New research has come out supporting claims that protection provided by vaccines, even in those who received both doses, is considerably less effective overtime.
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Vaccines are still very beneficial
The study looked into the PCR test results of more than a million people who had received both doses of either the Pfizer or AstraZeneca vaccine. Both vaccines were found to have decreased in efficacy after five to six months of having received the second injection.
Pfizer's effectiveness went from 88% to 74% after five to six months, while AstraZeneca went from 77% to 67% after just four to five months.
However, even though protection wanes over time, experts still believe that the benefits of the vaccine far outweigh its shortcomings. When looking at the amount of lives saved since COVID-19 vaccines emerged in Britain, Public Health England (PHE) estimates that over 84,000 deaths have been prevented so far. The lead investigator on the study, Dr. Tim Spector, explains that waning efficacy was to be expected and that booster shots can be the solution:
Waning protection is to be expected and is not a reason to not get vaccinated. Vaccines still provide high levels of protection for the majority of the population, especially against the Delta variant, so we still need as many people as possible to get fully vaccinated.
A third booster shot to remedy waning efficacy?
Israel was the first country in the world to have rolled out a third vaccine just last month, and now more than half of its over-60s have been triply jabbed. The UK, on the other hand, has been discussing the possibility of a third jab being required sometime in the month of September. But Dr. Spector believes that not everyone will need a third jab, as some people developed a natural booster as a result of already having been infected with the virus:
I think the whole thing needs to be much more carefully managed than just giving it to everybody which would be a huge waste and ethically dubious given the resources we have. I think we need a more targeted approach than last time.
