February 2, 2024 – If you might be within the minority of Americans who've received essentially the most recent COVID-19 vaccination, there may be an excellent likelihood you might be in the bulk who aren't experiencing COVID symptoms now or within the near future.
The CDC announced the primary figures on the protection of the monovalent XBB.1.5 vaccine against the event of symptoms, including against the JN.1 variant. Among recently vaccinated people, the shot provided 54% greater protection against symptoms in comparison with unvaccinated Americans.
“This is really exciting data,” said Dr. Luis Ostrosky, chief of infectious diseases and epidemiology at UTHealth Houston and Memorial Hermann in Texas. “It’s really interesting to see a real-world study like this, not a clinical trial.”
The researchers took individuals who were tested for COVID after which asked them about vaccination history. The bad news is that only 22% of American adults have received the updated vaccine.
The current shot protects against plenty of COVID variantsincluding the XBB variants that were prevalent last fall and the JN.1 variant that became most typical starting in December.
That's excellent news for many who need to avoid it Covid symptoms akin to fever or chills, muscle or body aches and shortness of breath.
While some might imagine 54% doesn't sound like a high percentage, it's such as the roughly 60% protection against symptoms that comes with the flu shot every year, Ostrosky said.
“The current vaccine is a really good match immunologically with JN.1,” Ostrosky said. However, “we are very concerned about the lack of acceptance of this vaccine. But it's never too late, right?”
Public health experts have long identified that the Covid vaccinations The drugs approved in September 2023 are less effective at stopping the virus from being transmitted from one person to a different. However, amongst those vaccinated who're exposed to COVID, the likelihood of vaccination is related to a much lower risk of developing serious illness, requiring hospitalization, or dying from COVID.
The vaccine's 54% effectiveness is predicated on a study from September to earlier this month of 9,222 COVID tests through the Community Access to Testing SARS-CoV-2 Pharmacy Testing Program. Both CVS and Walgreens take part in this system by reporting their COVID-19 test results.
The effectiveness of the vaccine was tested at a median of 52 to 60 days and as much as 119 days after vaccination. Researchers compared vaccinated adults with unvaccinated others. All participants were immunocompetent, meaning that they had no underlying immune diseases that put them at higher risk for severe COVID disease.
The CDC reported complete results on Thursday Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR).
If you're wondering who's eligible for the vaccine and when babies can receive the COVID vaccine, the CDC recommends vaccination for all Americans 6 months and older.
Later this 12 months, the CDC also plans to release details about how effective the COVID vaccines are in discouraging people from visiting a health care provider or hospital due to severe symptoms.