January 26, 2023 – New data on the bivalent COVID-19 booster vaccination show that it halves the danger of symptomatic infection with the currently predominant omicron subvariant XBB.1.5.
The Results from the CDC show for the primary time how well the bivalent booster works within the XBB.1.5 era, for the reason that booster was developed before the strain first appeared.
“Based on these data, we see a benefit that could convince some people to sign up and receive a bivalent booster vaccination,” Dr. Peter Hotez told NBC NewsHotez is a vaccine expert and dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston.
About 15% of individuals within the U.S. have received the bivalent booster shot because it got here onto the market last fall. The term “bivalent” implies that the booster shot was developed to guard against each the unique virus and the newer version of the virus, generally known as omicron.
The CDC's latest evaluation checked out 29,175 cases of individuals with COVID-like symptoms from a national pharmacy testing dataset from December 1, 2022, to January 13, 2023. Overall, 34% of people that tested negative reported receiving the bivalent booster. Of individuals who tested positive for XBB.1.5, 21% reported receiving the bivalent booster.
XBB.1.5 and its relative XBB currently account for 52% of diagnosed cases. CDC data shows.
A national advisory committee is meeting today to debate future recommendations for COVID-19 booster shots, including ways to simplify the method within the hopes of getting more people vaccinated.