Arguments for and against boosters

FDA panel reports, against boosters for all https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2021/09/17/covid-booster-shots-fda-recommendation/ Food and Drug Administration Boosters for all (16:2) Unanimously, a booster shot of Pfizer-BioNTech (18:0) Six months (minimum) after vaccination People 65 + and anyone at risk for severe illness Final decision, may include occupational exposure Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to advise next week Administration wanted it for all 16 + 81 million had Moderna or Johnson & Johnson Against boosters for all https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(21)02046-8/fulltext Enhancing immunity in vaccinated people is appealing Should be evidence-based Consider the benefits and risks for individuals and society COVID-19 vaccines continue to be effective against severe disease, including that caused by the delta variant CDC, Sara Oliver Through July, adults 75 and older were 88% protected against hospitalization Decisions about boosting are informed by reliable science more than by politics. Observational studies Pfizer was a co-sponsor of the study Current vaccine supplies could save more lives if used in previously unvaccinated populations In favour for the immunocompromised, but ? different vaccine Boosting might ultimately be needed in all E.g. waning immunity or because variants expressing new antigens Boosters may have immune-mediated side-effects such as myocarditis (more common after 2nd dose) Implications for vaccine acceptance Further reasoning Even if humoral immunity appears to wane Initial vaccine type still elicit humoral immune responses against delta (rather than variant-specific antigens) Indicates that delta has not evolved to escape the memory immune responses There is an opportunity now to study variant-based boosters Robust booster responses might be achievable at lower doses For boosters for all Israel Protection had waned Booster campaign started end of July Sharon Alroy-Preis, director of public health, Israel’s Ministry of Health Thousands of cases, doubling every 10 days If we had not started boosters at the end of July, we would have come to the capacity of Israeli hospitalization capabilities — and gone beyond it Protection of BNT162b2 Vaccine Booster against Covid-19 in Israel https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2114255 HTTPS://WWW.NATURE.COM/ARTICLES/D41586-021-02516-4 30th July to 31st August 2021 At least 5 months earlier n = 1,137,804 over 60s Confirmed infections, 4,439 Severe illness, 294 Booster group Doubly vaccinated Rate of confirmed Covid-19 Rate of severe illness At least 12 days after booster dose Nonbooster group Doubly vaccinated Rate of confirmed Covid-19 Rate of severe illness Results, rate of confirmed infections Lower in the booster group Higher in the nonbooster group By a factor of 11.3 Results, rate of severe illness Rate of confirmed infection Lower in the booster group Higher in the nonbooster group By a factor of 19.5 https://www.fda.gov/media/152205/download Holding true down to 40 so far Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices