Vaccines, the Omicron Variant, and Getting Your Booster Shot

Here’s what you need to know about how well the vaccines are working in the face of the omicron variant and the best timing for getting your booster shot.

1. Does my COVID-19 vaccine not work anymore?

Yes and no.

Two shots of a vaccine — whether it’s Pfizer or Moderna — do still offer protection against severe disease, researchers in South Africa have found. In a study with about 78,000 omicron cases, getting two shots of Pfizer cut a person’s risk of hospitalization by about 70% across all age groups.

But when it comes to stopping an infection, two shots isn’t enough, the researchers found. The vaccine’s effectiveness against an infection with omicron was only about 30%, which means breakthrough infections will be extremely common with this new variant.

2. How much does the booster help?

Probably a lot – against infection.

Laboratory studies have shown that antibodies, after only two shots, are 40 to 50 times less potent against omicron than against previous variants.

“We found that only 32% of people who received Moderna, even if it was recently, had detectable neutralization ability against omicron,” says immunologist Wilfredo Garcia Beltran, who’s a fellow at the Ragon Institute of Massachusetts General Hospital.

But after the booster shot, that percentage goes up dramatically, he says: “If you boost everyone, the numbers look amazing.”seen in the early period after a booster dose,” the U.K. Health Security Agency reported two weeks ago.

Altogether, these studies show that a third dose gives you the best chance of preventing an omicron infection this winter. For some young and healthy people, catching a mild case of omicron might not be that big of a burden, but a booster still reduces your risk of spreading it to older loved ones or other vulnerable people

3. I got my primary dose four months ago and was told to wait until six months for a booster. Do I have to wait, or can I get a booster now?

Officially, adults are eligible for a booster two months after the J&J vaccine and six months after your second dose of Pfizer or Moderna. Right now, that’s still the official recommendation.

However, because two shots provide such little protection against an infection with omicron, doctors and scientists are shifting their recommendation a bit about the timing of the booster after the mRNA vaccines.

The original six-month recommendation is based on “the ideal spacing between three-dose vaccine regimens,” Dr. Monica Gandhi, who’s an infectious disease specialist at the University of California, San Francisco, said.

But with omicron about to surge, she says, getting a boost in antibodies earlier might be worth it.

“There is probably no harm in speeding up to boost antibodies,” she writes, just as long as you wait at least three months from the second shot.

Excerpted from “The vaccines work against severe disease. Here’s why boosters are still a good idea” from NPR. Read the full article online for more details and the answers to the following questions:

  • How does a booster work to improve protection against a new variant like omicron? And why do we have to wait several months to get one?
  • How fast will the booster work?
  • How long will the protection from the booster last?
Source: NPR |The vaccines work against severe disease. Here’s why boosters are still a good idea, https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2021/12/22/1066315800/the-vaccines-work-against-severe-disease-heres-why-boosters-are-still-a-good-ide | © 2022 npr

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