<
https://edition.cnn.com/2022/11/22/health/vaccine-effectiveness-bivalent-boosters-cdc/index.html>
"Updated Covid-19 boosters that carry instructions to arm the body against
currently circulating Omicron subvariants offer some protection against
infections, according to the first study to look at how the boosters are
performing in the real world. However, the protection is not as high as that
provided by the original vaccine against earlier coronavirus variants, the
researchers say.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious
Diseases, called the new data “really quite good.”
“Please, for your own safety, for that of your family, get your updated
Covid-19 shot as soon as you’re eligible to protect yourself, your family and
your community,” Fauci said at a White House briefing Tuesday.
Uptake of the bivalent boosters, which protect against the BA.4/5 subvariants
as well as the original virus strain, has been remarkably slow. Only 11% of
eligible Americans have gotten them since they became available in early
September.
The new study found that the updated boosters work about like the original
boosters. They protect against symptomatic infection in the range of 40% to
60%, meaning that even when vaccine protection is its most potent, about a
month after getting the shot, people may still be vulnerable to breakthrough
infections.
That’s in about the same range as typical efficacy for flu vaccines. Over the
past 10 years, CDC data shows, the effectiveness of the seasonal flu vaccines
has ranged from a low of 19% to a high of around 52% against needing to see a
doctor because of the flu. The effectiveness varies depending on how similar
the strains in the vaccine are to the strains that end up making people sick.
The authors of the new study say people should realize that the Covid-19
vaccines are no longer more than 90% protective against symptomatic infections,
as they were when they were first introduced in 2020."
Via Doug Senko.
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
