[2021-05-14] COVID vaccine: second dose
Today, I received my second dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID vaccine. I feel fortunate that Ontario has prioritized cancer patients for second doses. As I explained here and here, a UK study found that cancer patients experience a much lower antibody response after one dose than non-cancer patients. In its article of a few days ago, The Guardian explained the findings of the study and the difference in response for cancer patients after one dose vs. two doses:
A study from King’s College London and the Francis Crick Institute—which has not yet been peer reviewed—found that three weeks after the first jab antibody responses were found in 39% of people with solid cancers and 13% of people with blood cancer.
This compared with 97% of people with no cancer, according to the research on 205 people—151 with cancer and 54 healthy controls.
Cancer patients given a second dose of the vaccine three weeks after the first—as recommended by Pfizer—had a much better immune response, with 95% of those with solid tumours showing detectable antibodies.
My second dose comes 24 days after my first. It gives me comfort to think that, in a few weeks, my immune response may match what others have achieved with just one dose.
In other news, my natural pixie cut continues to fill in. Months ago, as my chemotherapy was getting underway, a fellow cancer survivor told me that he was curious to know what my post-chemo hair would look like. I had heard stories of straight hair becoming curly, and blonde hair becoming brunette. I facetiously speculated whether my curly, salt-and-pepper hair might become straight and blonde. Well, the blonde part didn't materialize—my hair is about the same colour as it was before cancer—but the straight part did. At first, I thought that my hair was straight simply because it was so short. But at 2 cm, it's still as straight as can be. Perhaps the curl will come with time, but, for now, the change amuses me.
