Does a recent Booster jab invalidate a positive Covid test?

[Bouleversee]

Apologies if this has been covered before. I am afraid I haven't been following all the items on here for a while.

I have IPF and have been assiduously shielding since Covid arrived to plague us so have had no occasion to do a test until now. However, since Tuesday I have been feeling rotten and at times have had a temperature of almost 39 C. (reducing slightly after taking Paracetamol and last test earlier today showed 37.28 C.), accompanied by all the symptoms of flu. I have an appt. with a GP tomorrow, arranged some time ago, and thought I had better check with the receptionist whether the Doctor would want to see me with a cold and previous high temperature. She said I should take a Covid test, which I did earlier this evening and it showed positive; a very strong line against the T and a somewhat fainter but still clear one against the C which the leaflet says means positive. However, I didn't get chance to tell the receptionist that I had had my Covid booster jab on Saturday afternoon (no immediate reaction and no problems when I had the Pfizer jab twice previously) and I haven't so far come across anything in the long leaflet indicating that a booster would invalidate a test for a period of time. I should mention that in the evening I went out for the first time for yonks as I was determined to hear my son sing the title role in "Sweeney Todd, the Barber of Fleet Street". ( Not having heard him sing since before his voice broke, I was determined not to miss that.) There was another window on the results thingummy lower down with an S against it but no line on that. No idea what that is for.

So what do you experts think? Have I got Covid or is it the booster talking? I am supposed to report the test results at 8.30 a.m. tomorrow. It could be changed for a phone appt. but that won't do as the appt. was for something that needs to be seen, though there are other matters I wouldn't mind discussing as well. I realise that the chances of getting a reply on here before then are somewhat slim but would still be interested to hear your views in due course. TIA.

Bouleversee

[GrahamPlatt]

The vaccination won’t interfere with the test. This means you have Covid. Probably.

[Bouleversee]

It occurred to me belatedly to ask the question on the internet and it confirms what Graham Platt said so it looks as though on my first outing for years I have picked up Covid, definitely. Hopefully all my jabs will mean the effects won't be so lethal as they would have been otherwise.

[monabri]

I agree with GrahamPlatt.

https://www.coventry.gov.uk/health-prot ... D19%20test.

"Myth: I heard that getting vaccinated causes you to test positive for COVID-19.
Truth: COVID-19 vaccines will not cause you to test positive on your COVID-19 test."


https://www.nationalworld.com/health/ca ... ne-3498833

Can a Covid booster cause you to test positive for the virus?
No. None of the Covid vaccines will cause you to test positive for the virus after being jabbed.


https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-nc ... dy%20tests.

https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandso ... you-get-it

"It would be absolutely impossible" to test positive because you got the vaccine, says Jeremy Kamil, a virologist at Louisiana State University Health Shreveport.

This is because the tests are "testing for something not in the vaccine," says Dr. Seth Cohen, an infectious disease physician and medical director of Infection Prevention & Control at the University of Washington Medical Center."

[Mike4]

On the upside as I understand it, anyone vaccinated catching covid anyway will get it far less severely than someone unvaccinated. The main benefit from vaccination is protection from hospitalisation and death.

Hope that helps.

And by the way never take medical advice from a plumber, or so I've heard.

[Bouleversee]

Which is what I was suggesttng in my last post, Mike. I shall certainly try to resist any ttempt to cart me off to hospital.

[Dod101]

Which is what I was suggesttng in my last post, Mike. I shall certainly try to resist any ttempt to cart me off to hospital.

It is nice to see that you are still posting, Bouleversee. I am sorry to hear that you appear to have Covid. I too got my first positive test ever two or three months ago and frankly could not understand what was wrong. I had symptoms of a cold, runny nose, dry throat, a headache and just feeling generally not too good. My daughter persuaded me to test for Covid and to my surprise I tested positive. After a week or ten days, one morning the symptoms lifted and I recovered quickly. I hope they do for you as well.

Incidentally just had my Spring Booster earlier this week.

Dod

[Bouleversee]

Were you required to wear a mask when you had your booster, Dod? The more I think about it, the more I believe that I picked up Covid when I had mine. I think it is crazy that we weren't, My temperature is not so elevated but I can't say I feel much better, My cough is terrible and all I want to do is sleep. Fat chance! Glad to hear you made a good recovery but 10 days is quite a long time to suffer. If my son's experience is anything to go by, the cough can linger for a long time after normal tests resume. Mine is permanent anyway. Did you retest at some point? I'm wondering how soon I should do this. It looks as though will never gain immunity from this virus. It would be interesting to know whether it is the same version as was doing the rounds earlier in the year. In the meantime, back to the sofa for me, having been up late last night and early this morning watering my garden. Looks as though the weather is going to be the same as last year, with me spending hours a day on this boring task, despite which quite a lot of things have died.

