Booster Shots? Are they necessary for COVID?

At the moment a lot of countries have high vaccination rates, but there are questions being asked about whether the third doses -known as BOOSTER SHOTS may be necessary, but of course as with much to do with COVID the evidence is still emerging. 

What are BOOSTER SHOTS?

Well, the vaccines we have all do a pretty good job of introducing our bodies to certain diseases and convincing our  immune systems to take that threat seriously. But for some diseases, it takes extra convincing. Which is why you might need to get the same shot more than once -weeks or even years later.

Vaccines teach our immune systems to recognize  certain pathogens, or disease-causing agents. In a nutshell, they trigger the formation  of specialized cells and antibodies that recognize the distinctive proteins that  stick out of pathogens -called antigens. If something with one of those antigens shows  its face, the antibodies latch on and disable it,  while those specialized cells  help to kick it to the curb.

Now, there are a few vaccines that  require multiple doses of the same shot. And there are almost as many reasons  for that as there are different vaccines. Because how much immunity you get from a single  shot, and how long it lasts, can really vary.

Are Booster shots necessary for COVID?

The short answer is, IT'S UNCLEAR.! 

We do know, and this is very early evidence, that antibody levels tend to fall in the weeks and months following a second shot. And this is obviously complicated by the highly infectious Delta variant. But what's important to remember is that antibody levels aren't the only part of our immune system that help give us protection. So we have other, sort of, immune system soldiers like B-cells and T-cells, that all together help provide that protection. 

At the moment, scientists don't quite know what level of antibodies, what level of B-cells and T-cells are necessary to give us that protection that we're looking for. So just because the antibody levels may be falling, that does not mean that our bodies won't remember how to deal with this enemy if we come across it in the weeks and months following the second shot. 

In the UK, for instance, we do have data that suggests that antibody levels are falling in fully vaccinated people in the weeks and months after their second dose. 

However, it does not appear to have directly translated into higher hospitalizations and deaths in in that category of people. Of course the argument for people who are you know compromised or are classed test clinically vulnerable is far stronger, and that's because after getting two shots, they don't get the optimum level of protection as the rest of us do, and so it does make sense to top up that already, sort of, lower level of protection that this category of people may have gotten post their first two shots. 

Overall, though, whether we’ll need booster shots down the line depends on a few things, like how much our immunity declines.  

Does a booster shot need to be the same as my vaccine?

No, not necessarily, and that's pretty much what scientists are trying to figure out. 

The general prevailing hypothesis is that given the different vaccines teach the immune system to recognize the enemy in this case the virus in different ways, if you provide different doses of the different vaccines, that might potentially lead to a more diverse, broader sort of immunity. 

But much like everything else, the science is still ongoing, and we don't really have a  good answer for this yet. 

On the safety side, there are worries, and early evidence from the UK suggests that mixing and matching the jabs does tend to increase the rate of side effects, and so that is something that policy makers will have to contend with. 

In short, we’re going to need a lot more  information before we know exactly how often we’re going to need to be vaccinated against COVID-19 and how much those vaccines will need to change.

The good news is, scientists are on the  case. Immunology is complicated, But we’re getting better against COVID-19.

STAY SAFE AND FOLLOW PRECAUTION.

Is Sinovac (and Other Covid Vaccines) Effective Enough?

 Is Sinovac (and Other Covid Vaccines) Effective Enough? & Do We Need Booster Shots FOR DELTA VARIANTS?

We know that the first covid19 vaccines 

were a welcome development during the pandemic because they were the ones that offered hope to an end for this pandemic. But, what we know is that these vaccines would keep us safe and protected against severe disease but there's a lingering question among us as to how long will the production last would variants make these vaccines available to us less effective? 

Another question would be, Would everyone need a booster shot in six months or in a year or in two years so could some people get away without that boost? or it is advisable for all these are actually the same questions that headlined the meeting of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Advisory Committee on immunization practices. 

What we know of as of now that the group isn't making recommendations around covid-19 vaccine boosters, but the discussion shows how leading health experts are thinking through these issues. So, let's go through them one by one. 

