Flu may hit earlier & harder this year (lotsa @)

[seeyalater52]

Sept 22, 2022 11:57:26 GMT -5 okla said:

I have a booster and flu shot scheduled for tomorrow at CVS. However, starting Jan 2022, CVS stopped taking my insurance. Does anyone have experience with this? Is it going to be an issue/am I going to end up paying?

For the covid vaccines I believe they’re only allowed to charge the patient directly for the very small administration fee so the OOP cost for covid would be minimal, but flu is usually like $40 if you can’t pay through insurance.

That said, there have been a lot of reports of CVS canceling or refusing at point of service to do covid vaccines on individuals who are insured but don’t have coverage through CVS and in those cases they aren’t letting people pay OOP for the vaccine so your mileage may vary.

[okla]

Sept 22, 2022 12:00:31 GMT -5 seeyalater52 said:

Sept 22, 2022 11:57:26 GMT -5 okla said:

I have a booster and flu shot scheduled for tomorrow at CVS. However, starting Jan 2022, CVS stopped taking my insurance. Does anyone have experience with this? Is it going to be an issue/am I going to end up paying?

For the covid vaccines I believe they’re only allowed to charge the patient directly for the very small administration fee so the OOP cost for covid would be minimal, but flu is usually like $40 if you can’t pay through insurance.

That said, there have been a lot of reports of CVS canceling or refusing at point of service to do covid vaccines on individuals who are insured but don’t have coverage through CVS and in those cases they aren’t letting people pay OOP for the vaccine so your mileage may vary.

Thanks for the info. I just made an appointment with Walgreens instead. It means I don’t get Moderna this time like I was hoping (have had Pfizer for other 3,) but that’s not a big deal and I don’t want the headache of insurance shit or to be turned away.

[basilosaurus]

As someone who no longer has us healthcare, are flu shots and booster shot still free regardless? Google was confusing me.

[seeyalater52]

Sept 22, 2022 13:12:33 GMT -5 basilosaurus said:

As someone who no longer has us healthcare, are flu shots and booster shot still free regardless? Google was confusing me.

Under most insurance flu shots are free as a preventative vaccine, although some insurers have restrictions about where it can be received (usually related to your pharmacy/prescription coverage.)

Covid vaccines of all kinds are currently also free, although if you have insurance there similarly may be other restrictions on where you can get it (see my post above for more detailed info on that.)

[seeyalater52]

Sept 22, 2022 17:58:26 GMT -5 mofongo said:

Sept 22, 2022 13:03:26 GMT -5 okla said:

Thanks for the info. I just made an appointment with Walgreens instead. It means I don’t get Moderna this time like I was hoping (have had Pfizer for other 3,) but that’s not a big deal and I don’t want the headache of insurance shit or to be turned away.

So, insurance dictates I get prescriptions from CVS, but I had gotten all 3 covid shots from walgreens. Their system was easier for me to use. I did the same with my booster yesterday, and they had moderna, they tried to tell me they couldn’t give it b/c they weren’t my preferred provider. I was like but I got all other covid shots here. Thankfully someone more knowledgeable overhead and was able to override it. 

This has been happening more and more. It is weird, it hasn’t seemed like it has been an issue with any of the other rollouts and the rules haven’t changed aside from the administration signaling very clearly this is the last publicly funded rollout so I assume pharmacies are moving toward a more commercial model pre-emptively.

[seeyalater52]

Sept 22, 2022 18:05:10 GMT -5 mofongo said:

Sept 22, 2022 18:01:51 GMT -5 seeyalater52 said:

This has been happening more and more. It is weird, it hasn’t seemed like it has been an issue with any of the other rollouts and the rules haven’t changed aside from the administration signaling very clearly this is the last publicly funded rollout so I assume pharmacies are moving toward a more commercial model pre-emptively.

He mentioned something about when I had gotten my booster in October someone did an override b/c the goal was don’t let people leave without a shot, so you’re prob right. I bet next time we have to go to our preferred pharmacies.

ETA: which is fine for me, but I worry about how this will affect people with limited resources. I assume if someone has no insurance they would still give it? I f’ing hope!

