COVID-19: Third booster vaccine may make immunity last longer

The coronavirus is mutating producing new variants and spreading rapidly across the world While the available vaccines may be able to hold fort against these new variants it is not yet known how long our immunity will last Hence a third booster vaccine or an annual vaccine may be key in protecting people health experts said on MondaySince the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic in November 2019 the SARSCoV2 may have produced thousands of variants but most disappeared However some like the UK B117 and South Africa 501YV2 and Brazil B11248 variants mutated in such a way that helped the virus survive and reproduce Currently all the vaccines require twodoses to be administered two three or four weeks apart through the intramuscular route However a third booster vaccine or an annual vaccine dose like other flu shots may become the normal and help immunity to last longerStudies on the durability of our immune responses to the administered vaccines are currently ongoing Emerging data suggests that there is a likelihood that our immunity may wane over time and given the increasing trend in the emergence of virus variants of concern there is a high likelihood of booster doses Dr Veena P Menon PhD Faculty InCharge Clinical Virology Laboratory Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences Kochi told IANSYes the third booster will help since new variants are emerging and we still dont know how long the immunity lasts Whatever immunity people are gaining with the vaccines a booster will definitely help People have suggested an annual vaccination as well added Dr Suresh Kumar D Consultant Infectious Diseases Specialist at Apollo Hospitals Chennai However it remains to be seen when it would be most appropriate to administer the third booster Menon saidUS pharmaceutical major Pfizers CEO Albert Bourla in a recent statement announced that Covid vaccine recipients will likely need a third dose between six to 12 months after theyre fully vaccinated He also suggested the need for yearly vaccinations against coronavirus A booster shot is a repeat dose of a vaccine that youve already received to literally boost your immunity Susan R Bailey an allergist and clinical immunologist and President of the American Medical Association was quoted as saying to National GeographicThe third booster creates virusfighting memory in the immune system Thus it creates a greater and more long lasting immune response Bailey said But are the existing vaccines well able to suppress the new variants Yes say the health experts As per the WHO all the currently approved vaccines are expected to provide at least some protection against new variants as protection is mediated by broad immune responses involving both arms of immunity humoral antibody dependent and T cell dependent Menon said While the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines have shown a reasonable effect against the mutants the South African and Brazilian mutants are worrisomeMost of the current vaccines including Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine are covering well against the UK variant But it has done poorly against the South African mutant The efficacy is 1015 per cent which is why South Africa had to return the vaccines The vaccine is doing reasonably effective against the Brazilian variant with around 4050 per cent efficacy Covaxin has not been tested against these variants and there is no research yet on this Kumar saidChanges or mutations in the virus cannot make vaccines completely ineffective In the event that any of the current vaccines prove to be less effective against one or more variants it will be possible to change the composition of the vaccines to protect against these variants Dr Alpana Razdan VP and Lab Head Genestrings Diagnostic Centre New Delhi told IANS Vaccination is important and if they do not happen on time the burden of Covid will remain for a longer period of time she noted While vaccines are not a shield against infection they surely help reduce the severity of the infection and chances of death and hospitalisation said the experts urging people to cut out the hesitancy and get innoculatedThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever