[conspire] CA.US COVID-19 booster shots widely available for adults as of 2021-11-18

[Rick Moen]

Quoting Akkana Peck (akkana at shallowsky.com):

> I've learned so much COVID info on this list ... Has anybody seen
> anything yet suggesting any advantage for getting a booster of the
> "other" vaccine, e.g. getting a Pfizer booster if you got Modernas
> the first time, or vice versa?

There's (reportedly) almost no difference between the two mRNA vaccines,
though each has some secret-sauce small details.[1]  But there's a
dosage difference.  The Pfizer booster has the same dosage as the
dose1/dose2 shots: 30 micrograms of mRNA particles in a lipid enclosure.
The J&J booster likewise is identical to the original J&J single-shot
dose, at 0.5 ml.  Moderna, by contast, chose to cut the dosage of its
booster from the original regime's 100 micrograms to 50 micrograms.

As an aside, the difference in dosage between Pfizer shot1/shot2 and
Moderna shot1/shot2 is speculated to account for the recent surmise that
Moderna's stimulation of antigens has lasted longer, even in the
immunodeficient and age 65+ (immunosenescent) subpopulations:  You got
more than 3x as many mRNA particles as with Pfizer, during their
respective two-dose regimens.  _However_, there's been a tradeoff:  The
much greater dosage is claimed to increase the likelhood of short-term
side effects from a shot:  fever, fatigue, headache, etc., the sort of
"I feel sucky and am going to bed early" 1-2 day effect some people get.

And that brings us back to comparing the boosters:  Pfizer 30
micrograms of mRNA particles, vs. Moderna 50 micrograms of mRNA
particles.

I think the Moderna's on that basis the better choice.  Stronger
topping-up of antigens, slightly greater chance of needing to go to bed
early for 1-2 days.

As anecdatum:  I got the Moderna booster on Oct. 26th, and toddled off
to bed that night at 7pm.  Bounced back in the morning.


[1] WHO has hired pharma Afrigen Biologics and Vaccines in South Africa
attempt to reverse-engineer the Moderna vaccine, in order to make it
freely available to the entire world, in part because Moderna says it
won't enforce its patents during the pandemic, and also because more is
in the public about its vaccine.  One of the most challenging problems
is replicating the lipid layer Moderna uses to coat mRNA particles,
permitting them to survive transit from arm muscles through the
bloodstream to key destinations like the spleen and lymph nodes.
https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2021/10/19/1047411856/the-great-vaccine-bake-off-has-begun