Just how durable is your COVID-19 booster shot?
Just as community virus cases come down from the big Omicron variant surge, the Centers for Disease Control put out some new data last week on how well boosters stood up to the surge.
The CDC study looked at patient visits to hospitals and urgent care centers in 10 states. The data is limited, but shows that booster shots worked to protect people during the explosion of cases in December and January.
Protection against severe illness was higher for people who had received boosters that for those who had only received the original series of shots.
But they also found that booster effectiveness drops significantly four months out from the shot. The study found that protection against having an outpatient visit because of COVID-19 after two months was 87%, but that protection fell to 66% four months after getting a booster shot.
So after your initial two series of Pfizer or Moderna shots, if you got your booster four or more months ago, can you go to a vaccine clinic for another booster?
The answer according to Jason Chenault, Sr. Director of Emergency and Patient Care Services for UPMC, is not until the CDC recommends it, unless you are seriously immunocompromised. "So right now there's not a formal recommendation to get a 4th booster dose. As we know, as time goes by we see more and more clinical data coming in, but right now those 4th doses are reserved for those immuno-compromised patients, so the general population at this point cannot get a 4th booster dose," Chenault said.
Chenault said UPMC Hamot is closing monitoring the CDC recommendations. If they come out with a plan for people to get another booster shot, the hospital will be prepared to pivot. In the meantime the focus is still on getting initial vaccines to the unvaccinated and to children ages 5-11.
UPMC Hamot offers vaccine clinics at their Health Plan building at 380 Bayfront Parkway on Wednesday afternoons from 3:30 - 5:30 and Thursday mornings from 7:00 to 8:30. You can schedule a vaccine at vaccine.upmc.com or walk in.