Last month new booster vaccines made by Moderna and Pfizer became available. They are called “bivalent,” because they protect against currently circulating Omicron variants as well as earlier strains of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19.
Boosters reduce the likelihood of becoming infected with Omicron, and they also reduce the likelihood of hospitalization and death should one become infected despite vaccination.
Dr. Bill Petri with UVA Health said those variants make up more than 90% of all new cases.
“The original vaccines will protect you from very severe illness which will protect you from being hospitalized. It is not doing a good job of protecting you from getting infected. That is one of the things that the new bivalent booster will do, it will give you better protection from being infected,” Dr. Petri said.
According to the data published by Pfizer and BioNTech, in people over age 55 the bivalent booster shot was linked to an over 13-fold increase in antibody levels compared to pre-booster levels.
The traditional monovalent booster shots led to a 2.9 fold increase in antibody levels in people over age 55 compared to pre-booster levels.
The bivalent shot was found to lead to a 9.5 fold increase in antibody levels for adults aged 18 to 55, compared to pre-booster levels.
“These data demonstrate that our BA.4/BA.5-adapted bivalent vaccine works as conceptually planned in providing stronger protection against the Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 sublineages,” Dr. Ugur Sahin, CEO and Co-founder of BioNTech said in the statement. “In the next step and as part of our science-based approach we will continue to evaluate the cross-neutralization of the adapted vaccine against new variants and sublineages. Our goal is to provide broader immunity against COVID-19 caused by SARS-CoV-2, including Omicron and other circulating strains.”
About 26.3 million Americans have gotten an updated booster since they rolled out in early September, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
CVS is offering both updated boosters. Its online system allows you to schedule multiple patients at once, which could make it easier for your family to get vaccinated together. You can schedule those appointments on the CVS website or on the pharmacy’s app.
