[ad_1]
U.S. health officials may soon recommend COVID-19 booster shots for fully vaccinated Americans. A look at what we know about boosters and how they could help fight the coronavirus:
WHY WILL WE NEED BOOSTERS?
It is common for vaccine protection to decrease over time. A tetanus booster, for example, is recommended every 10 years.
Researchers and health officials are monitoring the actual performance of COVID-19 vaccines to see how long protection lasts among those vaccinated. Vaccines licensed in the United States continue to offer very strong protection against serious illness and death.
UNITED STATES SHOULD RECOMMEND COVID BOOSTER JAB FOR ALL AMERICANS
But lab blood tests have suggested that antibodies – one of the protective layers of the immune system – can wear off over time. This does not mean that the protection goes away, but it could mean that the protection is not as strong or that the body may take longer to fight off an infection.
The delta variant has complicated the question of when to give boosters because it is much more contagious and most of the data collected on vaccine performance dates from before the delta variant was widely circulated. Delta takes off at the same time that vaccine immunity could also decline for the first people vaccinated.
Israel is offering a reminder to people over 50 who were vaccinated more than five months ago. France and Germany plan to offer boosters to some people in the fall. The European Medicines Agency said it is also reviewing the data to see if booster shots are needed.
WHEN WILL THEY BE GIVEN?
It depends on when you received your first photos. One possibility is that health officials recommend that people get a booster around eight months after receiving their second injection of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine.
PFIZER SAYS EFFECTIVE AND SAFE COVID-19 Vaccine Booster Dose
Authorities continue to collect information on the Johnson & Johnson single-injection vaccine, which was cleared for use in the United States in late February, to determine when to recommend boosters.
WHO WOULD GET THEM?
The first people vaccinated in the United States would likely also be on the front line for booster shots. That means healthcare workers, nursing home residents and other elderly Americans, who were the first to get vaccinated after injections were cleared last December.
BOOSTER? THIRD STROKE? WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE?
Transplant recipients and others with weakened immune systems may not have received enough protection from the vaccines to begin with. They can now receive a third dose at least 28 days after their second injection as part of their initial series of injections needed to be fully immunized. For those with normal immune systems, boosters are given much later after the full vaccination – not to establish protection, but to re-start it.
WHAT QUESTIONS REMAIN?
It is still not clear whether people should receive the same type of vaccine they received when they were first vaccinated. And the nation’s top health advisors will be looking for evidence that booster shots are safe and that they are protected against serious illness and infection.
Global access to vaccines is also important to contain the pandemic and prevent the emergence of new variants. Booster injections could reduce already limited global vaccine supplies.
AND THE NON-VACCINATED?
Dr Melanie Swift, who ran the immunization program at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, says that getting more vaccines in people who have not yet been vaccinated is “our best tool, not only for prevent hospitalization and death from the delta variant, but to stop transmission. “Each infection, she says,” gives the virus a greater chance of mutating into who knows what might be the next variant. “
CLICK HERE FOR FULL CORONAVIRUS COVERAGE
“People who have received the vaccine for the first time are likely to stand in line and receive their booster,” Swift said. “But it’s not going to meet our goals overall if all of their unvaccinated neighbors are not vaccinated.”
[ad_2]
Source link