While that title sounds like a Robert Ludlum novel, itâs actually the confusion I encountered just before and after I recovered last week from my second round of COVID. My first fight with delta â which I wrote about here 3 months ago â was much more serious, affecting my lungs and requiring the monoclonal antibody infusion, when Regeneron still worked for COVID. Omicron, on the other hand, was a super-mild cold that lasted 3 days. But the real kicker was how little doctors, pharmacists, and other medical professionals understood about the booster, immunity, and testing when it comes to the latest, raging, contagious variant.
When I first recovered from delta (with issues that Iâm still dealing with everyday thanks to lung damage from Iraq from toxic exposure to burn pits), I read multiple medical journals. From what I gathered, I had natural immunity for 9 to 15 months, with conservative estimates at 6 months. I thought the same thing applied to my kids, who contracted delta from me. And while Iâd been vaccinated last March with Moderna, I couldnât get the booster until 90 days after the monoclonal antibody infusion. And then omicron hit.
I read more medical journals and studies that indicated hybrid immunity from both natural infection and a vaccine or booster was the best protection against omicron. One of my doctors at Hopkins thought I should get the booster after the 90 days, while another of my doctors thought I should be fine for up to 6 months. Iâd also had my blood work done recently, and my antibody level exceeded 2500 â the maximum limit measurable â on the Roche test, which any Labcorp will do upon request. After weighing my choices, I â not anyone else â made the decision to get the Moderna booster. The pharmacist who administered it said, âIt canât hurt, but no one really knows anything about this variant,â and as a Marine, Iâm all about the ready-fire-aim philosophy.