No need for booster shots for now.
Vaccines are enough to prevent severe cases of COVID-19 and there is no need for the general public to be given third doses, according to latest study of scientists, including from the World Health Organization, published in the Lancet.
The report came out after some countries started offering extra doses over fears about the much more contagious Delta variant.
The World Health Organization had already called for a moratorium on third jabs because millions in poorer countries have not yet received their first jab.
Based on observational studies and clinical trials, the authors found that vaccines remain highly effective against severe symptoms of Covid-19, across all the main virus variants including Delta.
“Taken as a whole, the currently available studies do not provide credible evidence of substantially declining protection against severe disease, which is the primary goal of vaccination,” said lead author Ana-Maria Henao-Restrepo, of the WHO.
“If vaccines are deployed where they would do the most good, they could hasten the end of the pandemic by inhibiting further evolution of variants.”
People around the world still waiting for a jab should be prioritized according to the report.
The current variants had not developed sufficiently to escape the immune response provided by vaccines currently in use according to the report. If new virus mutations that are able to evade this response do emerge then it would be better to deliver specially modified vaccine boosters aimed at the newer variants, rather than a third dose of an existing vaccine according to the authors.