Booster Shots 90% Effective At Preventing Omicron Hospitalizations

 

New data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show booster shots of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines were highly effective at preventing omicron-related hospitalizations.

The booster doses were 90% effective at keeping people infected with the omicron variant out of the hospital and 82% effective at preventing emergency department and urgent care visits, the data shows.

The CDC report analyzed emergency room visits, urgent care visits and hospitalizations between August 2021 and Jan. 5, 2022, in which the average person received their booster shot within a month and a half of needing medical help.

The data emphasizes recent research and assertions by public health officials that boosters significantly prevent severe illness and hospitalization.

Another CDC study published in The Journal of the American Medical Association on Friday found people who received three doses of an mRNA COVID-19 vaccine were less likely to be symptomatic when they got tested for COVID-19, compared to people receiving tests who only got two vaccine doses.

Also in the news:

►The CDC on Thursday also released data showing unvaccinated adults age 65 and older who are infected with COVID-19 are 49 times more likely to be hospitalized than those in the same age group who are vaccinated and have gotten their booster shots. 

►Federal data released Thursday show the number of COVID-19 patients in hospital beds is up just 0.84% from a week earlier, while the number of patients admitted in the latest week is down some 1.62% from a week earlier. That still leaves 160,714 patients in American hospital beds.

►Vaccination has “no adverse associations” with fertility in women, according to a study published Thursday in the American Journal of Epidemiology. Researchers studied more than 2,000 women between ages 21 and 45.

►Singer Adele has postponed her Las Vegas residency due to COVID-related production delays, the singer announced a day before her first show was set to kick off. 

►A passenger’s refusal to wear a face mask on board, which is required by federal law, forced an American Airlines flight bound for London to return to Miami this week. Police have not arrested the woman, and the department spokesperson said American Airlines will handle the incident administratively.

📈Today’s numbers: The U.S. has recorded more than 69 million confirmed COVID-19 cases and more than 860,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University data. Global totals: More than 340 million cases and over 5.57 million deaths. More than 209 million Americans – 63% – are fully vaccinated, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.