[servodude]

Were you required to wear a mask when you had your booster, Dod? The more I think about it, the more I believe that I picked up Covid when I had mine.

My first covid bout was picked up at a jab appointment - dangerous places surgeries
Everyone was masked but there was "a lot of it about" st the time

Next pandemic I hope they offer alfresco shots

[Dod101]

Were you required to wear a mask when you had your booster, Dod? The more I think about it, the more I believe that I picked up Covid when I had mine. I think it is crazy that we weren't, My temperature is not so elevated but I can't say I feel much better, My cough is terrible and all I want to do is sleep. Fat chance! Glad to hear you made a good recovery but 10 days is quite a long time to suffer. If my son's experience is anything to go by, the cough can linger for a long time after normal tests resume. Mine is permanent anyway. Did you retest at some point? I'm wondering how soon I should do this. It looks as though will never gain immunity from this virus. It would be interesting to know whether it is the same version as was doing the rounds earlier in the year. In the meantime, back to the sofa for me, having been up late last night and early this morning watering my garden. Looks as though the weather is going to be the same as last year, with me spending hours a day on this boring task, despite which quite a lot of things have died.

Last week when I had my booster we were not required to wear a mask and that is the first time for me not to in any sort of hospital/surgery setting. These days I need to go to our local hospital for tests from time to time for what now seems to be a chronic condition (nothing to do with Covid) and I have so far had to wear a mask so this was a real novelty for me. A few people were still wearing a mask but the majority were not.

As I indicated it was quite late on after I got what were clearly covid indications that I tested and found that I was positive, but after a couple of days I was negative and my symptoms then had just disappeared one morning when I awoke. I could feel the difference immediately and have no lingering cough or anything else. It was all in all a weird experience. Looking back on it, the symptoms crept up on me, a runny nose, a dry cough, a headache and generally feeling bloody awful, a realisation that it might be covid (I had never had it before) a test, and a positive result. Then within another two or three days, they all just disappeared and I was back to normal. So about a couple of weeks in all.

I hope you feel better soon because this time of year is when to be outside enjoying your garden and generally enjoying the sunshine. Wear a hat!

All the best

Dod

[Bouleversee]

Thanks for response, Dod. Difficult to understand the rationale behind the change of mask policy in hospitals/test centres, especially since no immunity is achieved by infection and even if the disease is less severe after several vaccinations, it is still unpleasant and extremely inconvenient. Once again (as for some years at Christmas etc.) I find myself alone at a Bank Holiday and on this occasion quite unwell to boot. I retested myself last night (because my daughter said she was planning to come and see me today) and it was even more strongly positive so she didn't come.

I could, of course, have elected to wear a mask myself but last time I read about masks the opinion was that doing so didn't necessarily protect you from being infected but if already infected wearing one would likely prevent your infecting others. Has that view changed now?

[scotia]

Last week when I had my booster we were not required to wear a mask and that is the first time for me not to in any sort of hospital/surgery setting. These days I need to go to our local hospital for tests from time to time for what now seems to be a chronic condition (nothing to do with Covid) and I have so far had to wear a mask so this was a real novelty for me. A few people were still wearing a mask but the majority were not.

I believe that the advice from the Scottish Government was that there was no requirement to wear masks in medical establishments from the 16th of May. I had a hospital appointment on the 16th of May, and the notices at the entry to hospital still required the wearing of a mask - but I seemed to be the only person wearing one. At one of the tests on an optical instrument, I was asked if I really wanted to wear a mask, since there would be a need to get a nose clip for my mask to avoid fogging the test apparatus. I took the mask off.

[scotia]

Once again (as for some years at Christmas etc.) I find myself alone at a Bank Holiday and on this occasion quite unwell to boot. I retested myself last night (because my daughter said she was planning to come and see me today) and it was even more strongly positive so she didn't come.

Sorry to hear that you were unlucky to get infected. We are both in our upper 70s, and are fully boosted. We have been lucky to avoid Covid, and are now getting back to a reasonably normal lifestyle.