Meghan writes:
Hi Dr Griffin
I have some questions about fall boosters. I talked to my doctor, but I am interested in your thoughts as well.
I am a 36 year old with no major risk factors other than asthma.. When I got the pFizer booster (after pfizer primary series) last fall, I got persistent tachycardia that my doctor feels was vaccine related.
It’s finally cleared up, but I’m honestly pretty wary of making it happen again. So I have kind of a 2 part question. 1st of all, is a booster really necessary? 2nd of all, realizing that this goes outside of science, my doctor and I discussed boosting with Novavax instead. Thoughts? If it’s relevant, I’ve had covid once, in July of 2022. I was tired for several weeks and had a gunky cough but was otherwise OK, kind of like a mild flu.
—
Meghan
Alexander writes:
Dear Dr. Griffin,
Am I correct that a <12 year old undergoing treatment for cancer is at high risk if they get COVID? If so, given that evusheld is only approved for >=12 years of age, what options exist to protect such a child from COVID when they are in school?
Thank you,
Sincerely,
Alexander
Greg writes:
Paxlovid after bovine aortic heart valve replacement. I had the surgery on June first and was told by my physician that paxlovid can’t be used in my case. Is this correct?
Bria writes:
Dr Griffin,
I have listened to your show from the days where you were in the stairwells at the hospital. Thank you so much for presenting the information in such a clear and easy to understand format.
I have a 50-something year old friend with rheumatoid arthritis who is taking methotrexate. Her family was testing positive one by one with covid this week, and when she finally tested positive late friday night, her doctor referred her to a web form at the local big name university to determine treatment. When the university medical center called her back, they told her they no longer recommend paxlovid for the immunocompromised because of the risk of rebound. Because of this they were recommending she do monoclonals. They told her to “feel better” and they would prioritize all of the monoclonal referrals over the weekend and the scheduler would call her on Monday. They told her monoclonals are the safest option for the immunocompromised.
I found this very contrary to your recommendations. Assuming she has no contraindications (she has recent labs, and none of her meds interact) I had expected they would want her to start paxlovid as soon as possible, and she’d have her first dose by Saturday. Instead, they told her to “feel better” and wait for a call on Monday. She’s convinced this is because she only had mild symptoms at the time, but I understood you are not supposed to wait until you feel bad to treat.
Have you seen any data to support the risk of rebound outweighs the benefits of Paxlovid in the immunocompromised? Are monoclonals really the safest option?
Thank you in advance for your help!
—
Bria
Arthur writes:
My son had a case of shingles at age 38; recovered with minimal scarring and no residual pain. Should he get Shingrix? Can he even get it since he is not yet 50?
— Arthur