Well, will wonders never cease! Apparently, the science and data on the COVID-19 booster shot is showing that it is all nonsense!
Scientists sharply criticized the push by the Biden Administration to widely distribute the COVID-19 vaccine booster shots in the United States next month. The data provided by federal health officials weren’t compelling enough for these scientists to recommend third shots to most of the American populace right now.
U.S. health leaders are now saying that they are planning on offering booster shots to all eligible Americans beginning the week of September 20th. This plan was outlined by CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky, acting FDA commissioner Dr. Janet Woodcock, and White House chief medical advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci among many others. These calls for a third dose have occurred about eight months after people got their second shot of either the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines.
These individuals cited three different studies, released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, that showed that the protection against COVID-19 had diminished at least a couple months after recipients had taken the shot. One study based in New York showed that from May 3 through July 25 the vaccine protection from the infection had dropped from 92% to just 80%. Yet another study by the Mayo Clinic showed that Pfizer vaccine efficiency had fallen from 76% to 42% and Moderna’s had declined from 86% to 76%.
“Taken together, you can see that while the exact percentage of vaccine effectiveness over time differs depending on the cohort and settings study, the data consistently demonstrate a reduction of vaccine effectiveness against infection over time,” Walensky told reporters during a White House Covid press briefing.
However, scientists and other health experts said they didn’t think the data was compelling, so they characterized the administration’s push for boosters as premature. The data did suggest that there was a reduction in protection against mild and moderate disease, and according to them the two-dose vaccines still held up well against the effects of severe disease and hospitalizations.
Let’s just look at the New York study as just one example. The CDC showed that there had been at least 9.675 infections among the fully vaccinated adults, compared with as many as 38,505 infections among those who were unvaccinated. Among the fully vaccinated who were infected, for 1,271 people it was so bad that they had to be hospitalized, and that accounted for as much as 15% of COVID-19 hospitalizations.
“People are still highly protected against severe disease, hospitalization, and death. This is what vaccines are supposed to do,” claimed Anna Durbin, who works as a vaccine researcher at Johns Hopkins University. “If we start seeing significant upticks of more severe disease and hospitalizations in vaccinated people, that would be a signal to consider boosters.”
Durbin also noted that the body’s immune system is complex. While the presence of the antibodies that have been induced by the vaccine may go into decline and result in a surge of breakthrough infections, the body has plenty of other mechanisms. The t cells for one will often band together to prevent someone from getting seriously sick.
“The data are showing that yes, we are seeing breakthrough infections but, the infections are mild or moderate colds,” she said.
To be sure, the federal health officials are now saying that the vaccines still hold up against severe disease over time, regardless of their ability to prevent infectious diseases. They said that they based their latest science assessment on the following: “the current protection against severe disease over time, even as their ability to prevent infections declines. They said, based on their latest assessment, “the current protection against severe disease, hospitalization, and death could diminish in the months ahead, especially among those who are at higher risk or were vaccinated during the earlier phases of the vaccination rollout.”
Indeed, there are several groups in the United States that could benefit from a third dose, according to FDA Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee member Dr. Archana Chatterjee.
Science data does support the need for more booster doses among those who have moderate to severely immunocompromised systems, according to Chatterjee. Federal health officials on Friday had approved giving booster shots to these people – which include HIV and cancer patients and people who have organ transplants – after the data showed conclusively that they don’t produce an adequate immune response after they receive the required two doses.
At the present moment, “breakthrough infections in the general public tend to be asymptomatic or mild,” she said.
People who are 65 years of age or older or those who are living in a long-term facility would also benefit from a third shot.
“Do we all need a third dose of a vaccine right now? No, we don’t. Do some people need a third dose of a vaccine right now? Yes. Will we need a third dose of a vaccine in the near future? Maybe,”one notable doctor said in a phone interview.
Dr. Priya Sampathkumar, an epidemiologist at the Mayo Clinic, agreed, noting that a booster may be needed for the general public in the near future, but not right now. “There isn’t enough data to support the third booster for all at this point,” she said.
Lawrence Gostin, director of the World Health Organization’s Collaborating Center on National and Global Health Law, said that federal health officials should really put their science focus elsewhere: namely, those who still haven’t gotten vaccinated at all.
Moreover, the WHO is condemning those wealthy nations that are distributing booster shots in the first place!
“Boosting the entire U.S. population while poor people are dying in poor countries is tone-deaf and is widely viewed as uncaring,” Gostin said. “It’s also a slap in the face to WHO after it called for a booster moratorium.”
U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy defended the administration’s booster plan and the science on CNBC on Wednesday, saying health officials felt they should give boosters to the general public at the eight-month mark as a way “to stay ahead of this virus.”
“We are making plans now, because No. 1, you’ve got to plan ahead, but two, we wanted the public to know what we were seeing in the data, in our effort to be transparent and open with the public,” Murthy told “The News with Shepard Smith.”
During a White House press briefing, Jen Psaki insisted that they could do both: they could promote a booster shot and try to get to more people to get the initial vaccinations as well. Oh brother. What a bunch of junk science.
“We believe that is a false choice. We can do both,” Psaki said, adding that the U.S. contributes more vaccine doses than any other nation to fight Covid across the globe. “We will continue to be the arsenal for vaccines around the world. We also have enough supply and had long planned enough supply should a booster be needed for the eligible population.”