Did you receive the Covid Vaccine?

Nkb, thank you for the additional information. It's sobering. Also a bit confusing, with Chowdog's comment on transplant patients needing their immune system wiped out so as not to reject the organ. Since that's not the issue we on Xeloda face, is there a difference? I will be interested to hear what your MO has to say.

The other thing is, I had Covid in January after being on Xeloda almost a year. So did it produce antibodies? If so, how long do those antibodies last? No one seems to know yet. When I got the vaccine, I had side effects that mimicked the ones I had with Covid—chills, mild fever, nausea. Does that mean my body recognized it and therefore created antibodies needed to defend getting the virus?

Ohio is lifting its mask mandate June 1st.

Devine- good questions! That is awesome news about your antibodies! I wonder how much is from covid and how much from the vaccine? I have a feeling that many MOs won’t want to do the testbecause they don’t know what to do if you don’t make antibodies. I don’t know how accurate these tests are, but, I think going positive right away is a very good sign! Yay!!

Divine, this is great and reassuring that we may be generate enough immune response or antibodies.

To be honest, i am more concerned about the CDC's new mask guideline. How do we know who is fully vaccinated or not, lets say the grocery store? I am fully vaccinated but I am going to double mask for a few weeks and see if cases tick up again after the new mask guideline.

Lilly, I am concerned that unvaccinated people claiming they are vaccinated and refuse to wear masks, particularly like grocery stores. It sounded like this is going to be based on the honor system. however, given all the push back against masks in the past 18 months, I really do not trust people will be honest. moreover, we are still averaging >30K cases/week. With most of kids not being vaccinated and the general population (those who qualified around ~4/15) barely fully vaccinated, it just feels too soon to lift mask mandate. I really hope this won't back fire.

I have several friends without immunosuppression who are vaccinated and tell me they will continue to wear masks indoors for a good long time. Also Fauci said we should all wear masks December January and February to avoid the flu- if you get the flu then getting covid is much more dangerous. My daughter is a teacher and says she will definitely put the mask back on at school for those months to cut down on illness.

Who knows how long the vaccines will be effective even for those who have great antibodies. So many questions without answers

Shetland and others- I did talk to my MO about this today- she said that there are too many unknowns and many things are being studied - when I asked about Xeloda in particular she said it wasn't as hard on the immune system as many other drugs and didn't affect the T and B cell immunity- I hope all that is true. she said that the CDC will make a recommendation when they have the data. she also said most of the medical personnel are almost 6 months out on their vaccines and the data about whether they will need a booster will be forthcoming.

KN95 masks come in colors now.

SheltandPony, exactly!

Nkb, thank you for asking your MO!

Sorry for more venting about the new CDC mask guideline. I am disappointed that cancer patients as a group are being leftover to fend for ourselves again. The immunocompromised group gets a little disclaimer on the CDC "When you've been fully vaccinated page". https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines...

"If you have a condition or are taking medications that weaken your immune system, you may NOT be fully protected even if you are fully vaccinated. Talk to your healthcare provider. Even after vaccination, you may need to continue taking all precautions."

If CDC/State wants to ease mask mandates, there should be a process in place to verify vaccination status. Soon or later, I am going to have to go back to office, where I will encounter people from other companies in the building. What should I do if a maskless person trying to share the elevator with me? ask that person if she/he has been vaccinated or wait for another one?

LOL, Denny, great idea!

Isn't there a surplus of the vaccine at this point? Since about January, people rushed to get the vaccine as soon as they were eligible if it was available. Then the beginning of May, wasn't it open to everyone to get it? So who are the people that aren't vaccinated at this point? A certain percentage are people who don't ever plan to get the vaccine. At my age, I understand human nature works that way and you'll always have those kinds of people. And lots of people will just plain lie; if you ask if they got the vaccine and they didn't, they can just say yes. Also human nature. Unfortunately, the vaccine got politicized so we have to deal with the fall out from that part of the equation.

I just read an opinion piece saying that very thing and that this mask removal was not a great idea. It also said that many countries have vaccine passports- a code on your phone that you must use to get into certain areas and we don't have It- so we are going to use the honor system!!! Many countries use these codes as carrots- can't go to a museum without one etc. Can't go to meetings at work or the cafeteria etc. I am sure that people would complain about it, but, without it the honor system is a weak substitute.
On the other hand you could win 1 M dollars in ohio

Good luck Mrs M! I think that we are related???

I wish that all states did this since it might be the only way that the anti-maskers would get the vaccines.

Good luck, Divine!

Nkb, LA times says CA is reviewing the CDC guideline. Costco, Trader Joes, Sams club.. all announced that masks are not required anymore for fully vaccinated people except like you said, no way to verify.. sigh...

ShetlandPony- Yep. Exactly how I see it.

To All: I do not trust the honour system. Anti-maskers/anti-vaxers will lie if they are challenged. I don't mind the idea of a vaccine passport but not everyone has a smart phone to prove it. I just use a flip-phone for emergencies. I have a little vaccine card in my wallet. Will that suffice?

Thank you, ladies, for sharing the same concern as me. I've tried to reason with people on twitter but have been called things like "anti science", "the 0.01% can stay at home", "immunocomprosed has other things to worry about. how did you survive the flu" to "idiot". Now, not all of them are anti mask/anti vaccine. some of them are vaccinated but are just done with the pandemic and are ready to move on. I really really hope this does not set us back again. In the mean time, I hope everyone of us keep masking, use common sense and stay safe.

Elderberry, you vaccine card should be enough. I would recommend make a copy of it and carry the copy with you. I highly doubt anybody would check.