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If you aren’t sure if you need a COVID-19 vaccine booster, don’t worry. You don’t – at least not now. And vaccine experts don’t yet know if you’ll ever do it.
But the team at the Gamble Vaccine Research Center at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center are among those working to find out. The center began testing a Pfizer COVID-19 booster injection this week.
Booster shots, as the name suggests, are used to stimulate antibodies in the blood created by previous vaccines in a person. Because, over time, the antibodies decrease.
But Dr Robert Frenck, chief investigator of the trial and director of the Vaccine Research Center, stressed that the best way to prevent COVID-19 infection is to get vaccinated.
“We don’t need any boosters at this point,” Frenck said. “We would have a lot more of an impact vaccinating those who weren’t vaccinated than giving others a third dose.”
He explained the booster trial this way: “We are testing the Pfizer vaccine to see how powerful it gives a boost to people who have already received two doses of the vaccine. thumbs up, we know that’s something that could be done, if needed. If there isn’t a boost, we know giving extra doses of the vaccine won’t help. “
Another part of the researchers ‘job will be to check participants’ antibody levels over time and monitor them to see if they contract COVID-19 as antibody levels decline.
That is why participants in the booster trial are among those who participated in the original Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine trials. They are watched for two years.
“If we see a lot of people infected, then we look at the antibody level of those people and can get a good idea of the (minimum) amount of antibody to protect,” Frenck explained.
Frenck has been closely monitoring death and hospitalizations from COVID-19 since masking and distancing requirements were lifted in many states.
“I was worried we were going to have an increase in cases,” he said. “Unfortunately it’s true.”
New COVID-19 cases surged in Ohio in the week ending Sunday, up 43.7% since 2,842 cases have been reported.
People who become ill with COVID-19 or its variants have not been vaccinated against COVID-19, said Frenck, an infectious disease specialist who has been at the forefront of COVID-19 vaccine trials since start of the pandemic. Vaccines remain a very effective protection against the virus, he said.
The booster test is also important, he said, but it’s not as urgent as getting the shot.
Up to 200 people 16 and older who were in a previous Pfizer vaccine trial will participate in the ongoing trial, Frenck said. About 10,000 people across the country will participate in the trials.
“We have blood tests for them. We know the antibody level in each dose (from) when they received the vaccine,” he explained. The formulation of the vaccine is the same as the original.
With the recall test, Frenck said, “We are trying to get ahead of the curve.” It’s different from when vaccines were developed – which was a reactive approach to trying to catch up with the pandemic.
As of Tuesday, the Ohio Department of Health COVID-19 vaccine dashboard showed nearly 51% of Hamilton County residents had started the COVID-19 vaccination. The onset vaccination rate for Clermont and Butler counties was just over 46% and that of Warren County was almost 53%.
The vaccines have been very effective in protecting people from the original COVID-19 virus and other variants, Frenck said, but rates in the region are not yet high enough.
“I don’t want to see one more person hospitalized with COVID,” Frenck said. “I don’t want to see one more person die of COVID. “
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