Immunizing more people is preferred over boosters
Wait, scientists say, most people don’t need it
COVID-19 vaccines work so well that most people don’t yet need a booster, an all-star panel of scientists from around the world said in a review that’s likely to fuel the debate over whether to use them.
Governments would be better served on immunizing the unvaccinated and to wait for more data on which boosters, and at what doses, would be most effective, the authors, who included two prominent U.S. Food and Drug Administration experts, argued in a medical journal. They based this on real-world observational studies and data from clinical trials.
COVID-19 vaccines work so well that most people don’t yet need a booster, an all-star panel of scientists from around the world said in a review that’s likely to fuel the debate over whether to use them.
Governments would be better served to focus on immunizing the unvaccinated and to wait for more data on which boosters, and at what doses, would be most effective, the authors, who included two prominent U.S. Food and Drug Administration experts, argued in the medical journal The Lancet. They based their assessment on a wide range of real-world observational studies plus data from clinical trials.
“None of the studies has provided credible evidence of substantially declining protection against severe disease,” the authors wrote.
The review comes as most countries with ample vaccine supplies debate whether to allocate doses for booster shots to prop up immunity and potentially help stop the spread of the more infectious delta variant. The U.S. plans to roll out booster shots starting Monday, though the plan still needs sign-off from the FDA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Across the observational studies done so far, vaccination has been an average of 95% effective against severe disease, including against more infectious variants such as delta, and more than 80% effective at preventing any infection, the review found.