Adults who aren’t current on their COVID-19 vaccine booster doses may have “relatively little remaining protection” against hospitalization compared to those who haven’t been vaccinated at all, suggests a new study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The study spanned multiple states and examined more than 85,000 hospitalizations of people with “COVID-like illness.”
Dr. Shana Johnson, a physical medicine and rehabilitation physician in Scottsdale, Arizona, was not involved in the CDC study but reviewed its findings.
PRIOR COVID INFECTION PROVIDES JUST AS MUCH PROTECTION AS VACCINES, NEW STUDY FINDS
The good news, Johnson said, is that the bivalent mRNA vaccine protects against the most severe COVID-19 outcomes, including hospitalization and critical disease (ICU admission and death), Johnson said.
The not-so-good news: The durability or duration of protection was not great, she noted.
Adults who aren’t current with their COVID-19 booster doses may have “relatively little remaining protection” against hospitalization compared to those who haven’t been vaccinated at all, suggests a new CDC study. (iStock)
“For adults, the vaccine effectiveness dropped from 62% at two months after vaccination to 24% at four to six months for protection against COVID-19 hospitalization,” Johnson said.
“Durability was better for preventing critical COVID-19 disease, at 50% at four to six months after vaccination.”
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Only 20% of US adults receiving booster doses
Despite the CDC’s September 2022 recommendation that all vaccinated people 12 years and older should receive a booster dose, the vast majority of Americans have not received it.
WOMEN MORE LIKELY TO SUFFER FROM ‘LONG COVID,’ BUT HEALTHY HABITS CAN LOWER THE RISK
As of May 10, 2023, only 1 in 5 (20.5%) U.S. adults had received a bivalent booster dose.
And most of that group had received their last vaccine dose more than a year ago, the CDC reported in the study findings.
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The Most Revolutionary Act 