Contrary to what happened at the beginning of the pandemic, when the first vaccines were followed by a steady stream of reinforcements, Latest vaccines Coronavirus It’s easy: just one puncture.
Developed by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, it was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on September 11 and by EU authorities in early September.
The new vaccine comes as the latest strains of the virus are causing an increase in hospitalizations and deaths in the United States and Europe. Take last week as an example, COVID-19 deaths increase 8% from previous week There are 19,079 hospitalizations, compared with just 4,000 hospitalizations in the same week last month.
The main reason for this increase is ” Immunity is declining in many people“William Schaffner, an infectious disease expert at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in the United States, explained.
Over time, immunity weakens when the amount of protective antibodies and cellular defenses stimulated by vaccines or infections decreases. In the case of COVID-19, it takes an average of 7 months since the last infection with the virus, or 9 months since the last vaccination, before a decline occurs.
Therefore, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) encourages people Stay up to date on your COVID-19 vaccine.
Schaffner explains Newly updated vaccines They’re like a dose against the seasonal flu, and we’re getting closer to only needing one puncture a year to combat COVID-19, making the term “reinforcement” obsolete. “For more than 40 years, the flu vaccine has been updated every year to protect against new variants, and now we’re updating the COVID vaccine as well.”
Some people still believe that being infected with the virus confers greater immunity than being vaccinated against COVID-19, but the data still shows that is not the case. While research shows that so-called “natural immunity” after a previous infection with the coronavirus is as protective as being vaccinated against the virus, it also carries more risks and dangers.
“We have a lot of data from three years ago that shows Immunity through vaccination is much safer than through infection”, says microbiologist and immunologist John Moore of Weill Cornell Medical College (USA).
Schaffner noted that those who are wary of vaccines should consider that more than 600 million vaccine doses have been safely administered in the United States and more than 12 billion doses have been safely administered globally, and the risk of hospitalization or death from the new coronavirus remains. exist. Additionally, new research shows that multiple coronavirus infections can lead to chronic health problems such as diabetes, kidney disease, organ failure, and even mental health issues. Symptoms of long-term coronavirus infection are also worrisome, including brain fog, fatigue, chest pain, dizziness and a reduced sense of taste or smell.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says Vaccination remains best chance of reducing risk of long-term COVID-19 symptomschronic disease, and hospitalization or death, a point researchers agree.
“Even if someone doesn’t end up hospitalized or chronically ill with COVID-19, the disease can make their life very unpleasant for a week or more because they will have to deal with a lot of bothersome symptoms. Isn’t it?” “Some people may have a sore arm or a headache all day after they get the vaccine, what’s worse than that?” Moore said.
While previous COVID-19 vaccines provided significant protection against the original strain of the virus and its many later variants, the latest strains, including the most common EG.5, “have many mutations that may help them evade us.” Any immunity you currently have,” said Erin Abner, an epidemiologist at the University of Kentucky School of Public Health.
“The most important message is for Americans to get this new annual immunization because it’s specifically targeted at these new Texas pediatricians.
U.S. authorities recommend Anyone six months or older can get the latest coronavirus vaccine.
Leana Wen, emergency physician and professor of public health at the George Washington University Milken School of Public Health (USA), believes Elderly and immunocompromised people should be first in line: “For them, this vaccine is especially important.”
However, one area where opinions differ is when to administer the new vaccines.
Although the CDC recommends getting the vaccine if two months have passed since your last COVID-19 vaccination or infection, many epidemiologists and primary care doctors believe People can wait until four to six months since their last COVID-19 vaccination or infection.
“It’s not that it’s unsafe to vaccinate earlier, it’s just that it may not be necessary to vaccinate so close to a previous infection or vaccine dose. It’s better to space the doses a little further apart to extend the scope of protection,” Moore noted.
But it’s only a matter of time. “It doesn’t matter if you’ve had a previous version of the vaccine, whether it’s the primary series, a booster vaccine or any of the COVID-19 vaccines, New vaccine could help prevent the disease” said New York physician Scott Ratzan, a professor at the CUNY Graduate School of Public Health.
“(The new vaccine) will not provide complete protection from infection,” Abner added, “but it will significantly reduce the risk of severe illness, hospitalization and death.”
It’s also worth noting that these latest vaccines “are typically one-shot vaccines, regardless of past COVID vaccination history,” adds Elizabeth Jacobs, a chronic disease epidemiologist at the University of Arizona Cancer Center (USA).
The CDC says experts agree, Flu and COVID-19 vaccines can be given at the same time. “Right now, we’ve seen a lot of data showing that the combination of the two vaccines doesn’t cause any harm,” Schaffner stressed.
However, one consideration that experts have raised regarding the possibility of splitting vaccinations is whether you have had any type of negative reaction to either vaccine in the past, such as headaches, nausea, or extra soreness in your arms, and whether you would be willing to split those for a short period of time. side effects instead of two trips to the pharmacy. “By now, most people know how their bodies respond to the flu or COVID-19 vaccines, so whatever your short-term response to each vaccine has been in the past, it’s likely to be similar this time,” Moore concluded.