Getting boosted with newer COVID-19 vaccines reduces your risk of ending up in hospital – Scimex

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2024-06-25 01:00

The updated Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines targeting the XBB variant are 62% effective at preventing COVID-19-related hospitalisation, compared to being unvaccinated or only receiving the original vaccines, according to international researchers who say continued booster shots are likely important for people across a broad age range. The researchers looked at US data on COVID-19 hospitalisations in late 2023 and vaccination histories, and say there was no clear difference in risk for unvaccinated people and those who'd only received the original vaccines. In an accompanying editorial, independent researchers say it is difficult now to untangle whether the protection is coming from getting the newer vaccine, or simply getting boosted more recently and it is likely both vaccinated and unvaccinated people have some baseline immunity now the virus has been circulating so long.

Journal/conference: JAMA Internal Medicine

Link to research (DOI): 10.1001/jamainternmed.2024.1640

Organisation/s: Kaiser Permanente Southern California, USA

Funder: This study was sponsored by Pfizer.

About The Study:The findings of this case-control study reaffirm current recommendations for broad age-based use of annually updated COVID-19 vaccines given that (1) the BNT162b2 XBB vaccine (Pfizer-BioNTech; 2023-2024 formulation) provided statistically significant additional protection againsta range of COVID-19 outcomes and (2) older versions of COVID-19 vaccines offered little, if any, long-term protection, including against hospital admission, regardless of the number or type of prior doses received.

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Getting boosted with newer COVID-19 vaccines reduces your risk of ending up in hospital - Scimex