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Preliminary Israeli data shows that coronavirus booster injections quickly increase a person’s protection against serious illness and infection, suggesting that the additional injections could help mitigate the spread of the virus in the United States – although the ‘we do not know to what extent.
Why is this important: The Biden administration said the main rationale for its recall push is to stay ahead of any decline in vaccine effectiveness against serious illnesses. But slowing the spread of the Delta variant would be a welcome bonus.
Driving the news: A recently published preprint study by Israeli researchers found that, in the real world, adults who received a third injection of Pfizer saw their risk of confirmed infection drop 11.4 times after 12 days or more, and their risk of serious illness decreases by more than 10 times.
- Israel was the first country in the world to offer booster shots to its people, starting with the elderly.
- The study involved more than one million people aged 60 or older, and the authors say it “demonstrates the effectiveness of a third dose of vaccine in reducing both transmission and serious illness. “.
- More data is needed to confirm the study’s results, which have yet to be peer-reviewed, experts have warned. A particular limitation of this study is that people who receive a booster may be more risk averse initially.
What they say : “The main take-home message from Israel is that there is a short-term positive effect of the increases on both infection and serious illness,” a senior official in the Biden administration said, adding that the Israeli government recently informed members of the president’s coronavirus team of their data.
- “I never thought the vaccines were short term. It changes that paradigm. Once again, the jury is out, but Israel is defending this cause, ”the official added.
Yes, but: Anyone who receives a booster is, by definition, vaccinated. The United States does not have good data on the number of cases that occur in Americans who are vaccinated, but most cases appear to be in unvaccinated people.
- Without knowing what contribution vaccines are currently making to the spread of the virus or the number of cases in the United States, it is impossible to know by how much each could be reduced by giving these people a booster.
- Giving a first round of vaccines to the unvaccinated would be a much more effective way to limit the spread. But ineligible children make up a large part of that population, as well as vaccine-resistant adults who, so far, have not been convincing.
The bottom line: The United States could start offering booster shots to members of the general population in a few weeks. Data like this, despite its limitations, may be our best window – at least for now – on what the effect of the US effort might be.
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