Covid protection from two vaccine doses fades after six months
Protection against Covid offered by two doses of the Pfizer and the AstraZeneca vaccines begins to fade within six months underscoring the need for booster jabs according to UK researchers.
Scientists behind the Zoe Covid Study app said that effectiveness of the Pfizer vaccine against infection fell from 88 per cent to 74 per cent five to six months after the second jab.
Likewise, protection from the AstraZeneca vaccine decreased from 77 per cent to 67 per cent within four to five months of receiving the second dose.
Commenting on the study, Professor Finn of the University of Bristol, told the BBC: “I think the Zoe study, and a couple of other studies we recently had, do show the beginnings of a drop off of protection against asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic disease.
“But other studies are showing maintenance of good protection against serious illness and hospitalisation. So that’s encouraging actually that people who’ve had two doses are still very much well protected against serious illness, which is our main objective.”
The news comes after the government announced cautious plans to issue booster shots to the most vulnerable groups over the Winter to protect against Covid-19 and its future variants.
A study from the University’s of Glasgow and Birmingham recently found that 40 per cent of people who are immunosuppressed generated a lower antibody response with 11 per cent registering an “undetectable” amount of anti bodies within four weeks of being double jabbed.
Professor Finn, who is Chairman of the WHO’s European committee on immunisation, also said that the elderly would be good candidates for a third dose of the vaccine.
On Tuesday the government announced that a further 174 people had died within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19, the highest reported daily death toll since March 12.
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