With so many people becoming infected with COVID-19 right now, ClickOnDetroit readers and WDIV Local 4 viewers are asking when is the best time to get vaccinated after you have recovered?
Here’s the answer to that question and many more:
Nancy asks: “Because I had to learn the Greek alphabet in college I know there are 10 Greek letters between delta and omicron. If COVID mutations are being named sequentially using the letters of the Greek alphabet, why haven’t we heard of the other 10 mutations?”
Answer: Well that’s a fun question. There are in fact epsilon, zeta, eta, theta, iota, kappa, lambda, and mu variants -- they are all being monitored but fortunately haven’t reached the prominence that delta and omicron have. Two other letters between delta and omicron were skipped. Nu was skipped because it would be confusing to say the nu variant after it’s old. And xi was skipped because it’s spelled xi, a common name in some countries.
By the way: The Greek alphabet only has 24 letters in it and we’re past the halfway point. The World Health Organization hasn’t made any formal announcement about what variants will be named once the Greek alphabet is spent. They’re looking for names that won’t stigmatize any group and that are easily translated into common languages. Apparently the going bet is that they will turn to constellation names next.
One viewer asked: “I have two unvaccinated family members in the hospital with COVID-19. My understanding is that they should wait 90 days after recovery to get vaccinated. However, they are being told that Pfizer vaccines are now available to them while they are hospitalized. Have the recommendations changed? Is it safe to be vaccinated while symptomatic?”
Answers: The original recommendation to wait 90 days after infection to get vaccinated was at a time when we were trying to prioritize vaccine to the completely unprotected, and since recently infected people have some immunity it was felt they could reasonably wait. Now that there is plenty of vaccine to go around, there is no reason to wait to get vaccinated after an infection -- with one exception, highlighted in the next question.
From Kathy: ”I was fully vaccinated in March. In late September, I was infected with COVID and received monoclonal antibodies. I was told to wait 90 days to get the booster after that infusion, but now I’m getting concerned about omicron. Should I get boosted a couple weeks early, or wait 90 days?”
Answer: Because you received monoclonal antibodies you should wait 90 days before being vaccinated or boosted. The reason is that the artificial monoclonal antibodies can interfere with you developing your own antibodies when you get the vaccine.
Bill asks: ”I received my two-dose Moderna vaccine in April and I got my booster on Oct. 29. I’m a 63-year-old man with high blood pressure. Am I protected from the omicron variant?”
Bill, no vaccine is perfect. What I can say is that you are as protected as possible and that’s excellent, but I would still recommend wearing a mask.