The initial, second and booster doses of the COVID-19 vaccines have been remarkably effective in reducing the disease’s infections, hospitalizations, intensive care admissions, intubations and deaths through the world (JAMA, Jan 25, 2022;327(4):327-328). The negative results of the vaccination programs are:
• lack of adequate vaccine distribution to everyone throughout the world
• unusual side effects of the vaccine in some people, but they are vastly less frequent than the number of lives saved by the vaccine
• unrealistically exaggerated fears of side effects from the vaccine by some people
• not getting vaccinated encourages the future emergence of variants that may partly resist vaccine-induced antibodies. Incomplete protection by the vaccine in some people with defective immunities causes them to carry the virus for prolonged periods that encourages more virus to be produced and increased risk for mutations that can become resistant to future vaccinations (mSphere, 2021;6(4):e0024421).
That same issue of the JAMA has an Israeli study showing a booster dose raises antibody titers higher and further reduces both symptomatic and asymptomatic COVID-19 infections (JAMA, Jan 25, 2022;327(4):341-349). The majority of health care workers who received two doses of the Pfizer vaccine had high protective blood antibody titers, but six months later, their protective antibody blood titers had lowered considerably. Some of the workers were given a third booster dose and were compared to workers who received only two doses of the vaccine. Those with a third booster dose were infected with the COVID-19 virus at a rate of 116 per 100,000 person-days prior to booster vaccination, compared to 2.8 per 100,000 after booster vaccination. That’s a relative reduction rate of 93 percent
The CDC now recommends a third booster dose six months after the two vaccine doses, preferably with an mRNA vaccine (Pfizer or Moderna). The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recommends a third dose of mRNA at least 5 months after the second dose for adolescents aged 12 to 15 years and for children aged 5 to 11 years who are immunocompromised.
Dr. Gabe Mirkin is a Villager. Learn more at www.drmirkin.com
