covid 19-which vaccine should you get

COVID 19-WHICH VACCINE SHOULD YOU GET

this is a picture i took months ago of an artists version of the covid 19 pandemic they painted on their driveway here in santa barbara
i looked at it yesterday and its still there 
its faded a lot
so
you now can barely see the covid 19 virus going down into that dark abyss

we are hoping that thats whats happening now 
the covid 19 virus is starting to fade away

hopefully it will get sucked down into that abyss 

it will only happen if we all do our part
if we dont 
sadly 
it will come back with a vengeance

so to answer the question posed in the title of this blog
which vaccine should you get

the answer is simple 
almost all covid 19 experts say the same thing

the first one thats available

now i got my pfizer covid 19 vaccine at ucla 3 weeks ago and get my second one this weekend
it just so happens that if i could have chosen the vaccine i would have chosen the pfizer one
but if moderna or johnson and johnson or jj had been the one available
there is no way i would have waited
i would have
got

the first one thats available

these are the three that are available right now

they all use mrna technology 
the moderna and pfizer are two shot versions and use mrna in their vaccines which when given in the arm makes your body produce the spike proteins 

the spike proteins are those red things on the virus thats on the mural pictured above
the body then makes antibodies against those spike proteins

an aside here
the virus variants or mutants change up the structure on one or some of the spike proteins 
some of these changes make the new strains much more infectious

the jj vaccine uses mrna to make the spike proteins on a monkey virus
the spike proteins are then given in its jj vaccine
the body then makes antibodies against these spike proteins
the jj vaccine is a one shot vaccine 
it can us regular refrigeration to store it
the jj folks arent as geared up to produce the vaccines as are the moderna or pfizer folks
so it will be awhile before they can reach the millions needed to get us all vaccinated
jj also has had a rocky financial past 

pfizer has changed its requirement for the deep freezer for its vaccine storage 
so its easier to store
pfizer has the best financial history of the three vaccine makers and the best record of making vaccines
moderna still requires deep freezer cold temps to store it
its financial history isnt as good as pfizers

so over all 
i prefer the pfizer
so luckily at ucla thats the one i got
i was randomly assigned to the pfizer shot instead of the moderna one
had i had to take the moderna one i wouldnt have hesitated at all
my wife she got the moderna at a pharmacy 

the pfizer and moderna are around 95% effective
the jj is around 80% effective
when it comes to not dying from covid they all three work

the novavax and the astrazeneca vaccines are coming sometime in the future
they may be good choices when they are available

eventually we will know which works best and which is best for certain folks to use
but
right now we cant wait for all of this to happen

the problem is those two arent available
the three mentioned above are all available now
and
the virus is sadly still available and will be around for months and months and maybe years to come

remember

get the first one thats available

i am 70 years old and am in the high risk category to catch the covid 19 and die from it
just look at the stats of who is dying from covid 19

waiting an extra month or two could have been deadly for me
especially if the fourth surge occurs with those variants or mutations
these are much more contagious
so
more folks will get sick from them than the original ones

this is a graph of the 3 surges so far
you can see the 3rd surge is trending down now but if you look real close at the end of the graph you can see that it may have bottomed out
it may be starting an uptick
or 
that dreaded fourth surge which if it happens will be worse than the last one
it may be just now starting 

why is it happening or will or could it happen

the variants or  mutations
they are just so much more highly contagious than the original one
so
things you use to do that didnt get you infected with the covid 19 now will sadly get you infected

ok so you are young and it wont affect you much 
but
remember thats the way it gets to your parents grandparents vulnerable relatives and friends
through you
yes
i said some of your friends who are diabetic morbid obese asthmatic on immunosuppressive drugs cancer patients and survivors to name a few diseases
yes this virus can harm your younger contacts but will really do damage to your older ones

we have only immunized about 7% of our population 
we need to immunize about 70-80% to really get this pandemic here in the us under some control

if we let our foot off the pedal then that fourth much dreaded surge will happen

if you follow things on social media you can see what folks are doing that already

some states are even removing mandates like masking etc

that will not mode well for that state

remember what others do in other cities other counties other states other countries will eventually trickle back to where you live

so
get the first vaccine available
as i say under my breath all the time to folks
wear your %^&$@(* mask
keep a safe distance
avoid unsafe get togethers or gatherings

do it for the rest of us 

the organicgreen doctor