The protection offered by a booster dose against symptomatic COVID-19 caused by the Omicron variant seems to die out in about 10 weeks, suggest new data from Britain.

U.K. health officials noted that there have not been enough severe cases of the new variant to be able to determine the protection offered by boosters against severe disease. However, they stated that boosters provide significant protection against hospitalization and death.

Among people who were administered two doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, a booster dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine was found to be 60% effective at preventing symptomatic disease 2 to 4 weeks following the jab. After an interval of 10 weeks, the Pfizer booster shot was 35% effective, while the Moderna one was 45% effective. Among people who were given three Pfizer doses, effectiveness was around 70% after a week of the booster shot, and declined to 45% after 10 weeks. Among people who received two doses of the Pfizer vaccine and a Moderna booster had around 75% effectiveness up to 9 weeks. The data come from an analysis of 148,000 cases due to Delta variant and 68,000 Omicron cases in the U.K. through December 20… (WebMD)