I can also schedule at work, but I am concerned things like this will decrease the amount of people getting boosters.

I’m glad it worked out for you. Yes they are required as a vaccine site to give it to people who don’t have insurance at no cost. It’s part of the vaccinator contract for these government owned doses. That won’t be true once they move to commercialization of the vaccines which is the plan for all future rollouts (I think it’s a bad plan obviously.)

The next time we all have to do this, it’s going to be an absolute shitshow for people who are uninsured, especially for adults.

@@
VRBPAC is going to vote to add the covid vaccines to the Vaccines for Children program (eta at an Oct meeting they recently scheduled), which provides vaccines for uninsured or low income children and there are far fewer children who have truly no options when it comes to insurance coverage so that may help some, although access is likely to be a problem. Commercialization is bleak for uninsured adults, especially those who would be eligible for Medicaid but live in nonexpansion states who truly have no reasonable insurance options.

[basilosaurus]

Thanks seeyalater52. Other than covid protection I actually don't have any insurance. It's not necessary here. Sure, I get charged 100x more than a citizen, but that's still under $25. I'm actually thinking of getting trip insurance just for the next month or so because being uninsured in murca is a scary thing. Throw that on my massive to-do list.

[litebright]

JayhawkGirl , it looks like there were actually two waves of flu in '21/'22 -- a December/winter wave and then a second one in like March-ish through May-ish. I don't know if that's typical? 

I was in for a physical this week and asked for the flu shot, and my doctor actually recommended waiting. Apparently around here, she didn't see much flu until the spring 2022 and then it circulated into summer -- which matches what I heard anecdotally -- so by the time people who got the shot in the fall actually got exposed/got flu in the late spring, their vaccine protection was pretty much gone. She said she is holding off on getting her own flu shot until she starts seeing it pop up.

CDC data: www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/index.htm

I'm debating whether to hold off or not. If we have two waves again, spread out over more than six months, people are inevitably going to have less protection for one of them because apparently the best protection is like a three-month thing before it wanes.

[audette]

Got my flu shot yesterday...

Had my regular appointment with my specialist, and during all the intake stuff, the nurse asked if I've had my flu shot. I answered "not yet", because I was honestly thinking about getting it on my way home last night. And, she offered me the shot there on the spot. So no additional errand/stop needed.

I'm not sure I even felt the needle going in - didn't even need a bandaid. Armpit feels a teeny bit swollen from it today, but otherwise, barely noticing it (yet - it's been 16/17 hours since the shot).


She mentioned, as she was administering it, that she's seen a _ton_ of people with the flu recently. She mentioned working some hours at an urgent care clinic, so I'm assuming the flu patients were there, but... I guess that means it's locally hitting here (midwest town with not much going on...)


Anyone want to place bets on if I'll be sick next weekend, after my two-day (in person) work conference next week? It's in Iowa, so they haven't had any mitigations in ages. At least I'm driving, so I am avoiding the risks of airfare.

[seeyalater52]

Sept 23, 2022 11:33:04 GMT -5 mofongo said:

Sept 22, 2022 7:41:35 GMT -5 melmaria said:

H and I are getting our flu shots today. I used to always get mine done at work, but they haven’t brought that back since covid started. I’m actually kind of annoyed I have to go to a pharmacy, lol. I’ve been spoiled by having it come to me.

We are waiting until mid-October for our bivalent Covid booster because we both had Covid in late April/early May, and I’d rather wait closer to the full 6 months.

In the future though, I look forward to being able to do both at the same time!

Is the recommendation 6 months?? I had it in early May and got it this week. I thought it was estimated closer to 3 months of protection after infection?

I haven’t seen anyone reputable recommend 6 months. The longest I’ve seen is 4 months but it’s pretty hypothetical since there’s no good data on that spacing. Getting it mid-Oct may not be a terrible idea but it’s definitely a risk given that it’s 3x as long as the actual recommendations and 2x as long as the suggested “could” wait 90 days from infection language from the CDC.

[okla]

Wanted to update re: my CVS/insurance question from yesterday.

