Looks Like It’s Time For Another COVID-19 Booster. Hooray!

No, seriously, hooray! We like not dying from COVID.

 Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla saidon CBS's "Face the Nation” Sunday that a fourth dose of its COVID-19 vaccine will probably be necessary to maintain protection against the virus.

Pfizer CEO @AlbertBourla tells @margbrennan his company is working “very diligently” to make a #COVID19 vaccine that will protect against variants & will protect “for at least a year.”pic.twitter.com/edx07s5kOE

— Face The Nation (@Face The Nation) 1647263114 

BOURLA: Right now, the way that we have seen, it is necessary, a fourth booster right now. The protection that you are getting from the third, it is good enough, actually quite good for hospitalizations and death.

I know a lot of writers complain about self-censorship, but I’m not afraid to say I’m against hospitalizations and death. Bourla told Margaret Brennan that Pfizer is working “very diligently” to produce a COVID-19 vaccine that will protect against variants for “at least a year.” He said Pfizer is submitting data on a fourth shot to the US Food and Drug Administration and “we’ll see what the experts will say outside Pfizer.”

Of course, why wait for the experts to weigh in when we can consult randos on Twitter?

Podcaster Bridget Phetasy tweeted, "I'm truly curious where everyone's line is on this. If you're taking the boosters, how many will you get?” Uh, all of them, Katie? I didn’t know I was expected to draw a red line at some point on vaccines.

Twitter 

I’ve had these damn teeth for more than 40 years and I still visit the dentist twice a year. No one tried to make excruciating small talk with me when I got my COVID-19 shot. It was an efficient process without any scraping, rinsing, and spitting. If Pfizer and the FDA agree I need a fourth jab, I will set aside 30 minutes of my time to receive it. Why is anyone making a big deal about this? It’s more annoying to reset all your clocks twice a year.

Last May, Phetasy wrote an op-ed for Spectator World titled “I hate vaccine passports — and you should too.” The piece was ludicrously filed in the rightwing publication’s “Science and Tech” section. Like many who are effectively anti-vaxx, Phetasy claims she’s “pro-vaccine” and is only opposed to vaccine mandates. However, she’ll suggest the vaccine’s "been tested for less than a year,” when actual medical experts have repeatedly stated the vaccine is perfectly safe. 

Former President Barack Obama announced Sunday that he’d tested positive for COVID-19 and only had mild symptoms (because he was vaccinated and boosted). The timing with Bourla’s interview resulted in a lot of silly “coincidence ... I think NOT” posts on social media. These fools need a better hobby.

There’s no real conspiracy here. We get a flu shot each year because flu viruses mutate. It’s a tremendous medical achievement that we discovered a COVID-19 vaccine in the same year the virus shut down society. In April 2020, when Dr. Anthony Fauci estimated that a vaccine could arrive in 12 to 18 months, the Debbie Downer Times wrote:  

The grim truth behind this rosy forecast is that a vaccine probably won’t arrive any time soon. Clinical trials almost never succeed. We’ve never released a coronavirus vaccine for humans before. Our record for developing an entirely new vaccine is at least four years — more time than the public or the economy can tolerate social-distancing orders.

The Times noted that even if researchers produced a viable vaccine within 12 to 18 months, "that doesn’t mean you’re going to get it. Millions of people could be in line before you.” Testing and contact tracing were presented as the more realistic path to a normal life.

The Pfizer vaccine received emergency use authorization in December 2020, just seven months after the Times article. The vaccines were soon readily available to the public, and 2021’s biggest struggle was simply convincing Trump supporters to get the damn shot.

Bourla isn’t scamming anyone. He said Pfizer’s goal is to "make not only a vaccine that will protect against all variants, including Omicron, but also something that can protect for at least a year.” He ended his interview with this positive note: "And if [we’re] able to achieve that, then I think it is very easy to follow and remember so that we can go back to really the way we used to live.”

I know everyone says they want to go "back to normal,” but honestly, my pre-pandemic lifestyle was appalling. I used to bite into a big hunk of cheese like it was an apple. Nonetheless, if necessary, I’m more than happy to receive another modern miracle.

[ The New York Times ]

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