This year, India and the world have been going full throttle to vaccinate people and immunize the population against COVID-19. Two shots of all the approved COVID-19 vaccines are highly effective, safe and teach your immunity to protect you from the coronavirus.
However, recent research has thrown light on an uncomfortable fact. There are thoughts that COVID vaccine efficacy starts to dwindle a few months after the second shot is administered. For example, Pfizer efficacy drops to 77% after 4 months and Moderna efficacy remains 92% for about 5 months after which it may start declining. Antibody levels drop and does this mean, your immunity against COVID-19, especially more dangerous variants like Delta declines?
In this context, the medical community is discussing the importance of the COVID-19 booster shot. This is where the ‘3rd dose’ of the COVID vaccine comes into play.
Booster shots are the same vaccines that are being administered to fight COVID-19. Since antibody levels become quite low about 6 months after complete vaccination, booster shots can amp up the waning immune system. Research has also revealed that when people are given mRNA booster shots, then their immunity can increase up to 10 times! You will need lots of antibodies to shield you from Delta or any other highly contagious COVID variant.
This depends on how long the vaccine maintains its efficacy in your body. Some vaccines continue being highly effective up to 6 months after the 2nd dose whereas some start losing their effectiveness after about 4 months. As soon as the antibody count starts to drop, it will be time to get booster shots.
Eventually, everyone will possibly need booster shots to give a boost to their flagging immunity against COVID-19. But, as with the rollout of the vaccination programme, there will be priority groups who will be first in line to the booster shots:
Many countries have announced booster shots for selected populations. As of now, there is no such declaration about the third dose of the COVID-19 vaccine in our country. It is fair and essential to focus on the completion of the two-course vaccination drive going at present and then plan and prepare for the third dose if established vital by studies.
Until the Union government and the state governments come to a decision about the execution of the 3rd dose of COVID-19 vaccines, you can’t really avail of the booster shots. In the intervening time, make sure you get both the first and second shots of the vaccine and follow COVID-appropriate behaviour to keep yourself and the community safe.
Also Read: Omicron Variant & Vaccine Efficacy
There are limited studies and data on the long-term efficacy of vaccines. Some experts also opine that one should not worry about the decline in the number of antibodies after both doses of the vaccine because your immunity keeps a memory of the response needed and is capable of producing more antibodies when required. However, we need more studies and data to confirm this scenario. Till the time all you can do is to get both shots of vaccine and stay calm but not careless. The threat of COVID-19 has not gone away. Even if you are fully vaccinated, remember, there is still a possibility that you may contract COVID-19 unless you are careful. So, continue wearing masks, avoid crowded places, sanitize your hands and wash up thoroughly after coming home.
Also Read: Omicron Variant: Risk & Precautions
Disclaimer: The information provided here is for educational/awareness purposes only and is not intended to be a substitute for medical treatment by a healthcare professional and should not be relied upon to diagnose or treat any medical condition. The reader should consult a registered medical practitioner to determine the appropriateness of the information and before consuming any medication. PharmEasy does not provide any guarantee or warranty (express or implied) regarding the accuracy, adequacy, completeness, legality, reliability or usefulness of the information; and disclaims any liability arising thereof.
Links and product recommendations in the information provided here are advertisements of third-party products available on the website. PharmEasy does not make any representation on the accuracy or suitability of such products/services. Advertisements do not influence the editorial decisions or content. The information in this blog is subject to change without notice. The authors and administrators reserve the right to modify, add, or remove content without notification. It is your responsibility to review this disclaimer regularly for any changes.
“Breakthrough infection” is a new term that you may have heard recently. It stands for those people who are fully vaccinated for at least two weeks and then contract COVID-19 infection. It is very much similar to unvaccinated people who get infected with the virus but there are some differences in the symptoms and intensity of the infection.
According to a study conducted on the symptoms of the breakthrough infection, it presents itself with signs like –
Some of these symptoms are exactly the same that unvaccinated people experience when they contract COVID-19. The common symptoms are –
Notably, there are a couple of more symptoms that usually vaccinated people do not experience. They are –
These two are the most common COVID-19 symptoms but vaccinated people are way less likely to experience these problems. According to a study, people who suffer from breakthrough infection are 58 percent less likely to experience heightened body temperature as compared to the people who did not get their jabs.
