Peter Lederman in Second Bout With COVID-19

Dear LEWM:

Yes, first Covid infection April of 2020, verified by PCR test. Dont know what "strain" I had. Cardiac surgeon who initially visited me after transfer to WMC said my history was "frightening and did not bode well for Covid". Yes, you would think they would want to research what happened. I would not be surprised if the 6 women who got J&J HAD covid when they got the shot. Maybe similar( ?) in what happened to me - What DOES happen when you have covid, have an immune response, and THEN get a (first or second, like me) vaccine at the same time? I would think (a lay persons thoughts) a huge step up in immune reaction, maybe one that throws clots.

@retipper 

Thanks for letting us know, Peter. It's a relief that you are in the process of recovery.

retipper,

Is it ok to assume that this second bout was also confirmed by a PCR test?

In any case, we are all rooting for your speedy recovery.

It's a cautionary tale that you and your people got so sick, despite such heroic precautions.

Peter, no, the ( much more than 6) women (and men but mostly women) who had clotting problems after the JJ (and the AZ) vaccine were not virus-infected. They had a very rare auto-immune reaction to their own platelets due to the fact that adenovirus binds to platelets. What you seem to have had is exceedingly bad luck plus possibly a second infection with a virus that escapes the immunizing effect of the Pfizer vaccine, which is typically very protective even after only one dose. The ongoing data for the vaccines otherwise suggests that vaccinees constitute way way less than 1% of those developing clinical illness, let alone the severe disease you suffered. Which is why I’m wondering about an escape mutant virus. Most if not all of the “variants” that you read about every day are not fully resistant to the vaccine effect.  Which is to say vaccinated persons are most likely protected from them. (We don’t yet have a surrogate test for efficacy which is why I’m not making absolute statements. The surrogate will probably be some level of neutralizing antibody in blood.)