[imagesource: Wits University]

Being double vaxxed does come with some peace of mind.

You’re not immune to COVID-19, but the COVID-19 vaccine has been incredibly effective in terms of preventing deaths and serious infections.

Stats released by the Western Cape provincial health department in late September showed that of the 292 people aged 60 and older who died of COVID-19 during the peak of the third wave in the Western Cape, 98,3% were not fully vaccinated.

In addition, for the week between August 14 and August 20, when the third wave was surging, of the 2 455 people in this age group who contracted COVID-19, 93% were not fully vaccinated.

One more for good measure – of the 729 people who required hospitalisation during this period, 96% were not vaccinated.

But sure, believe that grainy meme someone forwarded you on WhatsApp from their uncle’s friend’s cousin.

Right, let’s talk booster shot. From today, health workers who were vaccinated with Johnson & Johnson’s single jab in the country’s Sisonke study are up for a second shot as part of a new leg of the study.

On October 29, South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) approved a submission by Sisonke’s researchers.

That’s according to Bhekisisa, although of more interest to most South Africans will be when they may be in line for a Pfizer booster shot:

For now, boosters are mostly given to specific groups of people. Extra shots are especially important for people who have weakened immune systems, such as people who have undergone a bone marrow transplant or who are 60 years or older…

Childhood vaccines, such as jabs used for protection against measles and mumps, have shown a yearly drop of between 3 and 10% in the amount of antibodies that people produce against those diseases after vaccination.

In the case of COVID, vaccines protect people against getting very sick with the disease, but we don’t yet know how long that protection lasts and the strength of the protection remains unclear.

When it comes to the Pfizer vaccine, some available data shows people are protected against symptomatic COVID-19 for around six months after receiving the second dose.

However, further studies are needed to better understand the complex reactions of the body’s immune system.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), there are three things a country should consider when it looks at the need for booster shots:

The first is waning immunity.

The second factor the WHO says countries should look at when they decide if they need boosters pertains to how long vaccines protect people against specifically mild forms of COVID infection…

What scientists now need to find out is how well vaccinated people are protected against mild COVID disease and if that protection changes over time…

Data from England shows one Pfizer jab offers 36% protection against mild infection from the Delta variant and two shots reduce your chances of infection by 88%.

At present, the Delta variant is the most prevalent in South Africa.

The Centres for Disease Control (CDC) in the US has carried out studies that found fully vaccinated people are five times less likely to get infected with the Delta variant than those who are unvaccinated.

The third thing to consider is how important a booster shot is when so many of the population are not yet fully vaccinated, and the ethics of supplying booster shots at this point.

You can read more on that here.

Perhaps before we look at booster shots for the general public, we should focus our energy on educating those who don’t intend to receive the vaccine.

South Africa has bought enough doses to immunise 40 million people. By this point, those who aren’t on board will likely take some convincing.

[source:bhekisisa]