I made an appt with Walgreens but didn’t get around to cancelling CVS. They actually called me this morning to let me know my flu shot wouldn’t be covered and I confirmed my COVID booster was and would be free. So this particular CVS seems to know what they are doing.

So, I’m keeping my Moderna booster at CVS, and then getting my flu shot at Walgreens. This is the smallest inconvenience to my privileged ass, but bemoan our stupid healthcare system with me.

[melmaria]

Sept 23, 2022 11:33:04 GMT -5 mofongo said:

Sept 22, 2022 7:41:35 GMT -5 melmaria said:

H and I are getting our flu shots today. I used to always get mine done at work, but they haven’t brought that back since covid started. I’m actually kind of annoyed I have to go to a pharmacy, lol. I’ve been spoiled by having it come to me.

We are waiting until mid-October for our bivalent Covid booster because we both had Covid in late April/early May, and I’d rather wait closer to the full 6 months.

In the future though, I look forward to being able to do both at the same time!

Is the recommendation 6 months?? I had it in early May and got it this week. I thought it was estimated closer to 3 months of protection after infection?

Sorry, I should have said “a full 6 months” and not “THE full 6 months.”

6 months is what my doctor recommended for me based on my individual circumstances (not high risk, not immunocompromised, benefits of waiting until closer to peak winter when cases may spike and in advance of the holidays, when I have travel scheduled, etc). Other people may have different considerations and recommendations.

I don’t think waiting 6 months is a crazy idea, though. It’s been discussed in various articles, e.g. www.fox6now.com/news/should-i-get-new-covid-booster-flu-shot-same-time-2022.amp

“For those who got the original COVD-19 booster, there is a minimum wait time of two months for the new one, as set by the FDA. But advisers to the CDC said it’s better to wait even longer. Some advise at least three months, another said someone who’s not at high risk might wait as long as six months.

"If you wait a little more time, you get a better immunologic response," said CDC adviser Dr. Sarah Long of Drexel University.”

[melmaria]

Sept 23, 2022 15:04:53 GMT -5 mofongo said:

Sept 23, 2022 14:53:30 GMT -5 melmaria said:

Sorry, I should have said “a full 6 months” and not “THE full 6 months.”

6 months is what my doctor recommended for me based on my individual circumstances (not high risk, not immunocompromised, benefits of waiting until closer to peak winter when cases may spike and in advance of the holidays, when I have travel scheduled, etc). Other people may have different considerations and recommendations.

I don’t think waiting 6 months is a crazy idea, though. It’s been discussed in various articles, e.g. www.fox6now.com/news/should-i-get-new-covid-booster-flu-shot-same-time-2022.amp

“For those who got the original COVD-19 booster, there is a minimum wait time of two months for the new one, as set by the FDA. But advisers to the CDC said it’s better to wait even longer. Some advise at least three months, another said someone who’s not at high risk might wait as long as six months.

"If you wait a little more time, you get a better immunologic response," said CDC adviser Dr. Sarah Long of Drexel University.”

Ah. I never got the 2nd booster, I decided to wait for the new ones, my last booster was in Oct 2021. My concern was seeing people get omicron basically back to back. I was def ready to get it!

I never got a second booster either - my last booster was September 2021. But my infection was April 2022, and I don’t think they distinguish between last infection and last booster in terms of timing for the next shot?

At any rate, I think getting the new booster anywhere between 3 and 6 months after your last infection or shot seems pretty reasonable. Some people will want to do it sooner and others will feel more comfortable waiting (like me), and it depends on people’s different circumstances.

For the general population, I do worry about vaccine fatigue the longer this goes on. A lot of people I know who were incredibly pro-vaxx at the beginning of this, and got their first shots immediately, simply have no desire to get any more shots after having had Omicron this spring. They don’t see the point. I vehemently disagree - but! - I can understand the sentiment.

