Booster against coronavirus: These cross vaccinations offer the best protection against the omicron variant

Created: 12/31/2021, 09:24 AM

By: Markus Hofstetter

Which vaccine works best against the Omicron variant?

A UK study shows that certain cross vaccinations offer the highest protection.

London - Around 30 million people in Germany received a booster of the corona vaccination.

Due to the Omikron location, the Stiko recommends the booster for everyone over the age of 18 after three months (as of December 21), instead of the previously propagated six months.

Many people ask themselves the question: which vaccine is better at protecting against the omicron variant when it is refreshed?

The one from Biontech or that from Moderna?

Booster variant offers the best protection against Omikron: effectiveness lower than against Delta variant

An answer to this question is now provided by a study by the UK Health Security Agency

UKHSA, which was published on December 23, 2021.

The report also examined the effectiveness of the vaccines compared to the Omikron variant.

The study was based on data from 147,597 delta and 68,489 omicron cases.

Here, people received a booster with the vaccine from Biontech or Moderna after they had previously been immunized with a vaccine from Pfizer, Moderna or Astrazenca.

A fundamental result of the study is initially that in all phases of the vaccination its effectiveness against the Omikron variant is lower than against the Delta variant.

Booster variant offers the best protection against Omikron: Refreshing with Moderna most effective

If a person first received Astrazeneca and was then boosted with Pfizer or Moderna, the effectiveness of the vaccination was 60 percent after two to four weeks.

After ten weeks, the protection at Biontech fell to 35 percent, at Moderna to 45 percent.

According to a British study, cross-vaccination with Moderna offers the best protection against Omikron (archive photo) © Wolfgang Filser / Zoonar.com / Imago Images

If the previous vaccinations were carried out with Biontech, the effectiveness after a Biontech booster was 70 percent.

After ten weeks this value fell to 45 percent.

If you refreshed with Moderna, on the other hand, the effectiveness was 70 to 75 percent even after nine weeks.

One result of the investigation is that after two doses of Biontech, cross-vaccination with Moderna offers the best protection against Omikron.

At Astrazeneca you should also be boosted with Moderna.

According to the authority, the effectiveness of a booster after two vaccinations with Moderna could not be examined.

According to the report, the number of examined cases with a Moderna vaccination would be too low.

Protection against Omikron: double vaccination hardly effective after a few weeks

However, the study shows the effectiveness of vaccinations against Omikron before a booster.

According to this, the protection drops rapidly after ten to 14 weeks with a double vaccination with Biontech.

After about half a year, it is hardly there.

A similar picture emerges after two cans of Astrazeneca and Moderna.

Within a few weeks, the vaccination protection against symptomatic illnesses caused by Omikron decreases sharply and, according to the investigation, is hardly present after 20 weeks.