COVID-19: Get your booster shots, there are new threats on the way

Nov 28, 2021 Features / Columnists, News

By Dr. Zulfikar Bux

Emergency Medicine Specialist

Kaieteur News – Just when we thought that we were getting a hold of this virus, it’s unnatural behaviour is threatening to throw a wrench in our plans and possibly, cause more devastation. The delta variant was the most devastating thus far and has caused the most deaths of all the variants. Things could have been far worse with the delta variant had it not been for vaccines that prevent many more deaths from occurring. Unfortunately, this war is not over and the virus is showing resurgence, especially as the effects of vaccines begin to wear.

What about my last COVID-19 vaccine?

The evidence is clear; COVID-19 vaccines had a high rate of success in decreasing deaths and hospitalisations for those that were fully vaccinated. However, nothing good lasts forever and the same can be said for the COVID-19 vaccines. Data is showing that the efficacy of these vaccines decrease with time and the level of protection they provide by the sixth month after full inoculation is insufficient to offer desired protection against COVID-19. We have to be realistic and realise that the initial doses of COVID-19 vaccines did what they were intended to do. Protect us against death from COVID-19 for that time. It’s now time for us to update our defense and get our booster shot.

Why is a booster important?
Booster shots have been around since vaccines were made because after a while, our body sometimes needs a reminder on how it should fight the threat it was previously vaccinated against. If we were fully vaccinated against COVID-19 more than six months ago, odds are, our immune response has faded and we are not as prepared if we were to get infected with COVID-19. However, the evidence is also clear that a one-shot booster at this time, will ramp up your body’s defense sufficiently to make things safe for you against the current threats of COVID-19.

What threats are we concerned about?

Most of the recent surge in infections worldwide are still from the delta variant and its newer form; the delta plus variant. It is mostly affecting places where there are large numbers of unvaccinated, and the vaccinated population that have lost protection with time. The simple solution is for the unvaccinated to get vaccinated and those previously vaccinated to get a booster shot. However, the World Health Organization has just announced a new variant of interest called the B.1.1.529 or Omicron variant. It was first discovered from a specimen collected on November 9th, 2021 in Botswana and reported by South African authorities to the WHO on November 24th, 2021. This variant has more than double the amount of mutations than the delta variant and is doubling its daily infection rate in South Africa. It has already replaced the delta variant as the dominant variant in the Gauteng province in South Africa where it is estimated to account for about 90 percent of new cases. If this pattern continues, this variant will spread worldwide and be more infectious than the delta variant with the potential to be resistant to the current vaccines.

What can we do given these new threats?

There is always that potential of newer variants becoming vaccine resistant. However, existing vaccine companies can easily tweak their COVID-19 vaccines to accommodate the mutations that may lead to vaccine resistant strains. While the Omicron variant may be more infectious than the delta variant, that may turn out to be to our advantage if it’s less deadly. Once the omicron variant is more infectious and less deadly, then it will infect the world more rapidly than any previous variant but not many lives will be lost. However, such rapid rates of infections with minimal deaths, will lead to the herd immunity that we’ve been hoping to achieve since this pandemic started. It may be a blessing in disguise but that’s something we do not have control over at this stage. But we do have control of our destiny in the interim by getting vaccinated, getting our booster shots if we were previously vaccinated and of course, practicing preventative measures.

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