Here's what we know so far that the vaccines authorized by the World Health Organization (WHO) based on clinical studies work extremely well at protecting the majority of people from coronavirus infection. We know that the protection seems to last a while but, we're not sure quite how long. What we know so far that protection lasts longer than flu vaccination of which we give flu vaccination to our patients with diabetes every year. 

So far, data at present also shows that the shots still work against coronavirus variants even the fast moving delta variant. However, there are special groups of people where the vaccines don't work as much as we want them to work and these include people who are immunocompromised, particularly, people who had organ transplants. These people often don't produce antibodies after regular doses of covid19 vaccines and thereby neuro research have shown that third booster of covid19 vaccine could give more protection to these groups of immunocompromised people. That's the group that CDC seems to think could be the first to get a booster because we have clear signals that it could help these groups of people to protect against covid-19. Then after we learn more about how long the protection lasts for everyone else or if new variants emerge experts could hammer out details about boosters for the rest of us. 

In short at present, there's really no data to support recommendations for booster doses except for the caveat in severely immunocompromised hosts who are not able to mount a strong immune response. For other patients especially the general population, what we know for now is that the data will come later and that ongoing studies are tracking the durability of covid-19 vaccine protection and the CDC is watching to see if any variants evade the vaccine at present. 

Ongoing studies are tracking the durability of covid-19 vaccine production. For example, the CDC is watching to see if any variants invade vaccines and second several studies are present are ongoing  to check if people should get a third dose of the covid19 vaccine that already exists or a new shot with an updated form of the vaccine that targets specific variants. Most experts do agree however that if we start to see an uptick of infections or re-infections for people or new infections in people who have been vaccinated, that's a clue that we need to move quickly. 

Covid-19 vaccines are likely to be rolled out in UK in the fall to avoid another winter surge. Seven different vaccines are being tested in volunteers in England in the world's first booster study. So we have to await the data of booster shots. What we also know is that more transmissible variants including the Beta strain that emerge in South Africa require higher antibody titers to prevent infection. Prompting vaccine makers including Pfizer and Moderna to test whether tweaked versions of their existing shots will provide broader immunity. 

We also have data that one dose of the Novovax variant directed vaccine may provide sufficient protection against these strains in individuals previously immunized with against covid-19. So the modified shot has also the potential to provide broad protection against various strains if used as a primary vaccine regimen and this is one exciting new vaccines that soon will hopefully be rolled out across the world which is Novavax.   

As for SINOVAC, it is the primary vaccine that we're given that has been given to most of the general population. We now know that based on a second phase clinical trial produced by synovac company the third dose of Sinovac's inactivated vaccine can increase antibody response tenfold in a week. The study showed that the volunteers who had received two doses of Sinovac covid-19 vaccine and then received a third shot after three to six months, the antibody response inside the body's soared tenfold in a week and 20 fold in 15 days. It has been shown that after completing the two shots clearly, our body is producing very robust immune memory. 

Sinovac vaccine and the company will however conduct more thorough and longer periods of research to determine the best time to receive the booster for the general public based on the analysis of early vaccinated groups to combat the threat of mutant strains. Data from people vaccinated six months ago is now being analyzed and preliminary results show that antibody levels and about half of them are still good within that specific period. But the general concern at present is not whether to give booster shots or not. 

The CDC is pretty worried about the troubling rates of vaccination in the world. Only 17.7 percent of the world is vaccinated. In fact, if you look closely at the data clearly we have a long way to go in terms of vaccination but there are certain areas in the world like Israel where in majority of the patient population have already been vaccinated. We still have a long way to go to get the population protection. 

We know that unvaccinated people don't need the boosters because they really need their first shots and we need to convince this unvaccinated people to help protect the community by getting their shots having more people vaccinated will definitely slow the spread of the virus and prevent new variants. It will protect people who are immunocompromised too, when everyone around them is far less likely to have covis-19. Therefore, they are at far lower risk of catching it. Figuring out boosters definitely is important but getting unvaccinated people their shots right now is a very critical way to protect everyone prior to going around giving vaccines or giving everyone boosters we really need your help in convincing your friends and your relatives that hopefully they can get their vaccines and we can in general improve the overall vaccination rate.