Duration of benefit of booster vaccine

[Donatella]

Is there any data yet on how long we can expect protection to last following the booster? Obviously it's only been a few months since the first boosters were given but with the amount of research focus on Covid I assume we'll get some figures pretty quickly. Just curious as I had mine almost 4 months ago.

Nobody know yet but there's data about T cells and I think B cells (might have wrong letter) that are far more effective long after, they don't prevent disease but they deal with it quickly instead. Apparently az is better at producing this long lasting protection which could be why we have a low death per case percentage

Protection is highest between 2 and 10 weeks after receiving the booster.

I caught covid 3 weeks after my booster so I would say they are of very limited benefit against omicron.

That's because they were developed to target the original strain, and omicron has a large number of mutations...

Approximately six months, I think. Although the booster does not protect us from getting Covid, it is said to lessen the severity of infection.

The booster gives good protection against serious disease and death, but much less so against symptomatic illness because it was developed for original wild type Covid, not Omicron. Protection starts to wane after 10 weeks but doesn't go down to nothing, every boost to immunity you get (whether vaccine or exposure to the virus) will increase your antibodies and your body's ability to fight it.

The protection against serious illness is still showing good signs - that's why we haven't needed another booster for those done first yet, despite it being four months.

Interesting range of responses, thanks. I find this all really fascinating, why some people seem to have different immune responses to exposure/vaccination/infection and how that impacts their chances of getting ill. I've been exposed multiple times but never had it, whereas other people are getting it multiple times. I don't think we'll ever have a definitive answer about why, but it is interesting to think about, and I'm sure it's producing huge amounts of research material for the scientists

First boosters were given in September 2021 - 4 months ago now!
Many frontline NHS staff had theirs then, and have had all Pfizer vaccines.
Don't expect the NHS staff absence rate to go down any time soon.
I just hope none of them die because their boosters are not protecting them any more (like when the JCVI left it 9 months after the 2nd dose).

I asked the vaccinator who gave me mine and she said efficacy starts to wane after about 12 weeks and has declined noticeably by 6 months.

I took this to mean that the CEV and the elderly probably need a booster about every 4 months.