[TR]

After all my talk of I want it right away, due to the timing of my previous infection and travel falling right over my 60 day post-infection mark, I made my appointment for my booster + flu shot next Monday. I haven't had any side effects from the previous Covid shots and have never had any from the flu shot either (other than a sore arm for both) so I'm hoping I don't get knocked on my ass, but I have plenty of PTO if I need to take next day off lol

[TR]

Sept 23, 2022 15:15:42 GMT -5 melmaria said:

Sept 23, 2022 15:04:53 GMT -5 mofongo said:

Ah. I never got the 2nd booster, I decided to wait for the new ones, my last booster was in Oct 2021. My concern was seeing people get omicron basically back to back. I was def ready to get it!

I never got a second booster either - my last booster was September 2021. But my infection was April 2022, and I don’t think they distinguish between last infection and last booster in terms of timing for the next shot?

This is only one anecdote and could mean nothing to anyone else, but my SIL was in an antibody study at Johns Hopkins and her antibody levels after her July '22 infection were a lot lower than they were after her booster last fall.

[seeyalater52]

Sept 23, 2022 15:22:12 GMT -5 TR said:

Sept 23, 2022 15:15:42 GMT -5 melmaria said:

I never got a second booster either - my last booster was September 2021. But my infection was April 2022, and I don’t think they distinguish between last infection and last booster in terms of timing for the next shot?

This is only one anecdote and could mean nothing to anyone else, but my SIL was in an antibody study at Johns Hopkins and her antibody levels after her July '22 infection were a lot lower than they were after her booster last fall.

It’s consistent with the vast majority of the research on the differences between antibodies from infection vs vaccine. Vaccine conferred antibodies are in the aggregate more reliable (predictable values at X interval post dose/infection), more durable (last longer), and higher.

That is not meant as a judgement of anyones choices, especially when made in consultation with a provider who knows your specific risk factors and other health info, but it felt worth noting given the conversation in this thread. It’s also not necessarily true in every individual case, but holds true across larger cohorts of people studied. The research on hybrid immunity is more nuanced but there is always a greater risk for any specific individual to rely on antibodies from infection especially when mutations are happening so quickly because the major thing about the vaccines is that they are hugely more protective against infection/reinfection than prior infection.

That’s all of course if infection matters to you, if you’re no longer avoiding infection/reinfection it’s probably less important.

[noodleoo]

Sept 23, 2022 15:15:42 GMT -5 melmaria said:

Sept 23, 2022 15:04:53 GMT -5 mofongo said:

Ah. I never got the 2nd booster, I decided to wait for the new ones, my last booster was in Oct 2021. My concern was seeing people get omicron basically back to back. I was def ready to get it!

I never got a second booster either - my last booster was September 2021. But my infection was April 2022, and I don’t think they distinguish between last infection and last booster in terms of timing for the next shot?

At any rate, I think getting the new booster anywhere between 3 and 6 months after your last infection or shot seems pretty reasonable. Some people will want to do it sooner and others will feel more comfortable waiting (like me), and it depends on people’s different circumstances.

For the general population, I do worry about vaccine fatigue the longer this goes on. A lot of people I know who were incredibly pro-vaxx at the beginning of this, and got their first shots immediately, simply have no desire to get any more shots after having had Omicron this spring. They don’t see the point. I vehemently disagree - but! - I can understand the sentiment.

This is interesting as I juts found out my sister is one of those. No one in her family has had Covid yet and we got into a conversation about the vaccine and I was shocked at her take. Her feelings are summarized as: Covid is basically no worse than a cold anymore, the vaccine doesn’t prevent infection, so what’s the point? My argument is that Covid is still circulating widely, the vaccine will reduce severity of infection even if it doesn’t fully prevent it, and there is no guarantee it will be mild for everyone. She said she will get the bivalent booster, but she’s not going to make her kids get it unless they want it (they’re teenagers) and this is probably her last shot (!!). I don’t understand this at all! She gets her flu shot every year, but she seems to think the flu is worse than Covid.  

