Available booster shots against COVID-19 are enough to reduce serious disease caused by the highly transmissible Omicron variant, Dr. Anthony Fauci said.
/webmd/consumer_assets/site_images/article_thumbnails/video/1800x1200_krames_activating_health_how_mrna_vaccine_works_video.jpgIn one study, the third dose of Pfizer’s vaccine increased antibody levels against the variant by 25 times. Researchers from Rockefeller University in New York City found that people who had received boosters had 38 times the level of neutralizing COVID-19 activity.
A study from the U.K. Health Security Agency showed the booster is 75% effective against symptomatic disease. "The Omicron variant undoubtedly compromises the effects of two-dose mRNA vaccine-induced antibodies and reduces the overall protection,” Fauci said. “However, considerable protection still maintains against severe disease.”CDC Director Rochelle Walensky, MD, said based on national genomic sequencing analyses, Omicron now makes up about 3% of COVID-19 cases in the United States. But in certain areas, including New York and New Jersey, that number is about 13%.
“In looking at early data on transmissibility of Omicron from other countries, we expect to see the proportion of Omicron cases here in the U.S. continue to grow in the coming weeks,” she said.News briefing, White House COVID-19 Response Team, Dec. 15, 2021.
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