What is the data supporting use of booster shots for Covid-19? Elizabeth Tracey reports

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The EU and many other high income countries are turning increasingly toward booster shots for Covid-19, at least for some groups of people. Mark Sulkowski, an infectious disease expert at Johns Hopkins, explains some of the data.

Sulkowski: Israel was a country was there was a high and early uptake in vaccine in nearly 80% of adults were vaccinated. The delta variant emerged and there was a high case rate and hospitalization rate among vaccinated individuals. That prompted a third dose for persons 60 or older greater than or equal to five months since full vaccination. On Med Archive is this report, suggesting the estimated what they called ‘booster protection’ for individuals who received a third dose. The end of this was in August so it wasn’t a long period of follow up time. And this study has generated a lot of controversy.  :35

Sulkowski says the controversy stems from the short follow up time and notes that much of the world’s population still doesn’t have a first dose even as others are now moving to third shots. At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.