Protection Against the Omicron Variant Requires the Third COVID-19 Vaccination Dose

a new study Many experts reported sighting during the peak of the Omicron surge throughout the winter, and Trusted Source backs them up. To fully protect persons from the current dominant strain, booster vaccine doses of the two mRNA vaccines — Pfizer and Moderna — were required. Because of the importance of the protection, some experts want the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to modify the present definition of “completely vaccinated.”

This comes as a result of greater investigation. The majority of negative effects from the roughly 300 million mRNA COVID-19 vaccine doses provided during the first six months of availability, according to Trusted Source, were minimal and dissipated within a few days. The same study backs up those who claimed that the second dose of an mRNA vaccine caused short-term but notable side effects such as body aches, fever, and other flu-like symptoms.

An examination of efficiency
The vaccine effectiveness study, which was published in the British Medical Journal, also sheds light on immunisation schedules as the virus that causes COVID-19 continues to mutate and build new defences around vaccines.

Between March 2021 and January 2022, researchers from leading colleges and medical institutions across the United States examined the data of over 12,000 adult patients admitted to 21 hospitals. More than 5,700 of the patients tested positive for COVID-19.

The researchers looked at how well the Alpha, Delta, and Omicron forms of the vaccination performed.In mid-January, weeks after the customary end-of-the-year holiday season, the Omicron surge peaked at around 807,000 new cases every day. Winter weather and gathering indoors offered a chance for the extremely contagious omicron form to run rampant, particularly among the unvaccinated, in the United States and the rest of the Northern Hemisphere.

Researchers discovered that two doses of an mRNA vaccine provided someone a 65 percent chance of not needing to be hospitalised for COVID-19 symptoms during the Omicron wave, using a WHO scale to evaluate how unwell a person develops in the hospital.

Furthermore, three doses provided them an 85% chance against the Alpha and Delta versions, which was the same as two doses gave them against the Alpha and Delta varieties.

Despite the fact that the trial was observational, which means it couldn’t prove cause and effect, the researchers found that mRNA vaccinations “were linked with substantial protection against hospital admissions with COVID-19 attributable to the Alpha, Delta, and Omicron variants.”

A booster dose is also “essential for protecting populations against COVID-19-associated morbidity and mortality,” according to the researchers.

According to the researchers, studies like theirs that evaluate vaccination effectiveness, as well as surveillance programmes that uncover new variants, will be required as the novel coronavirus evolves.

Experts offer their opinions.
The study was conducted in “a practically real-world scenario,” according to Jagdish Khubchandani, PhD, a professor of public health science at New Mexico State University, and confirms what the world experienced during the Omicron rise this winter. In general, he said, the Omicron variety is less lethal than the preceding variants, but Omicron’s two doses aren’t as effective as Alpha and Delta’s.

“So, boosters appear to be an appropriate technique,” Khubchandani told Healthline. “My guess is that if we have more variations in the future, higher dosages may be required.” “It’s also likely that by the time the Omicron variety went viral, protection in people who had been vaccinated earlier in the rollout had waned, necessitating a booster dose.”

While any clinical research contains flaws, the ones in the BMJ study, according to Khubchandani, are “quite small.”

“The mRNA vaccines obviously provide protection against serious infection, hospitalisation, and mortality, even to various degrees,” he stated.

Dr. David M. Cutler, a family medicine physician at Providence Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica, California, believes that the COVID-19 vaccines are now without a doubt effective in preventing sickness, hospitalisation, and death.

However, he said that it’s “really sad” that a third dose — or second, in the case of the non-mRNA Johnson & Johnson shot — is still referred to as a “booster” dose.

“This word connotes something additional or unimportant, whereas in fact it is critical in averting sickness, hospitalisation, and mortality,” Cutler told Healthline. “Unfortunately, the CDC definition of ‘fully vaccinated’ still entails only two mRNA vaccinations and one J&J vaccine. This and other studies have shown that receiving a booster is the only way to receive full protection.”

One crucial element missing from the current research, according to Dr. Fady Youssef, a pulmonologist, internist, and critical care specialist at MemorialCare Long Beach Medical Center in California, is individuals with no or mild symptoms who were not hospitalised.

He told Healthline, “That’s a crucial aspect to account for, given that Omicron was more transmissible but resulted in fewer hospitalizations.”

The findings further confirms Youssef’s claim that mRNA vaccinations provide “substantial protection” against severe and critical COVID-19 sickness and mortality, according to Youssef.