Push for COVID boosters renewed

Americans who got the updated COVID-19 booster shots are better protected against symptomatic infection than those who haven't — at least for now, U.S. health officials said Tuesday.

Updated boosters rolled out by Pfizer and rival Moderna in September have been a hard sell for vaccine-weary Americans. Only about 13 percent of U.S. adults so far have gotten a “bivalent” shot that targets the omicron strain and the original coronavirus. On Tuesday, White House officials announced a renewed push for more Americans to get the latest shots.

The first look at the new shots' realworld effectiveness shows they work, said Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert.

Speaking at a White House briefing expected to be his last before he retires from the government at the end of year, Fauci said what “may be the final message I give you from this podium is that please, for your own safety, for that of your family, get your updated COVID-19 shot as soon as you're eligible.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention analyzed about 360,000 COVID-19 tests given to people with coronavirus-like symptoms at drugstores around the country between September, when the new boosters rolled out, and early November. Researchers compared the vaccination status of those who wound up having COVID-19 with those who didn't.

The new omicron-targeting booster added 30 percent to 56 percent protection against symptomatic infection, depending on how many prior vaccinations someone had, how long ago and their age, the CDC concluded.

People getting the greatest benefit are those who had never had a prior booster, just two doses of the original COVID-19 vaccine at least eight months earlier, said CDC's Dr. Ruth Link-Gelles, who led the study.

But even people who got a summertime booster of the original vaccine before seeking the new fall formula were 30 percent to 40 percent more protected than if they'd skipped this latest shot, she said.

The original shots have offered strong protection against severe disease and death no matter the variant, but protection against mild infection wanes. CDC's analysis tracked only the first few months of the new boosters' use so it's too early to know how long added protection against symptomatic infection lasts.