According to a report published in the Lancet, vaccine efficacy against severe Covid-19 is so high, that booster doses for the general population are “not appropriate” at this stage of the pandemic.
Highlights
- The review was provided by the scientists from World Health Organization (WHO) and US Food & Drug Administration (FDA).
- Review was provided when FDA is currently reviewing evidence for booster doses for Americans.
- Countries like Israel, Italy, France and Russia have already rolled out the third dose of Covid-19 vaccines.
Findings of the report
- Report summarises that; vaccines comprise of evidence from randomised controlled trials and observational studies that were published in peer-reviewed journals. It clearly shows the benefits of first shots.
- According to it, vaccination had 95 per cent efficacy against severe disease including the Delta variant and Alpha variant.
- Vaccine is having the efficacy of 80 per cent in protecting against any infection from these variants.
- However, vaccines are less effective against asymptomatic disease or against transmission as compared to severe disease.
- It notes that, unvaccinated minority are still the major drivers of transmission.
- However, currently available studies do not provide any credible evidence of substantially declining protection against severe covid-19 disease, which is main goal of vaccination.
Is third dose essential?
CEO of AstraZeneca recently noted that, third dose of vaccines against Covid-19 will not be needed for everyone.
WHO’s take
WHO has called to extend the global moratorium on Covid-19 booster doses. with the aim of enabling every country to vaccinate at least 40 per cent the population.