The fact that “fully vaccinated” is not boosted does not stop Omicron

Two shots of the COVID-19 vaccine without additional boosters essentially do not provide sustained protection against infection by Omicron, and coronavirus infection is a recent booster shot in preventing disease of the new Omicron fuel. Researchers reported on Wednesday that it was just as effective.

at the same time, Highly contagious variantsResearchers have found that either infection or vaccination appears to provide significant and lasting protection against serious illness, hospitalization and death. And if you don’t have the virus or the vaccine, the doctor urged, it’s better to get a jab.

The resultIt provides some of the best understandings of the lifespan of different types of coronavirus immunity published in the New England Journal of Medicine and provides insights into the future of the pandemic.

“COVID-19 will be with us essentially forever. It’s not really going to disappear. But the problem is: Can we manage to live with it?” ?” Said Wraith Jamal Abradad, Weill Cornell Medicine-Infectious disease epidemiologist in Qatar and co-author of this study. “And the first result we are getting is actually very encouraging.”

This survey is the latest survey of national data from Qatar, a small country in the Middle East with a population of just under 3 million.

Qatar’s population is considerably younger than most developed countries. Only 9% of residents are over 50 years old, compared to about 35% in the United States. It is also more diverse considering that 89% of residents are expatriates from 150 other countries. The country also has a centralized public health database that provides researchers with a powerful coronavirus testing program, high COVID-19 vaccine intake, and clean and clear data to analyze vaccine efficacy over time. there is.

In this latest study, researchers examined the data as the Omicron subvarieties known as BA.1 and BA.2 tore the country’s population from late December to late February.

They received both shots of the Comirnaty vaccine from Pfizer and BioNTech, or Spikevax shots from Moderna when they first became available, but neglected to strengthen the immune system with booster shots. People have found that there is essentially no protection against mild to moderate COVID-19. Six months after the last shot, they were as vulnerable to positive tests and illness symptoms as anyone else, but still showed strong resistance to severe illness.

Previous infections were about 46% effective in preventing symptomatic infections.To be Fully vaccinated and boosted There was an effect of about 52%. And having innate immunity from previous infections and immunity from vaccines and boosters was most effective, reducing the risk of COVID-19 by 77%.

These numbers represent a sharp decline from the early days of the vaccine, and clinical trials have shown that it is 94% to 95% effective in preventing even mild illnesses. However, as the coronavirus accumulates mutations, the vaccine becomes less effective at recognizing the virus and blocking the infection.

“Immune avoidance is very high,” Omicron said. It is an “essentially new virus”.

The passage of time since the last boost of immunity due to either an infection or a seizure also erodes the body’s resistance to the types of infections that induce prominent symptoms and is the second pink color in home tests. Draw a line.

“But I think this is a really important part. Immunity to severe COVID-19 was very well maintained,” said Radad.

Past infections may sound as useful as vaccines against Omicron, but doctors have a clear preference: shoot, not the virus.

“It’s definitely much safer to get vaccinated than to get infected,” he said. Dr. Jeffrey KlausnerInfectious Disease Specialist at Keck School of Medicine, USC.

“The vaccine presents only a small portion of the virus,” Klausner said. “When the entire virus is infected, it spreads throughout the body, causing different symptoms in different parts of the body, increasing the risk of prolonged COVID and prolonged illness.”

Previous research Omicron documentation Gnawing ability Avoid existing vaccine antibodies.

Data from the Qatar group add to its work by shedding light on the lifespan of immunity, he said. Dr. Robert “Chip” Scourie, University of California, San Diego, Infectious Disease Specialist. “They have done a much better job than we do in understanding the decline of the immune response in the United States,” he said.

“If you’re vaccinated and reasonably healthy, getting COVID right now is more of a pain than a life-threatening event for most people,” Scholey said. .. “This is very different from two years ago, when we had a large, non-immune population and were first infected with the virus.

“Now there are viruses that many of us have seen in vaccination, infection, or a combination of both,” he added. “The stadium is much more equal.”