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New York: According to a report by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines among front-line workers dropped to 66%, as against 91%, after the Delta variant took effect.
Vaccines are still protective, the CDC said, and the finding should be interpreted with caution, as the vaccine’s effectiveness may decrease over time and estimates of efficacy were inaccurate.
“While these interim findings suggest a modest reduction in the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines in preventing infection, the continued two-thirds reduction in infection risk underscores the continued importance and benefits of COVID-19 vaccination,” the researchers wrote in the agency’s report. Written in morbidity and mortality weekly report.
Conclusions echo first evidence As the delta variant spread, Israel and the UK suggested that COVID vaccines lose some potency in preventing infection over time. These and other research results will come under scrutiny next week as CDC advisers weigh the Biden administration’s plan to deliver booster doses to most vaccine recipients in the US.
The booster campaign, which still awaits sign-off from the Food and Drug Administration, is scheduled to begin Sept. 20. The CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices will consider an additional dosing plan during a two-day meeting beginning Monday.
The discovery of low effectiveness when delta was the dominant virus strain comes with an important caveat: the extent of that estimate is highly uncertain. Researchers reported a 95% confidence that efficacy was between 26% and 84% over that period.
The observational study tracked more than 4,000 health care workers, first responders and other front-line workers in eight US locations across six states from December 2020 to August 2021. They were tested weekly for COVID infection, and about 83% were vaccinated.
About two-thirds of those vaccinated had received the Pfizer Inc.-BioNTech SE shot, 2% had received Johnson & Johnson, and the rest had received Moderna Inc. Vaccine was received.
Overall, vaccination was estimated to be 80% effective in preventing infection during the study period. bloomberg
Read also: COVID may enter endemic phase in India, says WHO Chief Scientist Soumya Swaminathan
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