Here's a great example of vaccination in my family and how it's affecting our exposure to covid.
Brother and sister in law are unvaccinated (Brother in law had one J&J shot, was due to get his second this week). Sister in law refused to get vaccinated.
- Brother in law had symptoms just like the flu - positive for covid, fever, body aches, chills, nasal congestion.
- Sister in law has monster headaches and nausea so far. Haven't heard from them this morning to see if she's doing any better or worse. She tested positive yesterday, but was negative on a home test on Monday.
- Their 14 year old son is asypmtomaic so far.
My family
- Daughter had two child doses of Pfizer vaccine. She had a fever that got as high as 100.4, maybe 100.9 before bedtime. It went away within 24 hours. She basically has a cold right now - sneezing, sniffling. Barely coughing.
- Wife and I have 3 doses of Pfizer (two originals, plus a booster). Each of us has just felt slightly woozy and "off." I have minor sniffles, but not enough to even say I have a cold. We each have some headaches and tiredness, but it's not keeping us from doing our jobs, housework, and taking care of the kids. It feels like when we got our boosters, where we were just tired and woozy as side effects. To get the same reaction from actual exposure to the virus means that the vaccine is doing exactly what it should be doing.
My brother and sister in law are getting hit harder by covid than my wife and I. It's barely affecting us at all, and each of them is feeling pretty sick. Survivable, yes. But they are sick enough to miss work, sick enough to be stuck in bed, and out of commission. Yesterday, my wife and I tested negative, even though we were starting to feel symptoms. We'll probably take another home test tomorrow. if it's still negative, than the vaccine is keeping our viral presence so low that it doesn't register on a test and we're likely not very contagious.
This is on par with what medical experts are saying - two doses of an mRNA vaccine and you'll feel sick, but won't end up in bed for days or in the hospital (like my daughter). Three doses of an mRNA vaccine and this strain of the virus barely even fazes you. See below and quote.
https://wgntv.com/news/coronavirus/how-long-after-contracting-covid-19-can-i-get-it-again-and-other-reinfection-questions-answered/?fbclid=IwAR1rBLiBN1kDb2KoXWCHq9oE6Jebv0sSMeZhSkmYvpqm7o7UltkO-20EWZA“My impression is that we have more breakthrough infections in people who have their first two shots but not the booster. The one thing that’s always extremely important — people sometimes go, ‘Well if I’m going to get reinfected, if I’m going to have a breakthrough infection, why should I get vaccinated?’ The real issue is, if you have a breakthrough infection, it’s likely to be very mild. We have seen breakthrough infections, but they tend to be something that resembles a minor cold, a slight increase in allergies. We have people who get sicker, but they rarely end up in the hospital.”