The continued decline in COVID-19 infections prompted the relaxing of across the United States through health researchers say that the dreaded virus is here to stay for quite some time. Hence, medical experts advise people to be more patient and be protected.
Though recent developments may be confusing to many, the US Food and Drug Administration is currently studying early data that could lead to the authorization of new booster shots, which are probably the initial vaccines in a series of COVID-19 inoculations every year.
However, COVID-19 vaccine updates say that most people who got boosted may not need to receive another vaccine shot for months or even years. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), around 44% of the total number of fully vaccinated individuals in the US.
Available Vaccines Are Still Effective
Though the public may expect more efficient COVID-19 vaccines in the coming days, experts say that the currently available vaccines and boosters like the ones made by Pfizer-BioNTech, Johnson&Johnson, and Moderna are still effective in providing immunity against a severe case of the disease.
According to Ali Ellebedy, an immunologist and associate professor at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, the level of protection that these vaccines offer to protect against the fierce delta and the highly contagious Omicron, per CNBC report.
Dr. Dan Barouch, director of the Center for Virology and Vaccine Research at Boston-based Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, explains that the effectiveness of these jabs is because they help the body generate T cells that destroy infected cells to prevent the severity of the condition.
However, Dr. Barouch believes that an "annual" COVID-19 booster shot is more sensible than getting boosted after three to six months. But those who are immunocompromised and the elderly, it is advisable to get booster jabs in shorter intervals.
He also said that "only a fraction" of Americans eligible for a booster shot "have chosen to get the booster."
Meanwhile, experts warn that the COVID-19 pandemic is unpredictable, so it is still likely to encounter a new variant though the peak of Omicron has passed.
"It's just a matter of time," said Dr. aid Dr. William Checkley, a pulmonary and critical care physician at the Johns Hopkins Hospital, given that the dreaded virus is still around populations whose vaccination rates remain low.
The possibility of COVID-19 mutating into a new variant is higher in populations taking fewer measures to prevent transmissions, per Fortune.
There is already one new subvariant. Omicron BA.2, often known as "stealth Omicron," has now been found in every state in the US.
Although preliminary data is inconclusive whether it causes more adverse symptoms than the original Omicron variant, a recent Japanese study found that stealth Omicron could be up to 30% more transmissible.
US Developing New Strategy To Fight COVID-19
Top federal medical authorities announced that they plan to begin providing poor and middle-income countries with access to government-developed technology that might be used to prevent or cure COVID-19.
After a meeting with health ministers from around the world, President Biden's health secretary, Xavier Becerra, and his top health adviser, Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, made the remarks to journalists, according to a New York Times report.
The National Institutes of Health has already "offered to license" to several "technologies" it owns to the World Health Organization's Covid-19 Technology Access Pool, or C-TAP, a "global one-stop-shop" for drug developers to share their intellectual property, according to Dr. Fauci.
Subsequently, the technologies would be accessible to the Medicines Patent Pool, a public health body supported by the UN that seeks to improve medicine accessibility in underdeveloped and developing countries.
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