Why I changed my mind

By Alex P. Vidal

 

“The way of fools seems right to them, but the wise listen to advice.”

—Proverbs 12-15

AFTER weeks of dilly-dallying, I have finally decided to take a Covid-19 vaccine and my schedule is on April 19 at the Citi Field in Flushing here in Queens, NYC.

My decision to delay my vaccination had something to do with my obsession with the one-dose Johnson & Johnson until news broke out recently that it had been paused (it was not recalled contrary to some reports).

Like many of my friends in Queens, I preferred J&J over Pfizer and Moderna because of the single-dose as early as the first week of March (my original schedule in Brooklyn), but recent developments changed my mind.

I am now willing to take the vaccine from either Pfizer or Moderna on April 19. I have no right to be choosy.

News that six women developed a rare blood clotting disorder after receiving Johnson & Johnson’s Covid-19 vaccine has prompted new questions about whether vaccines affect women differently than men, and whether there are special considerations that women should take into account when getting vaccinated.

The U.S. health agencies on April 13 called for an immediate pause in the use of Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose Covid-19 vaccine after six recipients in the United States developed a rare disorder involving blood clots within one to three weeks of vaccination.

Also, all 50 states, Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico temporarily halted or recommended providers pause the use of the vaccine.

The U.S. military, federally run vaccination sites and a host of private companies, including CVS, Walgreens, Rite Aid, Walmart and Publix, also paused the injections.

Fewer than one in a million Johnson & Johnson vaccinations are reportedly now under investigation.

If there is indeed a risk of blood clots from the vaccine—which has yet to be determined—that risk is extremely low, according to health authorities. The risk of getting Covid-19 in the United States is reportedly far higher.

It was reported that the pause could complicate the nation’s vaccination efforts at a time when many states are confronting a surge in new cases and seeking to address vaccine hesitancy.

Johnson & Johnson has also decided to delay the rollout of its vaccine in Europe amid concerns over rare blood clots, dealing another blow to Europe’s inoculation push.

South Africa, devastated by a more contagious virus variant that emerged there, suspended use of the vaccine as well.

Australia announced it would not purchase any doses.

 

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Women appear to have more side effects after vaccination than men, according to New York Times’ Christina Caron.

She said a study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, published in February, examined the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines and found that 79 percent of the side effects reported to the agency came from women, even though only 61 percent of the vaccines had been administered to women.

It could be that women are more likely to report side effects than men, said Dr. Sabra L. Klein, a professor of molecular microbiology and immunology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Or, she added, women might be experiencing side effects to a greater degree. “We’re not sure which it is,” she said.

If women are in fact having more side effects than men, there might be a biological explanation: Women and girls can produce up to twice as many antibodies after receiving flu shots and vaccines for measles, mumps and rubella (M.M.R.) and hepatitis A and B, probably because of a mix of factors, including reproductive hormones and genetic differences.

A study found that over nearly three decades, women accounted for 80 percent of all adult allergic reactions to vaccines.

Similarly, the C.D.C. reported that most of the anaphylactic reactions to Covid-19 vaccines, while rare, have occurred among women.

And in a letter published in the New England Journal of Medicine describing the experiences of people who had redness, itching and swelling that began four to 11 days after the first shot of the Moderna vaccine, 10 of the 12 patients were women.

It is not clear, however, whether women are more prone to the problem.

If you have mild side effects like headache or a low fever, it’s actually a good thing, Dr. Klein said, because it means your immune system is ramping up.

A lack of side effects, however, does not mean the vaccine isn’t working.

 

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The most destructive insect in the world is the desert locust (Schistocera gregaria), the locust of the Bible, whose habitat ranges from the dry and semi-arid regions of Africa and the Middle East, through Pakistan and northern India. (Carneigie Library of Pittsburg)

According to sex therapist Mark Pines, having abusive parents can lead to sex addiction.

Pines has a practice in Irvine, California. He told the Orange County Register in an article dated April 9, 2010 that “it’s common for men who cheat to have a bottomless need for adoration.”

 

(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two dailies in Iloilo)