I’m so surprised, she’s not a Covid denier but she’s been working in person the whole time and managed to avoid it so far. I just don’t understand why you *wouldn’t* get a vaccine as there’s no downside (she’s not allergic or anything and has had it before, she doesn’t even get any side effects from it unlike me who always has a fever/muscle aches reaction). I feel like she’s been lucky so she’s taking it for granted and it kind of makes me want to scream. My 3 year old couldn’t even get vaxxed until a few months ago FFS! 😡🤯

[Velar Fricative]

@@

Due to the late flu wave last year my kids' pediatricians are actually recommending they get flu shots a bit later than they normally get them (we usually get them their shots in late September/early October). So they're getting it in late October. They said they had zero issue with me trying to come in early if I felt more comfortable with that but I thought about it and figured late October should still be okay. Fingers crossed we don't get hit with the flu before then!

[seeyalater52]

Sept 23, 2022 16:33:11 GMT -5 noodleoo said:

Sept 23, 2022 15:15:42 GMT -5 melmaria said:

I never got a second booster either - my last booster was September 2021. But my infection was April 2022, and I don’t think they distinguish between last infection and last booster in terms of timing for the next shot?

At any rate, I think getting the new booster anywhere between 3 and 6 months after your last infection or shot seems pretty reasonable. Some people will want to do it sooner and others will feel more comfortable waiting (like me), and it depends on people’s different circumstances.

For the general population, I do worry about vaccine fatigue the longer this goes on. A lot of people I know who were incredibly pro-vaxx at the beginning of this, and got their first shots immediately, simply have no desire to get any more shots after having had Omicron this spring. They don’t see the point. I vehemently disagree - but! - I can understand the sentiment.

This is interesting as I juts found out my sister is one of those. No one in her family has had Covid yet and we got into a conversation about the vaccine and I was shocked at her take. Her feelings are summarized as: Covid is basically no worse than a cold anymore, the vaccine doesn’t prevent infection, so what’s the point? My argument is that Covid is still circulating widely, the vaccine will reduce severity of infection even if it doesn’t fully prevent it, and there is no guarantee it will be mild for everyone. She said she will get the bivalent booster, but she’s not going to make her kids get it unless they want it (they’re teenagers) and this is probably her last shot (!!). I don’t understand this at all! She gets her flu shot every year, but she seems to think the flu is worse than Covid.  

I’m so surprised, she’s not a Covid denier but she’s been working in person the whole time and managed to avoid it so far. I just don’t understand why you *wouldn’t* get a vaccine as there’s no downside (she’s not allergic or anything and has had it before, she doesn’t even get any side effects from it unlike me who always has a fever/muscle aches reaction). I feel like she’s been lucky so she’s taking it for granted and it kind of makes me want to scream. My 3 year old couldn’t even get vaxxed until a few months ago FFS! 😡🤯

It’s absolutely wild. Among all the misinformation there the piece that bugs me the most is the “no worse than a cold” narrative being used to decline the vaccine. To the extent that covid has gotten “less bad” than it was previously, that is driven in huge part by vaccine rates. Not staying up to date on a vaccine that has pretty poor staying power is a recipe for increased risk of getting an infection that is way worse than it would be otherwise.

This makes me want to curl up and quit society. I’m not saying that getting covid vaccines on a quarterly basis is desirable in any way, obviously it is not sustainable in the long term and it is important that we not totally lose the plot and try to push for continued R&D for better vaccines. But collectively shrugging our shoulders and giving up on even the bare minimum precautions like vaccination are a recipe for making the situation WAY worse than it even currently is.

There is also no clear behavioral science that can isolate the fatigue of multiple covid vaccines from other factors driving vaccine uptake. That is to say, it’s hard to really say that people would be this hesitant to continue to stay up to date on their covid vaccines if, for example, there wasn’t rampant misinformation circulating about the long term impacts of covid infection (even on people who don’t develop long covid), or if even the CDC and other government agencies weren’t acting like
Covid is over, or the president wasn’t on TV saying (incorrectly) that the pandemic is over. All those things ALSO have a huge impact on peoples’ willingness to get vaccinated at all on any schedule so it’s a lot more complicated than saying there will be better adherence with fewer shots.

ETA: while there isn’t perfect efficacy data for the new booster it’s expected to be somewhere in the >50% effective range at preventing infection, which is… well, a lot better than 0%, and a lot better than the waning efficacy of the prior vaccines too.

