Unvaccinated Adults 65 and Older Are Almost 50 Times More Likely to Be Hospitalized with COVID:
New data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that unvaccinated adults age 50 and over are much more likely to be hospitalized after contracting COVID-19 than their vaccinated peers.
Compared to those that received a third shot as a booster, unvaccinated individuals age 65 and older were 49 times more likely to be hospitalized after contracting COVID-19, while those aged 50 to 64 are 44 times more likely.
Unvaccinated individuals age 65 and older were 17 times more likely to be hospitalized after contracting COVID-19 than those that don't have a booster, but have received two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine, according to data collected by the CDC in December. Those aged 50 to 64 were 17 times more likely to go to the hospital than their peers, as well.
In general, unvaccinated adults age 18 and older were 16 times more likely to be hospitalized than individuals of the same age who are fully vaccinated.
Booster shots are keeping Omicron patients out of the hospital, studies show: Booster doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines are 90 percent effective against hospitalization with the Omicron variant, The New York Times reports, per new data published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday.
Booster shots were also found to have "reduced the likelihood of a visit to an emergency department or urgent care clinic," and were shown most effective against infection and death in Americans aged 50 and older, the data revealed, per the Times.
The findings, spread across three new, large studies, are the "first real-life data to examine the effect of boosters against Omicron, which now accounts for more than 99 percent of coronavirus cases in the United States," reports CNN.
Data released on Friday by the US Centers for Disease Control found that a third dose of either Pfizer or Moderna vaccine is more than 90% effective against both the Delta and Omicron variants.
The effectiveness of only two doses was found to wane to 57% after six months. US officials have pleaded with the public to get boosted when eligible.
According to the CDC study, vaccine effectiveness against hospitalization after two doses was 90% until six months after the second dose but fell to 81% afterwards. Two weeks after the third dose, however, effectiveness against hospitalization rose to 94%.
A separate study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, determined that the chances of contracting COVID-19 and developing symptoms was 66% lower for those who have received a booster.
In a study published in The Journal of the American Medical Association and led by CDC researchers they found three shots of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines were about 67 percent effective against Omicron-related symptomatic disease compared with unvaccinated people.
Two doses, however, offered no significant protection against Omicron when measured several months after completion of the original series, researchers found.
Moderna vaccine recipients have lower risk of breakthrough infections and hospitalization:
A new study has found that people who received the Moderna COVID-19 mRNA vaccine are less likely to experience breakthrough infections compared to those who received the Pfizer-BioNTech mRNA shot.
The study, led by researchers out of Cleveland's Case Western Reserve University, also found that people who received the Moderna jab were less likely to be hospitalized following a breakthrough infection than Pfizer vaccine recipients. The findings were published Thursday, in the peer-reviewed Journal of the American Medical Association.
Pfizer CEO sees annual COVID vaccine rather than frequent boosters: Pfizer Chief Executive Albert Bourla said on Saturday that an annual COVID-19 vaccine would be preferable to more frequent booster shots in fighting the coronavirus pandemic. Bourla was asked whether he sees booster shots being administered every four to five months on a regular basis. "This will not be a good scenario. What I'm hoping (is) that we will have a vaccine that you will have to do once a year," Bourla said.
"Once a year - it is easier to convince people to do it. It is easier for people to remember.
So from a public health perspective, it is an ideal situation. We are looking to see if we can create a vaccine that covers Omicron and doesn't forget the other variants and that could be a solution," Bourla said.
Data reveals how long a third COVID shot lasts: New research from the U.K. Health Security Agency reported how long protection from a booster shot of the Pfizer vaccine lasts.
Protection from the first dosages of COVID-19 vaccines begins to wane around six months after becoming fully vaccinated. But how long does protection from the third shot last?
New research from the U.K. is giving the first round of estimates for how long protection from a booster shot of the Pfizer vaccine lasts.
The study from researchers at the U.K. Health Security Agency reported on Friday that the protection against severe disease is more than likely only short-term. However, they added that the shot still offers protection from severe illness.
The research suggested that two weeks after the third dose of the Pfizer vaccine, protection from symptomatic infection is around 70%. From there, the numbers fall drastically.
Three months after the third dose, the risk of symptomatic infection is about 50%, and a second analysis of the same topic found it even worse. That data shows protection dropping to 40% around four months after the booster.
Experts have shared that it is normal to see the level of antibodies rise quickly after immunization, but over time they diminish,
Immunologist Dr. Michael Osterholm has shared that the vaccines should have never been marketed as a two-dose shot, thinking that a booster would be needed sometime after getting vaccinated.
Another point being made is that the omicron variant is not the same as the original strain of COVID-19, so protection is not the same against different variants.
While U.K. studies found that boosters don’t necessarily stop infection, they do offer robust protection from severe illness.
COVID infection could put you at risk of an irreversible condition warns new study: ALZHEIMER'S disease is linked to specific proteins accumulating in the brain. A new study has found that COVID-19 can cause the same proteins to accumulate. Severe COVID infections have been linked to a greater risk of neurocognitive symptoms during the recovery process.
A new study has found that these infections also cause the promotion of proteins linked to Alzheimer's disease. This doesn't yet mean that the coronavirus is capable of causing dementia.
Researchers at the NYU Grossman School of Medicine examined the blood of people with severe COVID-19 and experiencing neurological symptoms. They found levels of some blood proteins and biomarkers for neurological damage were present at higher levels than in Alzheimer's patients.
This study was conducted in the early waves of the pandemic, between March and May of 2020.
Longer term studies will examine the extent to which people are able to recover from this damage.
A New Strain of Omicron is on the Horizon: Scientists and health officials around the world are keeping their eyes on a descendant of the omicron variant that has been found in more than 50 countries, including the United States.
This version of the Omicron coronavirus, which scientists call BA.2, is widely considered stealthier than the original version of Omicron because particular genetic traits make it somewhat harder to detect. Danish scientists reported this week that preliminary information suggests it may be 1 1/2 times more contagious then the original variant.
More than 18,000 genetic sequences of BA.2 have been uploaded to GISAID, a global platform for sharing coronavirus data, according to data collected by Scripps Research labs. The strain has been detected in at least 54 countries and 24 U.S. states. At the time of this writing, 96 people around the country in total have been diagnosed with the BA.2 sub-variant in the United States. "I don't think it's going to cause the degree of chaos and disruption, morbidity and mortality that BA.1 did," says Dr. Jacob Lemieux, an infectious disease specialist at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.
BA.2 has lots of mutations. About 20 of them in the spike protein that studs the outside of the virus are shared with the original omicron. But it also has additional genetic changes not seen in the initial version.
It’s unclear how significant those mutations are, especially in a population that has encountered the original Omicron, said Dr. Jeremy Luban, a virologist at the University of Massachusetts Medical School.
For now, the original omicron BA.1 and its descendant BA.2 are considered subsets of Omicron. But global health leaders could give it its own Greek letter name if it is deemed a globally significant “variant of concern.”
For the time being, the world will have to wait before it can learn exactly what BA.2 holds in store, with public health officials urging the public to not take anything for granted.
Is BA.2 is less dangerous than BA.1? In practice, probably. The factors that determine the threat a virus poses include its inherent severity, how many people it infects and how much immune protection those people have. As far as we know, BA.2 is no more likely to cause severe illness than BA.1, but it may be 50 per cent more transmissible. More transmissible viruses can cause more hospitalizations and deaths by infecting more people, even if they are no more severe
Until next time: Stay Safe, Stay Well, get Vaccinated, Boosted and Don’t be afraid to wear your Mask when in doubt.
James A Vito, D.M.D.