I'm one of the lucky ones who thus far have not had this nasty virus. I've had every dose of vaccine I've been able to get, four shots thus far if I recall correctly. My wife, who has also had all the current shots did catch it last year through her work and was pretty ill for a week with it and has a lingering cough that requires her to use an inhaler to suppress. It has reduced in frequency for her, but comes up still occasionally. I was in close contact with her for a few days when she first started to feel ill but was testing negative and still I never got sick. I tested repeatedly at that time to be sure and never had symptoms or positive results. I did choose to keep my outside contacts at a minimum just to be sure, including not visiting my Mom who is in long term care, until I was well past the potential time of being infected.
We have not been overly cautious since about trying to avoid contracting it, we've travelled, we've been in large crowds, we've not masked unless required. I will be going in soon to get the next dose as well as my annual flu shot. I have an extended trip to South America coming up and want to ensure the best hope of not interrupting it with illness. My experience tells me that the vaccines work.
