Hey Jon

[Doctor Phibes]

Jon, are you getting the same Pfizer shot, or have you considered mixing them up? I heard a discussion on the radio the other day that there's a theory that using different vaccines could increase their effectiveness. For obvious reasons, it's not something that was tested in development.

[jon-nyc]

Thought about Moderna and discussed it with a few docs. They thought a Pfizer booster would be better.

[Doctor Phibes]

The theory is that two different vaccines is a bit like showing your immune systems two different profiles of the same face. It made sense to my totally uneducated brain, but those damn doctors probably know better.

[jon-nyc]

Well, they just thought that, since the Pfizer response is dose dependent, it would be the most straightforward way.

[taiwan_girl]

@jon-nyc sending positive thoughts (and antibodies) to you!

[Jolly]

@jon-nyc said in Hey Jon:

6 weeks after shot 2. Sigh.

Decent box, decent test.

Hope the next shot works better for you...

[LuFins Dad]

The good news is that you can sell the extra Vaccination Card on the black market for good $$!

Seriously, thoughts and prayers are with you!

[jon-nyc]

Hopkins' summary of second shot data is out in Jama today.

Summary: the percentage of people showing an antibody response jumped from ~15% to ~54%. Though the response levels were quite a bit below immunocompetent people.

All in all decent news, and gives me hope for my 3rd shot.

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2779852

[Axtremus]

@jon-nyc , just curious if there's been any more optimistic development with regards to your antibody response or T-cell memory or whatever. How has it been since the 3rd shot?

[jon-nyc]

@axtremus said in Hey Jon:

@jon-nyc , just curious if there's been any more optimistic development with regards to your antibody response or T-cell memory or whatever. How has it been since the 3rd shot?

Twenty days after shot three I was antibody negative on the Labcorp test. :((

[Horace]

I’m sorry to hear that jon.

[Jolly]

Well, crap.

[jon-nyc]

Tuesday I go to my friend’s lab at Columbia and she’s going to test for T cell response and check actual antibody titers, neither of which are offered commercially from what I can tell.

[LuFins Dad]

How do you handle things in the meantime? N95 and gloves?

[George K]

@jon-nyc said in Hey Jon:

Twenty days after shot three I was antibody negative on the Labcorp test. :((

Wow. Just wow.

[Jolly]

Wish I could give him a few. I ran mine yesterday and they were almost 10,000 units. Positive is over 1000. I ran them on an Atellica IM platform. It's a total antibody test, so may not be as good as Jon's friend's test. Does have the advantage of ten minutes box time.

I don't think docs utilize the test as much as they need to, especially in older, vaccinated patients. But that gets into the vaccination/T-cell debate...