The Limited Times

Now you can see non-English news...

Boosters against Corona: Why Karl Lauterbach and other experts recommend the third vaccination

2021-12-09T14:50:09.802Z


Health Minister Lauterbach repeatedly emphasizes how important the third vaccination is to protect against the Omikron variant. Other experts also advise not to wait with boosting.


Enlarge image

Three syringes against the coronavirus are currently the best protection against infection

Photo: Jeff Wasserman / Stocksy United

The new Federal Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach has underlined the importance of booster vaccinations in the fight against the new Corona variant Omikron.

"The vaccination is only complete if you have been vaccinated three times," said the SPD politician on Wednesday in the ZDF's "heute journal".

That is the new reality in order to be somewhat protected from Omikron.

It is very likely that two vaccinations will alleviate the disease, "and three vaccinations will probably protect you very well against serious illness."

In fact, initial studies suggest that the omicron variant can bypass the immune protection that humans have acquired through vaccinations or coronavirus infections better than previous mutants.

However, the data also show that protection increases significantly with booster vaccinations.

Third dose increases the amount of neutralizing antibodies

For example, the vaccine manufacturers Biontech and Pfizer announced on Wednesday that, according to initial laboratory data, two doses of the vaccine did not provide sufficient protection against infection with the recently discovered variant.

Laboratory studies have shown that people who have been vaccinated twice have significantly lower neutralization titers against Omikron - that is, they are significantly less protected against this variant than against other coronavirus mutants.

However, a third dose increased the amount of neutralizing antibodies by 25 times compared to two doses, according to the companies.

However, the companies assume that protection against a serious illness is still in place and refer to the T-cell response after the vaccination. According to this, 80 percent of the surface features that these T cells recognize are unchanged at Omikron. So "a double vaccination could probably still offer protection against severe Covid 19 disease," said Pfizer and Biontech.

It is too early to say how much the immune protection against Omikron is limited, said vaccine expert Leif Erik Sander from the Berlin Charité the Science Media Center with a view to the latest data.

"I assume that we will have to reckon with significantly more breakthrough infections, but boosters will have a positive effect." Ultimately, however, the vaccines must be adapted to this new variant.

So far, vaccines based on the wild type of the virus are still used.

According to their own statements, the vaccine manufacturers are already working on an adaptation.

Biontech and Pfizer, for example, announced that if necessary, an adapted vaccine could be made available from March, subject to official approval.

However, experts advise against waiting with the booster until the adapted vaccine is available. "Since these adapted vaccines will not come before next year in February or March at the earliest, you shouldn't wait for them now, but get vaccinated or boosted now," said Carsten Watzl, Secretary General of the German Society for Immunology (DGfI), the Science Media Center . If Omikron completely displaces the Delta variant worldwide, the current vaccines would all have to be replaced by new versions. "It works comparatively quickly with mRNA vaccines, but it can take significantly longer with the other vaccines," says Watzl.

The virologist Christian Drosten also wrote on Twitter that the triple vaccination is the best protection at the moment.

“New vaccines only after the winter wave.

Don't wait, just boost. "

Meanwhile, the vaccination council of the World Health Organization (WHO) still does not recommend a general corona booster vaccination, as Germany and many other countries already offer.

It is about fair vaccine distribution, said the chairman of the independent advisory board on immunization issues (SAGE), Alejandro Cravioto, on Thursday in Geneva.

The situation is different for people with a weakened immune system, for whom the council has previously recommended a third vaccine dose.

As long as there are not enough vaccines available, the priority must remain to offer everyone in the world a basic vaccination of one or two doses. A full vaccination - in the case of Pfizer / Biontech or Moderna, two doses - protects well against a serious course of the disease for at least six months, said Cravioto.

In Germany, booster vaccinations are currently offered with vaccines from the manufacturers of Biontech / Pfizer and Moderna.

For people under 30 years of age, the Standing Vaccination Commission (Stiko) recommends refreshing with the Biontech vaccine.

The reason is a slightly increased risk that an extremely rare side effect will occur after vaccination with Moderna: inflammation of the heart muscle or pericardium, myocarditis or pericarditis.

Even pregnant women should only be boosted with Biontech.

Both vaccines are equally suitable for all other people who are 30 years of age and older (read here what you need to know about the third vaccination).

mar / dpa

Source: spiegel

All life articles on 2021-12-09

You may like

News/Politics 2024-02-15T06:00:59.458Z

Trends 24h

Life/Entertain 2024-03-28T17:17:20.523Z

Latest

© Communities 2019 - Privacy

The information on this site is from external sources that are not under our control.
The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.