President Biden got his yesterday.

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The bivalent booster has been available to adults and older children since early September, and its use was expanded to children as young as 5 in October. But data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show fewer than 20 million Americans have received it so far — only 6% of those eligible. That’s a slow start; given expectations for a wave of new cases in the winter months.

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We have waited until now because Moderna vaccine has been very hard to find in our area. Even now, we had to drive to another city outside the Metro to get our shot. But if it really helps, it was worth the trip.

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Other COVID-19 news: The head of the CDC has tested positive for COVID, the Associated Press reported. Rochelle Walensky, who is up to date on her vaccinations, tested positive Friday night and had mild symptoms, the CDC said in a statement. Looks like the newest vaccine doesn't stop COVID. But supposedly, it does lessen the severity for those with a good immune response.

Walensky’s diagnosis follows other officials who have tested positive for Covid-19 and recovered, such as President Biden’s chief medical adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci & US Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra in June & President Joe Biden in July & first lady Jill Biden in August. Walensky was the first one to have had the newest booster shot, aimed at Omicron, when she caught the virus. Ironically, on Sept. 22, Walensky tweeted a picture of herself getting jabbed with an updated version of the COVID-19 shot, along with a message urging others to follow her lead. A month later, she caught COVID.

Since vaccination and boosters currently do not prevent infections nor Long COVID, this is not encouraging.
Twenty to 25% of the people, who contract COVID, will end up with Long COVID. The only way to absolutely prevent Long COVID is to never get infected with COVID. Unfortunately, even the newest vaccines cannot promise that you won't get COVID. For now, masking (proven fairly effective) - plus the current vaccines (as flawed as they may be) - are all we have to control the pandemic. Besides staying up to date on our COVID shots, we also still continue to mask indoors around strangers. I'm respectful of the dangers from the virus.

COVID vaccines need a lot of future refining to keep people really "safe" from getting this unpredictable virus. Nevertheless, being vaccinated & boosted (with what is currently available) is better than not. New COVID deaths are down.

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The U.S. leads the world with 97.2 million reported cases (an undercount) and 1,067,686 fatalities.