February 13, 2023 – A brand new CDC study shows that folks who received the updated bivalent COVID-19 booster shot by the tip of last yr are 14 times less prone to die from the disease than individuals who were never vaccinated and 3 times less likely than those that received only the unique vaccines.
In older adults, protection was most improved with the bivalent booster vaccination. The study also provided evidence that protection from the bivalent booster vaccination wanes after 2 months.
“Compared to unvaccinated individuals, individuals who received a bivalent booster vaccination were additionally protected against death compared to monovalent doses or monovalent booster vaccinations,” the study authors write.
The study was released by the CDC on Friday and assessed the effectiveness of vaccinations and booster shots in people ages 12 and older based on COVID case and death rates between October 3, 2021, and December 24, 2022. During that point, the 2 dominant virus strains were Delta and the omicron subvariants BA.2, BA.4, and BA.5. The latter two strains accounted for 78% of cases by the tip of the study period.
In total, researchers analyzed data on greater than 21 million COVID cases and 115,078 related deaths. The data got here from 23 states and Washington, DC, which were chosen because they may provide linked data on cases, vaccinations and deaths.
Throughout the study, unvaccinated people were more prone to get COVID or die from it than individuals who received only the monovalent booster. People who received the bivalent booster were significantly less prone to die from COVID than individuals who received only the monovalent booster.
The CDC approved the bivalent booster on September 1, 2022. The bivalent booster is an updated version of its predecessor (the monovalent booster) and is designed to higher combat the BA.4 and BA.5 strains of COVID. The authors write that on the time of publication, 17.5% of individuals ages 12 and older had received the bivalent booster.
The omicron strains that were widespread through the study now account for lower than 1% of cases, CDC estimatesThe currently dominant strain is XBB.1.5, and there are some initial Proof that bivalent booster through the XBB.1.5 era provides protection against severe COVID disease or death.
Given the outcomes of the brand new CDC study, the authors recommend that “all individuals should keep their COVID-19 vaccinations up to date, including a bivalent booster dose for eligible individuals, to reduce the risk of severe COVID-19.”