Since I obviously enjoy providing positive and encouraging updates about vaccines and the pandemic overall, I would have been remiss to ignore this one. We've seen some public health experts and pharmaceutical executives publicly speculating about the possibility of "booster" shots to update immunity against Coronavirus, which I've found to be counter-productive and premature. With a sizable minority of the population already hostile or skeptical about the vaccines, to begin with, introducing a new, hypothetical, future task could turn people off. That would be especially true if said task turned out not to be actually necessary. My attitude was that the smart path forward was to try to convince as many holdouts as possible to get the jab, really examine whether "boosters" were needed, then cross that bridge if we arrived at it. And a new study suggests we may not arrive at it – at least not for years, if ever:
This is very good news: https://t.co/Sd78Ug4BRI
— John Roberts (@johnrobertsFox) June 28, 2021
The vaccines made by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna set off a persistent immune reaction in the body that may protect against the coronavirus for years, scientists reported on Monday. The findings add to growing evidence that most people immunized with the mRNA vaccines may not need boosters, so long as the virus and its variants do not evolve much beyond their current forms — which is not guaranteed. People who recovered from Covid-19 before being vaccinated may not need boosters even if the virus does make a significant transformation...Dr. Ellebedy and his colleagues reported last month that in people who survived Covid-19, immune cells that recognize the virus lie quiescent in the bone marrow for at least eight months after infection. A study by another team indicated that so-called memory B cells continue to mature and strengthen for at least a year after infection. Based on those findings, researchers suggested that immunity might last for years, possibly a lifetime, in people who were infected with the coronavirus and later vaccinated. But it was unclear whether vaccination alone might have a similarly long-lasting effect.
"Years, possibly a lifetime." There are caveats in the piece, obviously, and I'm not sure we can take all of this to the bank as definitive yet, but it's extremely encouraging. In short, it's sounding like people inoculated with the mRNA vaccines are safe from this virus for quite some time, absent really major mutations – and those who survived COVID and got vaxxed are practically superhuman in their immunity. The non-mRNA J&J shot, while safe and effective, may not provide as long-lasting protection, a potential downside to the one-and-done upside of that option. Given the reality that the overwhelming majority of vaccinated Americans received either Pfizer or Moderna, this is outstanding news for people who were nervous about, or mistrustful of, the prospect of boosters. They may not be necessary for years, if at all. Meanwhile, despite all the concerns about the Indian/Delta variant, the emerging data strongly suggests our American vaccines work extremely well against them:
BREAKING NEWS ON DELTA VARIANT (except not really, preprint was posted PHE on June 14): Vaccine effectiveness against hospitalization with delta was similar to that seen with alpha - 94% after 1st dose, 96% after 2nd dose Pfizer. 71% after 1st dose with AZ; 92% after 2 doses pic.twitter.com/i607Nz5yGT
— Monica Gandhi MD, MPH (@MonicaGandhi9) June 23, 2021
COVID-19 vaccines made by AstraZeneca (AZN.L) and the Pfizer-BioNTech (PFE.N), (22UAy.DE) alliance remain broadly effective against Delta and Kappa variants of the COVID-19 causing virus, which were first identified in India, according to a scientific study, underpinning a continued push to deliver the shots. The study by Oxford University researchers, published in the journal Cell, investigated the ability of antibodies in the blood from people, who were vaccinated with the two-shot regimens, to neutralize the highly contagious Delta and Kappa variants, a statement said...Last week, an analysis by the Public Health England (PHE) showed that vaccines made by Pfizer Inc (PFE.N) and AstraZeneca offer high protection of more than 90% against hospitalization from the Delta variant.
And here's Moderna:
These new data are encouraging and reinforce our belief that the Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine should remain protective against newly detected variants," Stéphane Bancel, Chief Executive Officer of Moderna, said in the statement. "These findings highlight the importance of continuing to vaccinate populations with an effective primary series vaccine." Moderna's statement said its COVID-19 vaccine should protect against not only Delta, but also the other lineage variants of B.1.617 as well as the Beta variant, first identified in South Africa; A.23.1 and A.VOI.V2 variants, first identified in Uganda and Angola; and the Eta variant, first identified in Nigeria.
The WHO is now recommending (contradicting the CDC) the reimposition of indoor mask mandates, even for fully vaccinated people. Some American policy-makers are responding accordingly. The only people at an elevated risk of negative health outcomes from outbreaks or variants are unvaccinated people, who are already among the likeliest to ignore and resist mask mandates. The best thing that can be done is to continue to encourage unvaccinated people to get vaccinated (the news relayed above could be helpful in this respect), not force vaccinated people to perform superstitious, scientifically-dubious rituals – the latter of which will only serve to discourage holdouts (some of whom believe much of this is rooted in government control) from getting their shots.