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Comment by umvi | Hacker News Reader

Around half of my immediate family members had pretty bad reactions to the booster (fever/chills, aches for several days). And all of them got omicron anyway and had the same symptoms as family members who hadn't gotten the booster. I'm debating getting the booster but part of me thinks "why punish myself with high probability of fever/chills if in all likelihood I'm just going to get omicron anyway and suffer the same symptoms as everyone else"

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The data so far suggests that the booster grants substantial protection against severe disease with omicron. If anecdotally there doesn't appear much difference in your circle, that's much weaker evidence. I would still recommend it. Also my parents got the booster with no side effects of note, so not everybody reacts that way.

> If anecdotally there doesn't appear much difference in your circle, that's much weaker evidence

You can't compare studies looking at the population average with someone's specific social circle. Young people have a near-zero chance of getting severe disease anyway.

"substantial protection against severe disease with omicron" is irrelevant when the chance of severe disease is so low.

COVID was the #1 cause of death in the USA in 2020. Not just for morbidly obese 70+ year olds etc. Anyone saying that something which has killed near 1 million people just in the USA in the last two years is a minor risk are just flat wrong.

Does it really? Across age demographics and other risk factors when compared with those with 2 shots (who from data I’ve seen aren’t getting severe disease because of the protection from the vaccination)? That would surprise me and isn’t what I’ve seen. Would love to see what you’re referring to.

"why give my body more tools to fight off infection?" This is a strange question to me.

But they're still alive...The entire point of getting vaccinated is to keep you out of the hospital from severe symptoms or dying. A small chance of a slight cold for a few days is worth the tradeoff vs. suffocating to death from a preventable airborne disease.

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