New UK data suggests that some vaccinated people, especially the elderly, experience a greater loss of protection over time against covid-19 symptoms and serious illnesses than the general public. The findings were sufficient for vaccine experts in the country recommend reinforcement shots for higher risk groups, including all adults over the age of 50.
On Tuesday, the UK Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunization (JCVI) released its updated guidance on the issue of booster doses. His verdict was based on a recent one analysis of real-global case data conducted by Public Health England.
In the analysis there was good and bad news. People between 40 and 40 years old 65 given the Pfizer / BioNTech or AstraZeneca / Oxford vaccine seemed to experience only a modest decline in its protection against symptomatic disease after six months, for example (for Pfizer, it remained around 75%). But the drop was more substantial for those over 65, with the effectiveness of the Pfizer vaccine reduced from 80% shortly after the second dose to 55% of the six.month mark.
The same pattern was applied for serious diseases. The Pfizer vaccine continued to be very effective in preventing hospitalization for all ages (over 92%)but it began to gradually diminish at sixmonth mark. Once age was taken into account, the decreasing effect was very small to nonexistent for middle-aged people who received the Pfizer shot, but he was older for those over 65 and larger for people over 80. The analysis also examined the underlying health status and found that the decline in protection was much more pronounced for older people in poorer health, with 71% effectiveness against hospitalization of these people. For those who received the AstraZeneca shot, the decreasing effect was greater overall, although there was a wide range of estimates as to the amount fell after six months.
There were no data available in the last three to four months on people under the age of 40, who were only eligible later.This year’s vaccine. Similarly, the Moderna vaccine was approved in the UK in January, but doses were not available until mid-April. Therefore, there is less long-term dataone available for either group, but overall protection seemed to remain high three or four months later for younger vaccinated people, as well as for people with Moderna.
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“We observed a limited decrease in the effectiveness of the hospitalization and death vaccine more than 20 weeks after vaccination with [the AstraZeneca and Pfizer vaccine]”, The authors wrote in their article, now available as a prepress. “The decline was greater in older adults and in a clinical risk group, suggesting that priority should be given to these individuals for booster doses.”
The JCVI reiterated that vaccines continue to provide strong protection against serious illness and death. But to “maintain this high level of protection over the next winter,” experts advised that reinforcement shots be started to be offered to those at higher risk of serious illness, as well as groups that received the early years vaccines. This will include nursing home residents, people over the age of 50, front-line health care and social workers, those living with immunocompromised individuals and young people with health conditions that increase the risk of severe covid-19. And reinforcements will be recommended no later than six months after the second shot is advanced, preferably with one mRNA vaccine.
The UK is now joining nine more countries to recommend boosters for at least some residents, the Financial Times reported Wednesday. This list includes the US, although it is not clear how it works the strategy will be achieved. Earlier, the White House announced would sanction the proponents of the first vaccinated groups before September 20th and then for the rest, eight months after the second dose. But some government and outside scientists it was questioned whether drivers are needed for everyone at this moment and, instead, they have pushed for a more gradual introduction, starting with the most vulnerable to serious disease.
New data from the UK, along with some data from the US, seem to suggest that decreased immunity may be a greater concern for high-risk people and the elderly than for the general population. But here are other wrinkles, too. Soon after the vaccine was launched, the United Kingdom changed its dosing strategy, choosing to space vaccine dose to eight at twelve weeks, while other countries remained at oneweekly intervals, including the US and Israel. And according to the JCVI, there is some evidence that the longer wait time between doses may have allowed immunity to remain more robust among UK residents than for those with a shorter vaccine program.
Other experts such as Anthony Fauci, President Biden’s current chief medical adviser, have done so disagree with recent reviews of the White House plan, arguing that data from Israel and other countries point to the need for general boosters sooner rather than later. At least in Israel, there is already evidence that the promoters have restored a substantial level of immunity to infection and serious illness, at least temporarily.
All eyes will be on meeting this Friday of the vaccine advisory committee of the Food and Drug Administration, where external experts will discuss the topic of reinforcement and all the data surrounding it. While their recommendations are not binding, they are likely to influence the FDA and CDC decisions in impellers.