Which Covid booster?

[Viola1]

All my vaccines and boosters so far have been Moderna. I'm able to get an appointment only for the Pfizer bivalent booster. Should I wait until I can schedule the Moderna bivalent booster? I am wondering if one is better than the other.'

Thanks so much to all on this forum!

[PMRpro Ambassador]

I would take the one I'm offered. I doubt there is much difference between them

[DorsetLady PMRGCAuk volunteer in reply to PMRpro]

agree!

[Viola1 in reply to DorsetLady]

Thank you DorsetLady and PMRPro!

[piglette]

Is the Pfizer bivalent available already ? I heard the Moderna one would not be around until the end of the year.

[Viola1 in reply to piglette]

Yes in California at CVS (drug store)

[piglette in reply to Viola1]

Sadly I am in UK!

[Staffsgirl in reply to piglette]

We are in UK and had the bivalent about three weeks ago, with no side effects at all. Previously we’ve had Moderna and Pfizer, again no side effects ever.

[DorsetLady PMRGCAuk volunteer in reply to piglette]

yep…did link this earlier in month…

“Vaccine products for autumn 2022 booster programme

Please refer to the Green Book for more details.

Advised for use in adults aged 18 yea­rs and above:

Moderna mRNA (Spikevax) bivalent Original ‘wild-type’/Omicron BA.1. Dose: 50 micrograms

Moderna mRNA (Spikevax) Original ‘wild-type’ vaccine. Dose: 50 micrograms

Pfizer-BioNTech mRNA (Comirnaty) bivalent Original ‘wild-type’/Omicron BA.1 vaccine. Dose: 30 micrograms

Pfizer-BioNTech mRNA (Comirnaty) ‘wild-type’ vaccine. Dose: 30 micrograms”

Full doc here -gov.uk/government/publicati...

[piglette in reply to DorsetLady]

They have been OKed but I am not sure they are using them yet. I had heard the Moderna one would not be available for use until the end of the year. They were talking about it on Health Check last night on the BBC World Service which gave the impression that we might still get the old versions, but they would boost up our antibodies.

[DorsetLady PMRGCAuk volunteer in reply to piglette]

okay, thanks….

[piglette in reply to DorsetLady]

As usual I am very suspicious and think they may be clearing out current stock before lashing out on the new stuff. Probably all the 50 year olds will get that (I am cynical too!). Of course I may be totally wrong.

[123mossie]

here in wales we’re getting invitations for the end of october

[Hollybee21 in reply to 123mossie]

Had my jab (Moderna) on the 4th September, I am in Swansea.

[Bcol]

I've got my 5th one on Sunday, I've had 2 x OAZ and 2 x Pfizer so far. I'll post back with which variety appears this time.

[Bcol in reply to Bcol]

Didn't manage to post back here as it never happened there was a problem withe the vaccine delivery so it was all cancelled. Back on for this Saturday (1st Oct.). Will report back then.

[diana1998]

OH and I had AZ first, then Pfizers. Last one was Moderna and the only one that gave us a reaction. I felt crook in bed all day, OH shivered all night. So hoping the next one on 8th Oct isn't Moderna!!

[Girdwood in reply to diana1998]

I had the exact same thing happen to me. I was so ill with the Moderna. I really am a bit wary of having it again!

[ClarkB]

I previously had Pfizer but my last booster was Moderna. I didn’t suffer any real side effects. My next booster is in October, but I don’t know which. I hadn’t heard of a new Pfizer one.

[Rugger]

I've had all three - just what was on offer on the day! 2 x AZ; 2 x Pfizer and the last one was Moderna.

[Golf-1]

I had my 5th Covid jab today, it was the Moderna modified for the latest variant of Covid. I have previously had AZ, Pfizer and original Moderna. I thought I heard somewhere that a mixture gave better protection. Not that it makes any difference as I was not given a choice anyway just happy to get protected

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Golf-1]

It has been said that a mix of vaccination and natural infection provides the best further protection. But I think it changes as the corona virus mutates. And immunity to the latest variants is fading very fast - you can catch the same variant against atfer as little as a month or so.

[artfingers]

Odd that we have the new bivalent vaccine targeting Omicron, yet UK does not yet. That just doesn't seem right. I got the new Moderna (previously had 3 Pfizer and 1 Moderna). No issues except a sore arm for a day or two. I was very glad to get better protection against Omicron. I'm in the U.S.

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to artfingers]

I think they do - the UK was actually the first country to approve the Moderna one, the Pfizer one was approved at the start of September. It will be rolled out during the autumn programme. They started vaccinating care home residents and the housebound as of September 5th

[Exflex]

The effectivity between the original and the bivalent makes the difference marginal, plus there’s a phenomenon called immune imprinting- look it up - meaning our immune system has learnt the old tricks and doesn’t bother too much learning again. I will be taking whatever’s available. Not quite incidental, I hear Moderna has a ‘new’ bivalent based on BA.5 and the company is dumping the BA.1 on other countries including the U.K. That’s nice of them. 😁