Extensive research shows the great benefits of COVID-19 booster shots

In a study that could stimulate US support for booster shots, scientists said Israel’s aggressive campaign to enhance the decline in coronavirus immunity with a third dose of the COVID-19 vaccine in the age group. We have found that we have saved lives and reduced new infections as a whole.

Booster shots reduced cases of severe COVID-19 and death in elderly Israelis and reduced infections in the elderly and middle-aged adults. NS research show. However, boosters prevented the most dramatic new infections between the ages of 16 and 29. This is a potentially widespread discovery.

During this fall, when coronavirus infections in Israel are on the rise, older adolescents and adults under the age of 50 who received a third dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine were vaccinated without booster immunization. The test was positive, which was 13 times lower than that of my fellow vaccinations. Its protective effect began two weeks after the third jab and continued for several more weeks until the end of the study period.

Israelis over the age of 50 who received a booster shot were about one-tenth more likely to test positive for infection than their non-boostered peers while being followed. This period lasted for two months.

Boosted Israelis over the age of 60 have reduced their risk of becoming severe with COVID-19 by a factor of 12 compared to respondents who did not take a third shot. And in these older people, boosters reduced COVID-19 mortality by a factor of 15.

NS Second studyTracked more than 50 Israelis and followed them for eight weeks, but found a similar level of protection. Those who received the booster were one-tenth more likely to die of COVID-19 than their vaccinated companions who did not receive the third dose.

Both studies were published in the New England Journal of Medicine on Wednesday.

The moment many vaccinated Americans hesitate to get booster shots, Uncertain risks posed by Omicron variants — New studies suggest that additional doses can make a strong difference. Findings suggest that boosters, when widely used, delay viral infections and stop further waves of serious illness and death among the elderly.

Indeed, the authors of both studies expressed hope that their results would encourage other countries to increase their support for booster shots — especially for adults under the age of 65.

In Israel, as in the United States, the majority of coronavirus infections are due to delta mutations.But health authorities are preparing for that possibility Rapidly spreading Omicron variants may replace Delta..

Coincidentally, new research will come the next day With Pfizer BioNTech Admitted Two doses of the vaccine “may not be sufficient to prevent infection by the Omicron mutant.”

A lab test in which Omicron was pitted into the sera of a person who received two doses of the vaccine compared to the original version of the coronavirus detected a 25-fold reduction in neutralizing antibodies, an immune protein that blocks the virus. it was done.

Dr. Ugur Sahin, CEO of BioNTech, said: But “widespread use of boosters around the world can better protect people around the world and survive the winter season,” he added.

Pfizer and BioNTech reiterated that they could prepare a vaccine tailored to Omicron within 100 days.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, Senior Advisor to President Biden on Pandemics, On Wednesday, a preliminary report from Pfizer said, “It makes me breathe a little better.”

To look around every corner of the pandemic, U.S. health authorities have relied heavily on Israel’s well-documented experience, an 8.8 million country with a national health system that relies solely on the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. I did.

Israeli vaccination campaigns are consistently one step ahead of US vaccination campaigns. Researchers in a small Jewish state were one of the first to observe vaccine-induced immune decline. The Israeli government responded swiftly to the news by launching a nearly universal booster campaign at the end of the summer. The third shot was available on July 30, with Israelis over the age of 60, and all 12 vaccinated Israelis, and more than a month later.

The study, published Wednesday, is the first to measure the effects of boosters on a large scale and in a wide range of age groups. One of those studies was drawn from a national database of approximately 4.7 million Israelis aged 16 and over who obtained at least two shots of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. Another study followed 843,208 Israeli deaths over the age of 50 from COVID-19.

Their main limitation is the relatively short span. Immunity is acquired within just 5 or 12 weeks after boosting, but establishes a rigorous baseline for further tracking.

“Understanding the protective effects of boosters in the younger age group is the key to shaping public health policies,” he said. Yinon M. Bar-On Of the Weizmann Institute of Science. “Booster vaccination programs may provide a way to control infection without costly social distance measurements and quarantine.”

The two studies “strengthen the notion that from a scientific point of view, the mRNA vaccine should actually be considered as a series of triple doses.” Dr. William Schaffner, Vanderbilt University Infectious Disease Specialist. This is, for example, the pattern of immunity deepening found in vaccines that prevent hepatitis B, he said.

Omicron variant exists In more than 20 states, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Recommended All fully vaccinated adults will receive a booster at least 6 months after the second dose of the mRNA vaccine, or 2 months after the single dose of Johnson & Johnson. So far, only 26% of eligible adults have done so.

Americans who want to maintain a high level of protection should pay attention to these new discoveries, Schaffner said.

“Boosters are really good,” Schaffner said.

Schaffner said he was particularly intrigued by the discovery that boosters reduced infections among Israelis aged 16-29.

Young people in many parts of the United States “play a major role” in keeping new cases high, he said. However, many experts argue that they should not be swept away by the full call for booster shots, as they are unlikely to be hospitalized for COVID-19.