New vaccines prevent hospitalization and death from Omicron variant of Covid-19.
A study from the University of North Carolina’s Gillings School of Global Public Health shows that updated bivalent boosters are more effective at preventing hospitalization and death from Omicron than the original monovalent boosters. The study was published in The New England Journal of Medicine.
Researchers at the Gillings School compared the incidence of severe omicron infection resulting in hospitalization or death for individuals 12 years of age or older who received a monovalent or bivalent booster dose to those who did not. The average effectiveness against severe infection resulting in hospitalization or death over a three-month period was 25% for one monovalent booster dose and 62% for one bivalent booster dose.
“The increased effectiveness found in this study demonstrates why it’s important for people to protect themselves with the updated booster even if they had already gotten the original booster dose,” says Zack Moore, MD, MPH, state epidemiologist with NCDHHS.
“The takeaway is that the updated booster offers significant protection against hospitalization or death from Covid-19. Only a small percentage of North Carolinians have received updated boosters so far. Hopefully, the findings of our study will encourage people to take advantage of these effective vaccines.”
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