[seeyalater52]

Also interesting: the bivalent booster so far has better uptake than the initial booster did for how long it has been out. So many interconnected things could be influencing that, but it is really interesting in the context of this conversation.

[StrawberryBlondie]

We'll, today's flu shot appointment was a bust. We got there and they said my insurance doesn't cover flu shots there... Which I know is false, even if this is generally a "thing." DH got his flu shot there a week and a half ago and we have the same insurance.

Then I tried to schedule at CVS and their website said I couldn't schedule the kid because of her age.

So, we went to an independent pharmacy one suburb away whose website specifically said that no appointments were needed and all you had to do was walk in and request one. So that's what we did, only to be told they do require appointments and they're not starting then till Monday.

I did manage to schedule at CVS by going to the minute clinic part of their website and scheduling there rather than the "schedule your flu shot" link on the homepage, which is super frustrating and confusing but overall will be less than 24 hrs delay so not bad.

[puppylove64]

Dh and I had the flu back in February and it was awful, terrible. Worst than Covid for us both! Worst we have been sick in a long long time. And it lingered for a long time. I had the flu vaccine too 😢. I’m worried about this season

[melmaria]

[quote author="StrawberryBlondie" source="/post/14200367/I did manage to schedule at CVS by going to the minute clinic part of their website and scheduling there rather than the "schedule your flu shot" link on the homepage, which is super frustrating and confusing but overall will be less than 24 hrs delay so not bad. [/quote]


I had to do the exact same thing! So annoying and not intuitive.

[SwimDeep]

H and I are scheduled for Moderna bivalent boosters tomorrow at CVS... and I really hope they don't give us an issue with insurance 😒 our plan has us going to Walgreens now, but they only have Pfizer in our area. Fingers crossed this works out.

I'm also getting the flu shot tomorrow (H had a super bad reaction from his last flu shot so I didn't schedule one for him). After reading this thread, I'm hoping bundling these two vaccines doesn't become an insurance cluster fuck. I did this last year and it was fine, so... 🤞

[pixy0stix]

There's just no good time for me to get the booster knowing that I'm probably going to be sick after it.

[Pibs]

Shots are so weird, y'all.

I got my Moderna bivalent booster two Wednesdays ago. My arm hurt for a damn week, I was tired for like 3 days, and I was super achy for 2 days -- enough that I took Tylenol pretty much around the clock. My last booster just made me tired (also Moderna).

Got my flu shot yesterday. My arm hurt, but not enough to make me whine, and is pretty much fine today. Normally flu shots knock me on my ass for a day or two, but this year's seems easy breezy. I didn't think to ask what version I was getting since it was a fly through work clinic, but they've been giving quads for a few years, so I assume this year is the same.

[lemoncupcake]

Sept 24, 2022 11:44:27 GMT -5 pixy0stix said:

There's just no good time for me to get the booster knowing that I'm probably going to be sick after it.

I fretted over scheduling mine for the same reason and finally found a window in my calendar with 48 hours where I could handle feeling crappy. So far I just have a sore lymph node in my armpit and nothing else. It’s so bizarre! My 2nd dose and 1st booster were rough with fever, chills and aches.

[macmars45]

I got my family appts for our flu shots this coming Friday and Saturday.

[StrawberryBlondie]

Sept 23, 2022 21:21:55 GMT -5 melmaria said:

[quote author="StrawberryBlondie" source="/post/14200367/I did manage to schedule at CVS by going to the minute clinic part of their website and scheduling there rather than the "schedule your flu shot" link on the homepage, which is super frustrating and confusing but overall will be less than 24 hrs delay so not bad.

I had to do the exact same thing! So annoying and not intuitive.[/quote]You'd think their website would be able to figure out which CVS stores have the minute clinic inside them and which don't and only show the ones that have the minute clinic as available when there's an age issue. That feels like relatively basic dev work.

[AAM2012]

DH and I got our flu and bivalent booster at target today. We had an appointment and there were 3 other people getting theirs as well and we only had to wait 5 minutes or so.