Is the booster shot (3rd dose) of COVID-19 vaccine really necessary?

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Is the booster shot (3rd dose) of COVID-19 vaccine really necessary?

Is the booster shot (3rd dose) of COVID-19 vaccine really necessary?  WHO calls for a global moratorium on booster immunization.

Introduction: In view of the huge inequality in global vaccine distribution, high-income countries account for the majority. The WHO called for: It is recommended to suspend the booster shot of COVID-19 vaccines to ensure that the important goal of “10% of the population in all countries in the world will be vaccinated by the end of September” will be boosted when the global vaccination rate increases. However, there are a few richer people in the world Of countries said they rejected the proposal.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has called for a moratorium on the use of new coronavirus booster shots before the end of next month. The aim is to ensure that at least 10% of people in all countries are vaccinated before the extra dose is issued. Up to now, the United States has donated 110 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine to 65 countries. However, WHO estimates that approximately 11 billion doses of vaccine are needed to vaccinate 70% of the world’s population. This is a convincing argument. 58% of people in high-income countries have at least one dose of the vaccine; in low-income countries, this figure is only 1.3%. Recently, a researcher published an article titled “The WHO is right to call a temporary halt to COVID vaccine boosters” on Nature.

In addition, the reason for strengthening the needle has not been confirmed. Most of the new coronavirus vaccines currently in use are still very effective after several months of administration, especially for severe diseases and deaths. During a period of vaccine scarcity, the choice of booster shots must be guided by the evidence of benefit, and take into account the cost of delaying the provision of vaccines to vulnerable groups and medical workers in other countries. So far, there is little evidence that boosters are needed to protect people who are fully vaccinated.

Sadly, many countries are pushing forward desperately, expressing their rejection of this proposal. Israel has begun to inject a third dose of Pfizer mRNA vaccine for people over 50 and other vulnerable groups. France, Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States all plan to provide certain groups with a third booster shot of the COVID-19 vaccine. In the United States, more than 1 million people received an unauthorized third dose.

In some cases, if there is evidence that conventional dosages do not work, booster shots may be necessary. A study of people who have received organ transplants (which means they need to take drugs that suppress the immune system) found that after two doses of mRNA vaccine, nearly half of them had no antibody response (BJ Boyarsky et al., JAMA 325, 2204 -2206;2021).

If it is found that vaccines made of inactivated virus particles, namely those produced by Sinopharm and Beijing Kexing Biological Products Co., Ltd. Sinovac, do not provide sufficient protection against deaths caused by serious diseases or variants such as Delta, it may be A third booster shot is needed. In Indonesia, the surge in the COVID-19 epidemic has affected many health care workers who are fully vaccinated with Koxing vaccine, and the surge in other countries that rely on Koxing vaccine has caused officials to consider using other vaccines as boosters—although the vaccine is far from The only factor in the increase in incidence.

All other vaccines currently in use appear to be more than 90% effective against hospitalizations and deaths from the new coronavirus. Although some studies have found that vaccine-induced antibody levels drop after a few months, this is typical of all vaccines and does not necessarily indicate that the protection against the new coronavirus is weakened.

Scientists do not yet know how much additional protection a booster injection may have against disease, or how long it will last. However, on average, people who have not been vaccinated with the coronavirus are more likely to contract and spread this infection than those who are vaccinated. In addition, they are more than 90% more likely to be hospitalized or die due to this disease. If you choose an unknown but potentially increased benefit for a person in a rich country, instead of choosing a large-scale, life-saving benefit for a person in other parts of the world, then this is a failed strategy, because new mutations will not be possible. Avoid places where the spread of the new coronavirus continues unabated.

WHO Senior Advisor Bruce Aylward said: “I don’t think we should confuse the big picture here. Our goal is to vaccinate the global population. Before possible vaccine protection, suspend booster immunization.” Wealthy countries need to be more active in vaccinating the world instead of providing booster shots to the general public. There are several ways to do this:

First, rich countries must fulfill their commitment to support the Global Vaccine Access Program (COVAX), which is the League of Nations to provide vaccines to low-income countries. It has not yet achieved the moderate goal of vaccinating the most vulnerable 20% of the population by the end of 2021.

However, the global availability of vaccines is limited—and only when the popularity of injections is strengthened will become more limited—so vaccine donations alone are not enough. National leaders whose companies benefit from public funding—such as BioNTech in Germany and Moderna in the United States—should use their influence to expand manufacturing. More wealthy countries need to support a proposal led by India and South Africa-this proposal has the support of the United States-that is, the temporary exemption of vaccine patents.

These agreements must be funded to allow new manufacturers to quickly and safely put into production, while at the same time providing funds for countries to purchase vaccines and distribute them to their citizens. Normally, this process will last for years or even decades, but in a pandemic, time is of the essence and the demand is huge. Patent exemptions cannot solve this problem alone; neither will vaccine donations or the temporary suspension of booster injections. The world must move forward on all fronts at the same time.

If the COVID-19 virus is allowed to spread in low-income and low-income countries, it may cause millions of deaths or face long-term complications of severe COVID-19 virus infection. In these countries, less than 15% of the total number of people vaccinated. As businesses and schools continue to close, the economy will be eroded. The soaring level of the new coronavirus will promote the evolution of new mutations, which may be more contagious than Delta, more deadly than existing strains, or able to evade immune responses. Last month, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned: “Highly contagious virus variants may disrupt economic recovery around the world and wipe out 4.5 trillion yuan from global gross domestic product (GDP) by 2025. Dollar.”

If vaccines are not scarce, booster shots will not be so controversial. However, when more than half of the countries in the world lack vaccine doses, focusing on boosters is short-sighted and will only make the pandemic last longer. For rich countries, this strategy means that they will endlessly chase their tails in new variants. For the rest of the world, this means prolonging unnecessary suffering.

(source:internet, reference only)

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Important Note: The information provided is for informational purposes only and should not be considered as medical advice.