Studies from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) today show a significant bump in protection against the highly transmissible Omicron COVID-19 variant after a booster dose, resulting in fewer hospitalizations, emergency visits, deaths, and cases in people who had received three doses of mRNA vaccines.Two of the studies—one on hospitalizations, emergency room visits, and urgent care visits and the other on cases and deaths—were published in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), and a third study on cases was published in JAMA."These reports add more evidence to the importance of being up to date with COVID vaccinations—that means getting primary series, and boosted when eligible to protect against severe COVID 19," said CDC Director Rochelle Walensky, MD, MPH, during a White House press briefing on the pandemic.The first study in MMWR shows that three mRNA vaccine doses were able to prevent hospitalizations for 94% of recipients during the Delta surge and 90% of people during Omicron.
The boosters offered a significant bump in protection; without the third dose, two vaccine doses were only 57% effective at preventing hospitalization from Omicron if it had been more than 6 months since completing the primary two-dose vaccination series.For Delta, protection against hospitalization more than 6 months after the primary series, but before a booster dose, was 81%.Visits to emergency rooms and urgent care centers also were reduced with booster shots.
A booster dose was 94% and 82% effective in preventing these visits for Delta and Omicron, respectively.Unvaccinated 5 times more likely to get OmicronAnother study gauged the incidence and fatality rates among unvaccinated, vaccinated, and boosted