How long is the booster effective for?

[Ladylunchalot]

Just wondering if anyone knows how long the booster dose is meant to protect you for? I did hear something about Israel introducing a 4th dose but can't see anything about that happening here.
I'm an NHS worker so have had all my vaccines early - had my booster in September. Now starting to get a little concerned that I'm now not as protected.

No-one knows yet. Probably longer each time, plus your t cells will still be doing their thing & protecting you from serious illness.

I read that it starts to decline 5 weeks after getting the injection and is pretty useless by 10 weeks.

Remember that the current 'booster' vaccines were developed to target the original Alpha (?) variant, not Omicron.

Specific Omicron vaccines are still being developed.

The level of circulating antibodies may start to decline, but that's the same for all diseases. The t cell response is less affected by a change in the virus so we should maintain protection against serious illness & death (look at the death figures now compared to last year to see the vaccine effect). The omicron variant isn't necessary milder, it's that there are such high levels of protection due to previous infection & vaccination.

"Early real-world analysis of the UK's immunisation scheme shows the efficacy of Pfizer's top-up dose at preventing symptoms drops to as low as 35 per cent two-and-a-half months after getting a third dose, among people already given a full course of AstraZeneca."

I read that it starts to decline 5 weeks after getting the injection and is pretty useless by 10 weeks.
Do you have the data for this?
Actually the vaccines were developed against the original virus - alpha came along just as we were starting to vaccinate, then delta, now omicron (others came & went in a more minor way).

@Blubells

I read that it starts to decline 5 weeks after getting the injection and is pretty useless by 10 weeks.

Remember that the current 'booster' vaccines were developed to target the original Alpha (?) variant, not Omicron.

Specific Omicron vaccines are still being developed.

If this is true I'm really not sure why I'm even considering getting boosted in the next week or two... I had two jabs in mid-2021 then had COVID in October. I'm not worried about getting anything more than mild illness when I inevitably catch Omicron, boosted or not. Given I seem to react pretty badly to COVID jabs, I'm very tempted to just wait for one to be developed that actually targets the new variant!

Neither of those seems to link to the data (disclaimer: I have read them as it is the daily mail, but the headlines don't don't suggest that). The AZ one suggests lifelong protection from AZ due to the cellular immunity.

I am concerned about this. My DP had booster in September! That is already over the 10 weeks that a 2nd dose has been proven to be worthless after.
DP works on acute wards in hospital, including Covid.

I wonder if this is why so many NHS staff are now off with Covid and what hasn't been reported is that NHS staff now have to wear FFP3 masks - this is the PPE that has been legally required in the USA for months so this move shows how backwards and poor on legally required protection from hard at work the NHS run by the Department of Health is.
Of course it is totally futile because the NHS does not have enough FFP3 masks so the decree came into force and promptly there were no FFP3 masks to be had.
So the staff are wearing FFP1 masks that have been proven to be 10% effective against Delta, and of course Omicron is about 3 times more infectious.

So we need to follow Germany and Israel and re-booster people at 3-4 months who are occupationally exposed to Covid or otherwise vulnerable.

Especially since the booster clinics are currently underused once the initial booster rush finished and begging people to turn up.

That is already over the 10 weeks that a 2nd dose has been proven to be worthless after.
Please stop saying it's worthless. Look at the death data.

NHS staff now have to wear FFP3 masks
Only if they are working with Covid patients or doing aerosol generating procedures (although I agree they should all be wearing them anyway).
FFP3 have to be fit tested as well otherwise they are not much use.

Perhapse a change of approach is needed. Instead of boosting millions of healthy young people who have already had covid mildly, they could prioritise 4th doses for high risk workers and older/vulnerable people who had boosters 10+ weeks ago?

That is already over the 10 weeks that a 2nd dose has been proven to be worthless after.

Please stop saying it's worthless. Look at the death data.

It may well be worthless. BUT omicron may be sufficiently milder intrinsically, that many of us don't need the boosters.

Perhapse a change of approach is needed. Instead of boosting millions of healthy young people who have already had covid mildly, they could prioritise 4th doses for high risk workers and older/vulnerable people who had boosters 10+ weeks ago?

Yes. Or get the poorest countries their first vaccines?

@Blubells

Perhapse a change of approach is needed. Instead of boosting millions of healthy young people who have already had covid mildly, they could prioritise 4th doses for high risk workers and older/vulnerable people who had boosters 10+ weeks ago?

Yes. Or get the poorest countries their first vaccines?

Yes, @Blubells. We shouldn't 'waste' vaccines on people that don't need them while so many others die through lack of access.

@Blubells

I read that it starts to decline 5 weeks after getting the injection and is pretty useless by 10 weeks.

Remember that the current 'booster' vaccines were developed to target the original Alpha (?) variant, not Omicron.

Specific Omicron vaccines are still being developed.

Where did you read this?

5 weeks after my booster I had antibody levels of more than 2500 U/ml, which is as high as can be measured. And, presumably, all the other parts of my immune system doing their stuff.

BUT omicron may be sufficiently milder intrinsically, that many of us don't need the boosters.
It may turn out to be, but the thought at the moment is that it is milder simply because of high levels of previous infection & vaccination, ie the vaccines are doing their job. Of course it's hard to separate things out.
I agree that we need to help the rest of the world get vaccinated.

My sister had hers on the 9th and tested positive yesterday, so not long enough!!! And yes, yes, I know the primary purpose is to prevent serious illness, but surely it's not wrong to expect to feel you won't get it for a few weeks?

I have always said l wouldn't mind having a Covid booster every winter, but I am not putting myself through the strain, the hassle and the anxiety of having a booster every few months.

I understood that protection starts to decline after 10 weeks, not that they are useless after 10 weeks ?

To be fair the 10 week protection thing was all over the news, you'd have to have tried hard to avoid reading about it.

@FAQs

To be fair the 10 week protection thing was all over the news, you'd have to have tried hard to avoid reading about it.

And as we know, the headlines are never ever scaremongering. A lot of the frightening headlines were based on very small numbers of patients & the authors themselves said they were unreliable. For example the frightening stats on AZ, but actually very little AZ was given in SA, where the data came from. I'm not saying protection doesn't decline but it all needs to be taken in context.

We have to remember that the current vaccines are not targeting Omicron. That's why the vaccines aren't very effective.

The vaccines were developed to target the original covid virus - since then there's been lots of immune symptoms evading mutations.

Antibodies may wane after 10 weeks but they are only the first line of defence. T Cells continue working long term and the AZ vaccine in particular provides a good T cell response.

I recommend US scientist @sailorrooscout for lots of level headed info.

twitter.com/sailorrooscout/status/1476620397424615425
Them: Is there any other vaccine in history that required three doses in a year and yet still didn’t prevent transmission of the virus it was meant to protect against?

Me: Your childhood vaccinations would like a word with you.

If anyone would like a good explanation of immunity I recommend the Royal Institution Christmas lectures on BBC. This year led by Professor Sir JVT and a host of other experts.

@Blubells

We have to remember that the current vaccines are not targeting Omicron. That's why the vaccines aren't very effective.

The vaccines were developed to target the original covid virus - since then there's been lots of immune symptoms evading mutations.

Will you stop this scaremongering? The vaccines are still quite effective against symptomatic disease and very effective against serious disease.

The booster is no different to the original vaccine, it has not been changed or formulated to deal with later variants. There is no long term data on the effectiveness of the booster as yet. Do link to data if you have any... I would love to read it...

I work for the NHS and work on a covid ward. I had my booster in October and tested positive for covid yesterday