Reports support vaccine efficacy, and companies push for additional booster authorization from FDA.
According to a report the CDC released this past Friday, the more common variations of the vaccine — Pfzizer-BioNTech and Moderna — remained highly effective at preventing severe illness and death during the omicron variant in January.
The report shares that protection against mild illness from the virus decreased over time, but the vaccines do not eliminate the threat of the virus completely. However, even as some fully vaccinated individuals tested positive for COVID-19 and reported mild symptoms, the worst outcomes were more likely to be avoided.
This data supports additional data published and Moderna and Pfizer’s requests to the FDA regarding authorization of a second booster shot.
According to the study, for those with two doses of the vaccine, it was 79 percent effective in preventing more extreme outcomes, including the necessity of ventilation or death. For those with a third dose, the effectiveness rose to 94 percent.
According to The Washington Post, Pfizer and BioNTech said in a statement that an additional dose of the Pfizer vaccine — at least four months after an initial booster — could both restore healthy levels of antibodies and protect adults 60 and older against severe illness and infections.
