The UKHSA analysed more than 600,000 confirmed and suspected cases of the Omicron variant up to 29 December in England.
It found that a single vaccine dose reduced the risk of needing hospital treatment by 52%. Adding the second dose increased the protection to 72%, although after 25 weeks that protection had faded to 52% And two weeks after getting a third dose, that protection against hospitalisation was boosted to 88%.
The UKHSA report said there was not enough data yet to work out how long this protection would last but it is expected to last longer than protection against developing symptoms.
In people who already had symptoms, protection after each dose was slightly lower and reduced to 68% after a booster compared to unvaccinated people.
That’s a large “sample” for analysis so the results should be taken seriously and viewed as very encouraging.
Yes but there are questions on how long the protection lasts there is talk of little more than ten weeks. The data is very slow in coming when compared to the Delta variant and I wonder why this is?
I have seen some data from SA universities (positive factual things don’t always make it into our sensationalist media which only really likes doom and gloom and our leaders are slow on the uptake and very cautious ) that has found in addition to vaccines our T and B cells those ‘soldiers of our immune system’ work well against all current strains of C19 which may be why the majority of the unvaccinated in SA who have already been infected with the original C19 and other variants pre Omicron have had a mild response to it likewise similar people here in the UK.
I understand if a more dangerous variant than Omicron comes along, because it is so highly infectious it is unlikely to be supersede by any new version.
Unlike the other C19 viruses Omicron is concentrates mainly in the upper respiratory tract which may mean with a a high viral load in that area it is coughed and sneezed out more easily making it more transmissible and other variations are unlikely to match that feature .
With a bit of luck once Omicron has swept through the population at speed we can look forward to a more normal spring followed by boosters for the vulnerable and a mild seasonal C19 for the rest.
