William H. Hung, MD, MPH
The rapid development and deployment of effective COVID-19 vaccines in populations have mitigated the spread of the disease in communities, particularly those with high rates of vaccination. Given concerns that the vaccine's effectiveness wanes over time, COVID-19 booster vaccination has been discussed and investigated. A recent article highlights the potential of a COVID-19 vaccine booster to reduce the incidence of infections and risk for infection, and two others consider how to deploy vaccinations to those in greatest need Specifically, these articles provide evidence for the effectiveness of boosters, which patients should be targeted, and lessons for policy-makers and health system leaders charged with deploying the booster vaccines effectively and efficiently.
Booster Vaccine Effectiveness in Older Adults
This study used a nationwide health database in Israel to examine the effect of a booster vaccine (Pfizer-BioNTech) among adults aged 60 years or older who had received a second dose of vaccine at least 5 months prior. The third dose (booster) vaccine was approved on July 30, 2021, and the study period ran from July 30 to August 31, 2021. A total of 1,137,804 individuals were included in the analysis.
The primary analysis compared the rate of confirmed COVID-19 infection and the rate of severe disease in those who received a booster dose 12 days prior and those who did not receive the booster.
