- The Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines were roughly 88 per cent effective..
- Three doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccines were roughly 97 per cent effective in preventing hospitalizations.
- Health authorities considered the additional dose for this group an integral part of their primary immunization series, rather than a booster shot.
The CDC study shows how effective the doses of vaccinations are in terms of preventing the risks of being hospitalised or even contracting the infection. It protects people with weakened immune and the health organisation has also told about how one vaccine can prevent you from many other possible viruses, reports NY Times.
Are the vaccines effective?
Third shots of coronavirus vaccines significantly reduced the risk that people with weakened immune systems would be hospitalised with Covid, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported on Thursday, reinforcing the case for additional doses in that group.
The Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines were roughly 88 per cent effective against hospitalizations in immunocompromised people who had received the third dose, compared with 69 per cent effective in immunocompromised people with only two doses, the agency said.
The data came from a study of people treated at 21 American hospitals from August to mid-December, a period when the Delta variant was dominant. But third doses have also been shown to bolster people’s defences against severe outcomes from Omicron, even if the overall protection against that variant is weaker.
The latest C.D.C. study also added to the considerable evidence that third doses bolster the defences of people with stronger immune systems. Three doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccines were roughly 97 per cent effective in preventing hospitalizations in that group, compared with 82 per cent effective among two-dose recipients.
Many of them produce fewer antibodies in response to vaccination or infection, leaving them susceptible to the virus and to higher risks of serious illness.
Immunocompromised people
In August, federal regulators authorised a third Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna dose at least four weeks after the second dose for some immunocompromised people. Health authorities considered the additional dose for this group an integral part of their primary immunization series, rather than a booster shot.
In October, the C.D.C. said that immunocompromised people could also get a booster shot as soon as early 2022 — a fourth dose of the vaccine — as a way of enhancing or restoring protection. But some of those people have said that pharmacies or hospitals have refused them the additional doses.
For immunocompromised people with a single shot of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, the C.D.C. advises a booster dose of the Moderna or Pfizer-BioNTech shots.
The new study evaluated roughly 1,100 adults with weakened immune systems and 1,900 other adults. The C.D.C. said that future studies should look at the protection afforded by additional doses against the Omicron variant in immunocompromised people, as well as the durability of that protection.
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Source: NY times
