FDA panel reports, against boosters for all
https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2021/09/17/covid-booster-shots-fda-recommendation/
Food and Drug Administration
Boosters for all (16:2)
Unanimously, a booster shot of Pfizer-BioNTech (18:0)
Six months (minimum) after vaccination
People 65 + and anyone at risk for severe illness
Final decision, may include occupational exposure
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to advise next week
Administration wanted it for all 16 +
81 million had Moderna or Johnson & Johnson
Against boosters for all
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(21)02046-8/fulltext
Enhancing immunity in vaccinated people is appealing
Should be evidence-based
Consider the benefits and risks for individuals and society
COVID-19 vaccines continue to be effective against severe disease, including that caused by the delta variant
CDC, Sara Oliver
Through July, adults 75 and older were 88%
protected against hospitalization
Decisions about boosting are informed by reliable science more than by politics.
Observational studies
Pfizer was a co-sponsor of the study
Current vaccine supplies could save more lives if used in previously unvaccinated populations
In favour for the immunocompromised, but ? different vaccine
Boosting might ultimately be needed in all
E.g. waning immunity or because variants expressing new antigens
Boosters may have immune-mediated side-effects such as myocarditis (more common after 2nd dose)
Implications for vaccine acceptance
Further reasoning
Even if humoral immunity appears to wane
Initial vaccine type still elicit humoral immune responses against delta
(rather than variant-specific antigens)
Indicates that delta has not evolved to escape the memory immune responses
There is an opportunity now to study variant-based boosters
Robust booster responses might be achievable at lower doses
For boosters for all
Israel
Protection had waned
Booster campaign started end of July
Sharon Alroy-Preis, director of public health, Israel’s Ministry of Health
Thousands of cases, doubling every 10 days
If we had not started boosters at the end of July, we would have come to the capacity of Israeli hospitalization capabilities — and gone beyond it
Protection of BNT162b2 Vaccine Booster against Covid-19 in Israel
https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2114255
HTTPS://WWW.NATURE.COM/ARTICLES/D41586-021-02516-4
30th July to 31st August 2021
At least 5 months earlier
n = 1,137,804 over 60s
Confirmed infections, 4,439
Severe illness, 294
Booster group
Doubly vaccinated
Rate of confirmed Covid-19
Rate of severe illness
At least 12 days after booster dose
Nonbooster group
Doubly vaccinated
Rate of confirmed Covid-19
Rate of severe illness
Results, rate of confirmed infections
Lower in the booster group
Higher in the nonbooster group
By a factor of 11.3
Results, rate of severe illness
Rate of confirmed infection
Lower in the booster group
Higher in the nonbooster group
By a factor of 19.5
https://www.fda.gov/media/152205/download
Holding true down to 40 so far
Source