A few studies have also proven that people who have already taken both their shots of COVID-19 are less likely to be hospitalised than people who have not taken the vaccine yet.
The other difference is that vaccinated people are less likely to experience any symptoms in the initial stages of the infection and also may not develop long COVID.
As per the experts, the reason behind vaccinated people developing milder symptoms could be the vaccines. Even if these vaccines are unable to block the infection entirely, they seem to ensure that the infected person has fewer virus particles in his/her body.
This belief is yet to be proven with concrete studies but the recent cases suggest the same story.
Read More: All About The Omicron Covid Variant
According to a study conducted in the United Kingdom, 0.2 percent of the population, which means one in every 500 people, suffers from breakthrough infection after being fully vaccinated. The researchers, however, confirmed that the risk is not the same for everyone. They highlighted four things that may be contributing to your shield against COVID-19. Have a look –
The most important and the first aspect should be the type of vaccine you have taken and the relative risk reduction it offers. Relative risk reduction stands for a measurement of how less likely you become to contract the infection as compared to an unvaccinated person.
The relative risk reduction doesn’t completely assure you that the effects of the vaccine are going to last forever. Over the past few weeks, the debate over the third dose of the vaccines has intensified only because the scientists and researchers believe that the efficacy of the vaccines is surely going to wane off as time passes.
Therefore, if you have had taken the second dose of the vaccine more than six months ago, you might be more prone to catch the breakthrough infection.
A variant of the virus sure does play a crucial role in defining your risk of contracting the breakthrough infection of COVID-19. Most of the studies that we currently have read had been conducted on the original form of the Coronavirus that hit the world back in December 2019.
The efficacy of most of the available vaccines drops when they are dealing with the Alpha variant of Coronavirus and when it comes to the delta variant, the efficacy drops even further. As the virus is expected to keep mutating in future too, the efficacy of the vaccines may drop even further, leaving us more vulnerable to breakthrough infection.
Also Read: Omicron vs Other Variants
The above-mentioned factors are based on a general study on a population, irrespective of the overall health of a particular person. It means that your level of protection against breakthrough infection also depends upon your overall health, how strong your immunity is and the other person-specific factors.
You may be more vulnerable to the breakthrough infection because you work in the healthcare sector where you stay more exposed to the virus or your age is over 50 years or you already suffer from a chronic ailment that has compromised your immune system, etc. These may be the contributing factors to your vulnerability.
Notably, all the countries had first vaccinated the people who were most vulnerable to the infection, which means that most of them took their second dose about 6-7 months back. Hence, their immunity against COVID-19 may have waned off by now putting them at risk again.
Despite the above-discussed risk factors, vaccines surely are our biggest weapon against COVID-19 disease. Even if they are unable to give 100 percent protection against breakthrough infection, they surely are keeping the chances of severe illness and hospitalisation at the lowest.
There are plenty of countries that are planning to start administering the third dose of the vaccine to provide sturdier protection against COVID-19. Initially, they are planning to administer the dose to the vulnerable groups and then move on to the entire population. This may become a norm in the months to come in every country.
The vaccines might be failing to prevent breakthrough infection in a few cases but they should not be interpreted in any way that these are not effective. The only way we can defeat COVID-19 is by getting vaccinated as soon as possible. When there would be fewer people getting infected, the virus would eventually disappear. Moreover, we should also ensure to keep all the risk enhancing factors in mind to prevent the spread of the virus.
Disclaimer: The information provided here is for educational/awareness purposes only and is not intended to be a substitute for medical treatment by a healthcare professional and should not be relied upon to diagnose or treat any medical condition. The reader should consult a registered medical practitioner to determine the appropriateness of the information and before consuming any medication. PharmEasy does not provide any guarantee or warranty (express or implied) regarding the accuracy, adequacy, completeness, legality, reliability or usefulness of the information; and disclaims any liability arising thereof.
Links and product recommendations in the information provided here are advertisements of third-party products available on the website. PharmEasy does not make any representation on the accuracy or suitability of such products/services. Advertisements do not influence the editorial decisions or content. The information in this blog is subject to change without notice. The authors and administrators reserve the right to modify, add, or remove content without notification. It is your responsibility to review this disclaimer regularly for any changes.
