By Peter McLaren-Kennedy • Published: 24 Dec 2021 • 10:33
The UK’s Health Security Agency has conducted an analysis into the effectiveness of the booster jab against the new variant Omicron, shows booster jab reduced protection in week 10. The study is based on data from more than 56,000 infections.
The Agency analysis suggests that the Modern vaccine is the most effective for use as a booster providing longer protection than Pfizer and significantly longer then the AstraZeneca vaccine, the latter already having been ruled out for booster jab use in the UK.
The findings confirms those of the Columbia University in New York whose report published in the journal Nature, shows that a third dose or booster jab of Moderna has more neutralising antibodies against Omicron than people vaccinated with Pfizer. Their results also show that the where the first two doses were of messenger RNA vaccines such as those from Pfizer and Moderna, protection is higher than if the initial course was with adenovirus vaccines such as those from AstraZeneca and Janssen
In all of the university’s findings, it showed that all available vaccines were less effective in providing protection against Omicron than they were against the original SARS-CoV-2 variant.
This new data is significant in that it reinforces the idea that specific vaccines will need to be developed against Omicron and other variants in the future.
The data released by the UK Agency shows that immunity after the third dose depends largely on the combination of vaccines received.
With AstraZeneca, the initial protection after the third booster jab is around 60% however within nine weeks it drops to 45% if Moderna was received as a booster and 35% if Pfizer was received.
With Pfizer as the initial dose, a third dose provides 70% protection in the following weeks. Ten weeks later however, that has dropped to 45%.
Where the initial dose was either Pfizer or Moderna, a Modern booster raised protection to around 75% and remains at a similar level for at least nine weeks.
Longer term data is not yet available suffice to say that the message is if you have been vaccinated you can still get the new Covid-19 variant.
The view of many that Covid-19 will require ongoing vaccinations has been confirmed by the UK and USA studies that show the booster jab reduced protection in week 10
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Originally from South Africa, Peter is based on the Costa Blanca and is a web reporter for the Euro Weekly News covering international and Spanish national news. Got a news story you want to share? Then get in touch at editorial@euroweeklynews.com.
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