Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Announce research Friday provided actual US figures for booster effectiveness for both delta and omicron variants of COVID-19.
This study analyzed cases from 383 emergency departments, emergency clinics, and 259 hospitals in 10 states from August 26 to January 5. Only for people over the age of 18.
The study found that the mRNA vaccines produced by Pfizer and Moderna were less effective 180 days after the second dose. The effect went from 94% to 82% to keep people away from the emergency room and emergency treatment, and from 94% to 90% to prevent people from being hospitalized.
The study also showed the difference in efficacy in the delta compared to Omicron and how boosters played a role after being introduced in the fall. During the Delta period, the effectiveness of the vaccine for emergency room and emergency visits increased from 86% 2 weeks to 6 months after the second dose to 76% 6 months after the second dose. More than 2 weeks after the third dose, the efficacy was 94%.
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For hospitalizations during the Delta period, efficacy was 90% in the first 6 months after the second dose, 81% in the 6 months after the second dose, and 94% after the third dose.
With Omicron, its effectiveness for emergency treatment and visits to the emergency room is 52% within 6 months of the second dose to 38% 6 months after the second dose, after booster immunization. It became 82%.
For hospitalizations during Omicron, these numbers ranged from 81% within 6 months of the second dose to 57% 6 months after the second dose and 90% from the third dose.
“That’s great news,” said Dr. Manjusha Gagrani, director of the Vaccine and Infectious Diseases Research Center and head of pediatric infectious diseases at Baylor Scott & White Health. The boost is working, she said, and this study really points out the need to do so.
People who have not been vaccinated or have not been boosted for 6 months after vaccination are “currently at the highest risk,” Gagrani said. “You need to go ahead and get a booster.”
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Timing to get a booster
The Food and Drug Administration and the CDC currently recommend that people over the age of 12 get a booster shot five months after receiving their second Pfizer or Moderna vaccine. Johnson & Johnson’s boost is given two months after the vaccine, which was initially considered a single-dose vaccine.
You do not need to get the same vaccine for the booster effect. For Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson, the booster is the same dose as the first booster. For Moderna, the booster is half the dose.
People believed to have weakened immunity were able to begin taking a third shot in August before boosters were recommended for all adults. These third doses are not considered booster. Five months after the third dose, they can get a booster.
“If five months have passed since the third dose, these people are a top priority,” says Gaglani. “We want to catch up with the best protection they can have.”
There have been no new safety concerns since people started getting boosters, she said. Boosters should only be taken by those who have a severe response to the vaccine or who are allergic to the vaccine components commonly found in other vaccines.
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Rethink the effect
When the vaccine was first launched, efficacy was measured by infection rate and breakthrough cases. Currently, we really believe that vaccines are effective for hospitalizations and visits to emergency rooms.
“The focus isn’t on the ED and it’s not overwhelming the hospital system,” Gagrani said.
Obtaining boosters is also important to prevent other varieties and allow you to return to a more normal life.
“Currently, the burden of infection is so high that the virus is controlled,” she said. “We need to be boosted to reduce the chances of the virus mutating. We are out of date.”
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In Austin last week, 681 were hospitalized with COVID-19, 152 of whom were hospitalized in the ICU and 68 of whom were ventilated. The number of people hospitalized during the pandemic was the highest, and the average number of new hospitalizations during the seven days since the pandemic began was the highest.
The spread of Omicron may help us reach more herd immunity, but “it sacrifices people’s lives. It causes many really ill hospitalizations, including children. I. We are not in a good place, “Gagrani said.
By keeping up with vaccination and booster immunization, we hope that COVID-19 will become seasonal and prevent death.
“When we can control it like the flu season, we live with it as we go,” she said.
