Re:Younger Americans benefit less from booster shots than ol...
by tremon on Saturday February 05, 2022 @07:20PM
(#30227875)
In NL, the general recommendation [0] is that children shouldn't be given a booster shot since the benefits are marginal. Children (or their parents) may still ask for one and they won't be denied, but it's not automatic. My attempt at translating the report conclusion:
The direct health benefit from the booster shot for 12-17-year olds is very limited, even for high-risk individuals. Break-through infections with the Omicron variant are very mild and the chance of hospitalization for vaccinated teens is minimal. Similarly, the risk of developing MIS-C due to infection is deemed very small. Moreover the booster shot also carries the (very rare) risk of developing myocarditis. The European Medical Agency also has not officially weighed the booster benefits against the risks for teens, making its use effectively off-label.
In the same publication they make the following claims regarding booster effectiveness (for all age groups, not specifically teens):
- full protection (only asymptomatic infection) drops to 50-75% within four weeks, drops further to 25-40% after three months.
- protection against hospitalization due to Omicron is around 90%, drops to 75% after three months.
- vaccinated but not-boostered people still have 70-80% protection against hospitalization due to Omicron in the first six months, drops to 60% efficacy after that.
- Against the Delta variant, non-boostered people still have above 80% protection against hospitalization even after more than six months.
The citations for these claims are from NL,UK,IS and US, but only two have a hyperlink. If someone wants to hunt them down, they're cites 10,21,23,24,25,36,37 in the PDF linked from [0].
The direct health benefit from the booster shot for 12-17-year olds is very limited, even for high-risk individuals. Break-through infections with the Omicron variant are very mild and the chance of hospitalization for vaccinated teens is minimal. Similarly, the risk of developing MIS-C due to infection is deemed very small. Moreover the booster shot also carries the (very rare) risk of developing myocarditis. The European Medical Agency also has not officially weighed the booster benefits against the risks for teens, making its use effectively off-label.
In the same publication they make the following claims regarding booster effectiveness (for all age groups, not specifically teens):
- full protection (only asymptomatic infection) drops to 50-75% within four weeks, drops further to 25-40% after three months.
- protection against hospitalization due to Omicron is around 90%, drops to 75% after three months.
- vaccinated but not-boostered people still have 70-80% protection against hospitalization due to Omicron in the first six months, drops to 60% efficacy after that.
- Against the Delta variant, non-boostered people still have above 80% protection against hospitalization even after more than six months.
The citations for these claims are from NL,UK,IS and US, but only two have a hyperlink. If someone wants to hunt them down, they're cites 10,21,23,24,25,36,37 in the PDF linked from [0].
[0, in Dutch]: https://www.gezondheidsraad.nl/organisatie/vaccinaties/docum...
[25] https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4011905
[37] https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/71/wr/mm7104e3.htm?s_cid=mm...