician doesn’t carry the vaccine or recommend it to kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I promise I'm not a paranoid still wearing masks, but can the folks saying no say why? At this point, why isn't it any different from getting the flu shot?

My teens don't get a flu shot either.

Honestly, we have no idea what the long term effects of yearly shots (like flu shots and Covid shots) will have. So, we pass.

My teens are fully vaccinated otherwise, so I'm not an anti-vaxxer. Just don't see enough benefit to warrant yearly flu/Covid shots.

We also have no idea what the long terms effects of yearly covid infections are. Seems like it’s looking bad for lots of people from what little data we have.

Well, since annual boosters don't prevent anyone from getting infected, you are just adding an avoidable uncertainty to an unavoidable one.