Stay updated with breaking news from Booster effect. Get real-time updates on events, politics, business, and more. Visit us for reliable news and exclusive interviews.
>> reporter: now, booster rates are higher among the older, more vulnerable part of the population. that could explain one encouraging trend that hospitals are reporting. so far they say they have not seen a large numbers of older seriously ill patients needing critical care. it's a key difference from previous waves, they say, and it is thought that that is the vaccine and booster effect, isa. >> that's very good news indeed. phil, stay with us. i want to go to jim in paris. jim, the situation is particularly difficult in ireland at the moment, which is really facing a double whammy, a rise in hospitalizations, but a rise also of health care workers out sick. >> reporter: that's a problem everywhere, i think. one of the things most governments are trying to do here is somehow limit the number of days that people are out sick because it really is impacting the health care workers everywhere, including here in france where the numbers are
there is quite a lot of regional variation still. the real risk issue is that we can see that there are so many unusual mutations on this virus that it runs the risk of invading a natural and or vaccine immunity. and we have early studies looking at immune serum from patients who've been ill and been vaccinated to see that two doses of vaccine against symptomatic infection, so we don't know yet about severe disease, but about symptomatic infection, is much reduced. we do know that the booster dose will push that right back up, but it still comes back to a level below that that we've had with the booster effect for delta, our previous wave. and so this is highly significant because the numbers of individuals who are potentially involved with this, and just a small degree of vaccine or immune evasion could have very significant impact on our health services.
mentioned. cold weather. people going indoors. vaccination potency waning. if we counter all of those, we can stop this. >> now that you are encouraging all adults to get boosters, what's your definition of fully vaccinated? >> you know, right now, officially, john, the definition of fully vaccinated is still two doses of the moderna or pfizer and one dose of j&j. that's the requirement when people talk about what is required for this or for that? but that does not actually contradict the fact that we are saying, as vaccine efficacy wanes, you need to get that booster to bring you right up. we will evaluate, as we get more data. we -- we don't know now how long the booster effect is going to last. if it lasts for a considerably longer period of time, namely the durability of the booster, allows you to go for a considerable period of time without getting another boost, then that very well might be determined to be the full vaccination that we talk about. if it turns out that it wanes again and you may need an
that's the requirement when people talk about what is required for this or for that? but that does not actually contradict the fact that we are saying, as vaccine efficacy wanes, you need to get that booster to bring you right up. we will evaluate, as we get more data. we -- we don't know now how long the booster effect is going to last. if it lasts for a considerably longer period of time, namely the durability of the booster, allows you to go for a considerable period of time without getting another boost, then that very well might be determined to be the full vaccination that we talk about. if it turns out that it wanes again and you may need an intermittent shot the way we do with influenza, then fully vaccinated will still be the original vaccination but you may need to update it and upgrade it over the years. i hope it's the former, john.
it could be that all the way to people have severe breakthrough infections. they are going to need to break down that data that how long does the booster effect last? we don't know. is this goingsomething we are g to do every six months? or is it booster and then we are sort of set for a while? we will have to see what they say about that. and finally, how much do boosters really reduce transmission? i find this so interesting, don. we often look to israel, right, because they are -- they are a little bit ahead of us in terms of vaccines. they got about 64% of the country vaccinated. they have been boosting since august. so how do their cases look? what would you think their cases are doing? well, let me show you. this is -- this is what it looks like now -- um dec-- throughoute pandemic. and you can see they are at the highest seven-day average of new coronavirus cases that they have ever been and that's despite having a very high vaccination rate and starting to boost. i think -- and luckily, their hospitalizations and deaths are low. the vaccines are working. but i think it's going to be an important question, don, for tomorrow and going forward, are
degradation of the efficacy of the vaccine, more so than younger people. how long does the booster effect last? that's a big one. are we basically just fortifying the wall really strong for a period of time and then it's going to wane regardless? that's going to be something i think the committee's going to sort of look at. and then finally, how much do they really reduce transmission? you know, we're talking about breakthrough cases. is that really the right metric to be measuring in terms of deciding whether or not to boost? and the answer to that last question will help dictate that. >> so dr. wen, it was just about a month ago when top health officials from the biden administration laid out the september 20th booster plan. they said they did it in part so that health departments could plan in advance. but since the confusion since then, i'm not sure what's going on with the health departments. as the former baltimore health commissioner can you talk about how much more challenging planning for boosters has become for local jurisdictions? >> well, it's definitely challenging, especially with mixed messaging and the
they are surprised that their test comes back positive, to somebody who has significant symptoms. so who are the majority of people with these breakthrough infections? how old are they, what are their pre-existing conditions? that might given a idea of the best population of people to boost if not the general population. how long does the booster effect last? another big question. does it just give you a lot of protection really for a short period of time but then the antibodies wane? that is an important question to answer. and finally how much do boosters really reduce transmission. keep in mind the purpose of the vaccine is really to keep people from getting severely ill. it wasn't clear that they were actually going to prevent people from becoming infected and develop these breakthrough infections. take a look at what has been happening in israel. we've often looked at israel because they are a little ahead of us in terms of vaccinations. they have 63% of the country vax
two senior vaccine scientists at fda basically said they were going to leave. we subsequently found out it was over this issue of boosters. so i think what's going to happen is there will be four wig questions that are going to have to be addressed there. we sort of lay them out here. how much is immunity really waning? pfizer says the immunity wanes about 6% every two months but stays steady for severe illness. how severe are the breakthrough infections? i think this is a big one. you could have a totally asymptomatic break think infection. i came back positive? i'm surprised. it could be that all the way to people having severe breakthrough infections. they're going to need to break down that data a bit. how long does the booster effect last? we don't know. every six months? or a booster and we're set for a while? finally, how much do boosters really reduce transmission? i find this so interesting. we often look to israel, because they're ahead of us in terms of
good idea of how they're going to go ahead of time. i'm not so sure on this one. there is strong feelings on both sides either to boost or not to boost. let me lay out the four big questions i think they will be dealing with. keep in mind, jim, this is an advisory committee meeting, so they want to look at basically is immunity waning? are people who are vaccinated longer ago, do they have less immunity than those vaccinated more recently. people may test positive, but how symptomatic are they? how long does the booster effect last? is it just something that gives you a lot of extra protection for a short time? and finally how much do boosters reduce transmission? jim, i think this is a big one. this idea following the breakthrough cases and saying we're seeing more breakthrough cases, therefore, we're trying to boost, this is what the fda is going to look at. let me show you israel.