In Germany, corona booster vaccinations are carried out with Moderna and Biontech. One study examines the effectiveness of several vaccines.
London – The fourth corona wave is driving Germany further and further into a state of emergency. The solution to it? According to the measures set by the Corona summit on Thursday (December 2nd, 2021), booster vaccinations should be the “breakwater”. “Booster, booster, booster”, demanded Bavaria’s Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU).
At a federal press conference before Christmas (December 3rd, 2021), Health Minister Jens Spahn (CDU) announced that there would be enough vaccine to boost the entire population. But which corona vaccine is best for the third spade? In Germany, people over the age of 18 are boosted with the mRNA vaccines from Biontech and Moderna. But are they the only effective means of freshening up? A British study has examined how effective the vaccines available on the world market are with a booster vaccination.
Booster vaccination against Corona: Biontech, Moderna and Co. put to the test
The Lancet, one of the oldest and most prestigious medical journals, published the study from the UK. More than 2,800 test persons took part in the tests and made their blood samples available for laboratory analysis. Each participant was vaccinated beforehand with two doses of Biontech or Astrazeneca. A total of seven vaccines were tested for their booster qualities: Biontech, Astrazeneca, Johnson & Johnson, Moderna, Novavax, as well as the corona vaccine CureVac from Tübingen and the new dead vaccine from Valneva. As a control, a test group was given a meningococcal vaccine.
Blood samples were drawn four weeks after the booster and examined for antibodies. The research team also observed the development of T cells. These serve the body’s defense and attack coronaviruses at an early stage of the disease.
The results of the study were consistently positive: both the number of antibodies and the number of T cells had increased after the booster vaccination compared to the control group. The fluctuations in quality were clearly noticeable, however. While the booster from Valneva improved the antibody and T-cell levels of the test subjects by around 30 percent, the vaccine from Moderna recorded an exorbitant increase of almost 1000 percent. The results are still a complete success: “The most important takeaway message is that we have a large number of excellent booster vaccines,” says Merryn Voysey, a researcher at Oxford University.
Booster with mRNA vaccine: Potentially more effective
The study authors only looked at the number of antibodies and T cells. How well the booster vaccinations prevent infection has not been tracked. The antibody level in most of the refreshments corresponded to a corona protection of around 90 percent.
mRNA vaccines were found to be particularly effective for the third vaccination. Immunologist Eleanor Riley from the University of Edingburgh would recommend the mRNA vaccine as a booster: “An mRNA booster is a good thing, no matter which vaccine you had first.” Scientists assume that most of the vaccines tested are strong are enough to protect against infection.
Even if there are differences in the effectiveness of the active ingredients, in the end it doesn’t matter which agent is used: “If only one vaccine is available for booster vaccinations in your country or region, then it is completely safe and in Okay to use this, ”says Saul Faust, co-author of the study. In addition to the mRNA vaccines, all other variants would also be sufficient. Colleague John Moore, a virologist from New York, confirms this: “It’s not a beauty contest. It’s not about which [vaccine] is a little better than the other. We can’t be picky. “
Booster vaccination against new Omicron variant: What is known so far
But how well does a booster vaccination against the Omikron variant help? Scientists are not yet united on this point. The new mutation is too young and unexplored to say anything about it. However, there are concerns that the variant from South Africa is significantly more resistant. A 90 percent protection against Omikron could be much weaker. “I think we’ll see the first results in a couple of weeks,” said Saul Faust.
In addition to the ignorance about the omicron variant, the side effects of the booster vaccinations are also a cause for concern. Initial studies show the undesirable effects of those who have been boosted. (aa)
