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(CNN) –– Three new powerful studies from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) highlight the importance of receiving a booster vaccine against covid-19 for the best protection against the omicron variant.
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These are the first real-patient data examining the effect of omicron boosters. Precisely, this variant now represents more than 99% of coronavirus cases in the United States. The studies, released Friday, raise the question of whether people with just two doses of vaccines should still be considered fully vaccinated.
“I think we have to redefine full vaccination as three doses,” said Dr. William Schaffner, a longtime CDC vaccine adviser who was not involved in the studies.
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The investigations are vast in scope, involving millions of cases and hundreds of thousands of visits to emergency departments and urgent care centers, as well as tens of thousands of hospitalizations among adults.
The booster shot was 90% effective in preventing hospitalizations during a period between December and January, when omicron was already the dominant variant, according to a CDC study that analyzed nearly 88,000 hospitalizations in 10 states.
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By comparison, having just two doses was 57% effective when at least six months had passed after the second shot.
In addition, the third dose was 82% effective in preventing visits to emergency rooms and urgent care centers, according to the study, which analyzed more than 200,000 visits in 10 states.
By comparison, the first two doses were only 38% effective in preventing those visits, when at least six months had passed after the second injection.
“I think it’s the third dose that really gives you the strongest and best protection,” Schaffner insisted.
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That study was published Friday in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. A second study, published in the same report, concluded that people with three doses were less likely to become infected with omicron. Looking at data from 25 state and local health departments, CDC researchers found that among those who received the booster, there were 149 cases per 100,000 people on average each week. For those who only have two doses, that figure jumped to 255 cases per 100,000 people.
A third study, to be published in the medical journal JAMA, showed that having a booster helped prevent people from getting sick with omicron. That study, of just over 13,000 omicron cases in the US, found that the odds of developing a symptomatic infection were 66% lower for those who received the booster shot, compared to those who only received two doses.
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All three studies recorded that unvaccinated people face the highest risks of getting sick from covid-19.
Currently, the CDC says that a person is considered fully vaccinated after they have received their primary vaccines against covid-19. This is two weeks after the second dose of an mRNA vaccine, or two weeks after your first dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. The booster vaccine is recommended for everyone over 12 years of age five months after their primary vaccination series.
Fewer than half of people eligible for COVID-19 booster shots in the United States have received them, according to CDC data. And only about a quarter of the country’s total population is fully vaccinated and boosted, according to the agency.
Nearly 20% of the US population eligible to be vaccinated – age 5 and older – have not received any doses of the COVID-19 vaccine.
The-CNN-Wire
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