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A new study by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration makes you sit up and take notice! The results are really scary for a certain group of people. Do the mRna vaccines like BionTech not protect enough?
New study raises concerns
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A study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) suggests that immunocompromised people may be “significantly less” protected by the two mRNA COVID-19 vaccines, supporting the call for additional doses for the vulnerable population.
In the study released Tuesday, the mRNA vaccine’s effectiveness against COVID-19 hospitalizations in immunocompromised adults is reported at 77 percent, while “immunocompetent” adults achieve 90 percent effectiveness.
Protection Weaker – But Better Than Nothing!
Despite the vaccine’s lower efficacy, both the Moderna and Pfizer BioNTech vaccines offered immunocompromised people protection against COVID-19-related hospitalizations, the CDC said.
The study included data from about 89,000 adult patients admitted to 187 hospitals in nine states between Jan. 17 and Sept. 5, including about 20,000 immunocompromised patients and nearly 70,000 immunocompetent patients.
Surprisingly few at risk fully vaccinated!
A slight majority, 53 percent, of immunocompromised adults were fully vaccinated, compared with 43 percent of other adults.
The decline in vaccine efficacy in immunocompromised patients remained independent of the type of mRNA vaccine used, age group, and whether the delta variant was prevalent at the time of hospitalization.
Partial efficacy as low as 59%
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Vaccine efficacy varied by immunocompromised state, ranging from 59 percent in organ or stem cell transplant recipients to 81 percent in patients with rheumatologic or inflammatory diseases.
Patients who were only partially vaccinated, received at least three doses or received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine were excluded from the study.
The study supports CDC recommendations for immunocompromised people who initially received one of the mRNA vaccines to receive a third additional dose, followed by a booster shot with any vaccine.
The agency has approved booster vaccinations for certain groups of mRNA vaccine recipients, including immunocompromised individuals, in recent weeks after approving a third supplemental dose in August.
The CDC defines immunocompromised individuals as those whose immune systems are suppressed due to health conditions or medications. About 3 percent of the adult population is immunocompromised.