What is revaccination against coronavirus and why is it needed

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Surprisingly, WHO is dubious about the procedure. And for good reason.

What is booster vaccination?

Revaccination is the repeated administration of a vaccine some time after a person has already been vaccinated. Usually the vaccination is repeated. Everyone should know this! Questions and Answers on Vaccine Prevention / Administration of the Federal Service for Supervision of Consumer Rights Protection and Human Welfare in the Tomsk Region every few years. But the frequency depends on the specific disease the vaccine is fighting against.

For example, a tetanus booster is given every 10 years. And against the flu - once a year.

Why is it needed?

The immunity that appears after the first course of vaccination is not always stable. It happens that after a while it begins to decline and can no longer effectively resist the pathogen. Revaccination is a way to both train the immune system and strengthen a weakened immune system. It is no coincidence that vaccinations that are repeated are called booster vaccinations in the English-language medical literature, that is, supporting, reinforcing.

Revaccination is not always necessary. If you take, for example, yellow fever, then to protect yourself from it, it is enough to be vaccinated only once. Having received an injection, the body forms a Yellow Fever Vaccine / CDC, a very powerful immunity that lasts for a lifetime. And the yellow fever virus is not variable and cannot slip through the formed barrier.

Therefore, revaccination is required only when the body's self-defense is less stable, which is why it must be intensified from time to time.

Is immunity stable after vaccination against coronavirus?

It seems not very much. The data is not that much, and, worse, they are contradictory.

Thus, a series of Israeli studies have demonstrated 1.

2.: The more time has passed since the first vaccination, the more often vaccinated people become infected again. For example, among those who were vaccinated in January 2021, by the middle of summer there were 50% more cases than among those vaccinated in April. That is, the effectiveness of the vaccine fell after a few months.

On the other hand, experts from the American Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) did not find any difference in the level of protection between the two groups of vaccinated: those who were vaccinated less than or more than three months ago. And in Qatar, scientists have precisely analyzed the effectiveness of the Pfizer vaccine in the context of preventing hospitalization and death. The result was equal to 95% and did not decrease for six months.

Why such a contradiction arose and what it means is still unclear. Scientists are fiercely debating and have not yet come to a consensus. So the question of how long immunity lasts after vaccination remains open.

And what does it mean? How often should I get revaccinated against coronavirus?

According to current medical knowledge, the protective effect of existing covid vaccines remains at a fairly high level for about six months. Then it might make sense to revaccinate.

The same point of view is shared by Russian doctors and officials. In Russia, it is recommended to do a booster vaccine every six months. The corresponding revaccination program began in July 2021.

Doctors insist Revaccination from COVID in Moscow will be possible in a few days / RIA Novosti that everyone who has received it earlier needs to repeat the vaccine.

Alexey Khripun Head of the Moscow Department of Health.

The level of antibodies does not matter. In six months he is the kind that just requires revaccination.

The logic behind this statement is as follows. To cope with the currently widespread strains of coronavirus (in particular, we are talking about the delta variant), vaccination after illness and revaccination are necessary: is it necessary and how soon? / BBC News. Russian service the highest level of antibodies. And you can achieve it only if you regularly boost your immunity with a booster.

What do they say about revaccination in other countries?

National health services are showing amazing consensus.

So, in Israel, the revaccination program started simultaneously with the Russian Federation. True, at first only citizens over 60 years old got access to the booster, and only then - younger ones. By mid-October, over 3.7 million Israelis were vaccinated with the third dose.

The need for revaccination is also supported in other states. The booster program has been launched, for example, in the UK, France, Belgium, Sweden and Hungary. In all these countries, the third dose is freely available to people at risk - with weakened immune systems. However, for example, in the UK the revaccination program is open to all people over 50, and in Hungary it is available to every adult.

Remarkably, by offering booster doses of the vaccine to their citizens, national services are doing so contrary to the opinion of the World Health Organization. The latter's experts believe that such measures are still premature.

Why isn't WHO supporting mass revaccination?

There are two reasons.

1. WHO is not sure that revaccination is generally needed

WHO experts are confused by Top scientists question the need for COVID-19 booster shots / Reuters by the inconsistency of information on the duration of post-vaccine immunity.

Keith O'Brien Director, Department of Immunization, Vaccines and Biologicals, WHO.

We do not yet have data that would allow us to unequivocally establish whether booster doses are needed.

It is not known for certain whether the booster dose will actually further reduce the number of hospitalizations and deaths, or whether the primary course of vaccination can cope with this task. Therefore, WHO recommends at least not to rush, but to observe the situation and wait for the results of new research.

2. WHO fears that there will not be enough vaccines and this will lead to a new round of the pandemic

WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus announced this at the end of summer.

While European states are protecting their citizens with booster doses, in other regions there are not enough drugs even for the first vaccination. And this is dangerous: in countries with low vaccination rates, new, more infectious and deadly variants of the coronavirus may appear. If they then spread to the whole world, old vaccinations may not be effective.

Therefore, the position of WHO is as follows: first to provide vaccines to everyone in need. And only then apply booster doses.

If I do not want to be revaccinated, can I refuse?

Of course. Revaccination, like vaccination, is purely voluntary. True, with some nuances.

An excellent example of this is the commentary given to RBC by the press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov. Explaining why the mandatory vaccination of service workers in Moscow can be considered voluntary, the politician said the Kremlin explained the voluntariness of vaccination with the opportunity to change jobs / RBC, that those dissatisfied with the idea of vaccination may not torment themselves, but simply change jobs.

It is not excluded that the same "voluntariness" will apply for re-vaccination. But so far, the mandatory revaccination is not reported.

Where and how can you get revaccinated?

This can be done at the same points where the primary vaccination against coronavirus is carried out. As before, the vaccine is free, and there is no age limit or anything else. It is enough to have a Russian passport and a compulsory medical insurance policy with you.

What drugs will revaccinate against coronavirus?

Any vaccine registered in Russia is suitable as a booster. And it doesn't matter what you were vaccinated with the first time.

Today there are five suitable options: "Sputnik V", its light version (the first component) "Sputnik Light", "KoviVak", "EpiVacCorona", as well as its modernized version "Aurora-Kov".