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 | | Daily reported coronavirus cases in the United States, seven-day average.The New York Times |
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Protection from Covid vaccine boosters might be shorter than we would have hoped. |
"We simply don't have enough data to know that it's a good thing to do," said Dr. Peter Marks, who heads the division of the F.D.A. that regulates vaccines. |
Dr. Anthony Fauci echoed that view in an interview yesterday, saying that while data shows that booster shots lose some effectiveness, they still offer a strong shield against hospitalization and severe illness. |
The C.D.C.'s recent research on boosters, which it released last week, analyzed hospitalizations and visits to medical facilities by people in 10 states who were boosted by either the Moderna or Pfizer vaccine. It showed that the level of protection against hospitalization fell to 78 percent after four to five months after a third shot, from 91 percent in the two months after. Effectiveness against emergency room or urgent case visits declined to 66 percent from 87 percent. |
The C.D.C. data did not examine variations in waning by age group, underlying medical conditions or immune deficiencies. Still, researchers said, the findings underscore the possible importance of additional shots. |
"'Should I get a fourth shot?' That's what a lot of people are asking me," Fauci said. "The answer is if you look at where we are now, it looks like it's good protection. Seventy-eight percent is good." |
Fauci said the answer will depend on whether protection holds steady at four or five months, or continues to drop. And if it does keep falling, how steeply. The administration's vaccine strategy is under review week by week, as it has been since President Biden took office. |
Marks said it may turn out that any additional shot is best timed for next fall, when the spread of the coronavirus is expected to pick up again. He also said he hoped that a third shot would be enough of a bulwark against disease that only a yearly Covid booster would be needed. But both he and Fauci said it was impossible to make any determination without more data. |
For some, the virus isn't on the way out |
They are watching their neighbors and government officials push for a return to normal, while they remain sequestered at home, coping with exhaustion and grief. |
"They are frustrated and scared and many immunocompromised people I've spoken to say their mental health is really suffering," said Amanda Morris, who covers disability issues as a Times fellow. Their situation, she said, was "like extreme FOMO. But they can't even choose to change the situation unless they're willing to risk impacting their health." |
More than seven million adults in the U.S., or about 3 percent, are considered by health professionals to be immunocompromised. That means that diseases such as Covid-19 can be more deadly to them, and that vaccines offer less protection. |
The fear and anger felt by many high-risk Americans burst into public view last month when the C.D.C. director, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, cited a study that said only 0.003 percent of vaccinated people had died of Covid-19. She told ABC News that 75 percent of those who had died despite vaccination had "at least four comorbidities, so, really, these are people who were unwell to begin with." |
After a flood of criticism, Walensky apologized and said she would meet regularly with disability advocates. But Julia Bascom, the executive director of the Autistic Self Advocacy Network, said the comment reflected a familiar attitude: "That people with disabilities are just inevitably going to die, and those deaths are more understandable and less tragic." |
As virus rules relax, the best way to protect immunocompromised people, experts said, is to keep overall infections low by vaccinating almost everyone and funding initiatives for things like improved ventilation systems in public places — things that would benefit non-immunocompromised people, too. |
"The people I spoke with were not expecting others to go to the ends of the earth for them," Amanda said. "They made it really clear to me that they don't expect people to stay isolated, and some of them don't even expect people to wear a mask forever. A lot of them were like, 'We just want people to get vaccinated and wear a mask when there are spikes in Covid cases,' or even literally just consider them a little bit more." |
What else we're following |
My family is not selfish. We understand that mask wearing and vaccination not only keep us safe, but more importantly, these effortless behaviors keep everyone safe and are necessary during a pandemic. People are still dying of Covid at alarming rates. It is not time to take off your masks; of course, it probably would be if everyone was vaccinated. I teach adults, and when one of them can't keep their mask on correctly, I say to them, "Please put your mask on correctly. You do not have the right to kill my 4-year-old granddaughter." — Judy A. Van Wyk, Rhode Island |
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