A Quick Guide to COVID-19 Booster Vaccination

We already know the principle of booster vaccinations from other vaccines such as tetanus or polio. Booster vaccinations aim to prevent infections and reduce severe COVID infections. Eventually, this lowers the hospitalization rate and the occupancy in intensive care unit . The mRNA-vaccines by BioNtech/Pfizer and Moderna have been approve as booster vaccines.

Who should have a booster vaccination and when to get it? Initially, a booster was only recommended for the over 70-year-olds, care attendants, and people with immune deficiencies. Today the German vaccination board (“Ständige Impfkommission”, STIKO) advises that all initially immunized people who are over 18 years old (including pregnant women) should get a booster vaccination. Especially advised are people who received their primary injection with the vaccine of Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca. They base this recommendation (without limitation) on new data from the Paul-Ehrlich-Institute.

Generally, the recommendation is to have a booster vaccination at least three months after the second dose of a COVID-19 vaccination. The STIKO shortened the vaccination interval in December. People who were vaccinated with the J & J vaccine are advised to get their booster injection at earliest four weeks after their initial shot. This also applies to immunocompromised people (over-11-years-old). It is estimated that the booster injection, just like the initial immunization, develops the full impact two weeks after the injection.

A booster injection is not recommended by the STIKO for those who have had a COVID-19 infection before or after initial immunization.

Why have a booster vaccination? 68.4 % of all Germans have been fully vaccinated and 71.71 % have received their first shot (data from RKI, November 28th, 2021). Measured by the amount of vaccination doses available and the ongoing “fourth wave”, these numbers will not suffice. This is especially concerning when one considers that in elderly people the initial immunization lessens within several months. This phenomenon was first observed in Israel and is now obvious in Germany as well.

Already 11.0 % of the German population has received a booster vaccination. Besides aiming to achieve the goal of increasing the general vaccination rate, it is crucial to be aware of the importance of booster vaccinations. After the booster vaccination, people are less contagious while also suffering less severe courses of infection (in the relatively rare event of a vaccine breakthrough infection). BioNtech/Pfizer state that a booster dose prompts high neutralization titers. The titers stem the wild type of COVID-19 and the beta variant and are 5 to 10 times higher than after the two primary doses. The booster vaccination has a consistent tolerability rate. It strongly stimulates the immune system to produce additional antibodies.

How does the booster vaccination work? Which vaccine to choose for your booster depends on several criteria. First is the availability: whether to get the booster injection of BioNtech/Pfizer or Moderna. Generally, the idea is to get the same mRNA-vaccine that was used for the initial immunization. However, if that is not possible, the other mRNA-vaccine is of equal value according to the Paul-Ehrlich-Institute. The STIKO recommends the vaccine from BioNtech/Pfizer to under-30-year-olds and pregnant women (from the second trimester of pregnancy onwards).

The efficiency of the booster vaccination against virus variants realign with the general efficiency of the vaccine against them. Studies show that the efficiency of the vaccine is lessened for the “delta” variant. However, there is not enough data about the “omicron” variant that was recently identified in South Africa. Scientists are worried that this variant might require an adaption of the vaccines currently available. Studies concerning the possible re-engineering of the vaccine to the variants are ongoing.

EXERCISE: 1. All initially immunized people over 18 years old (including pregnant women) should get a booster vaccination . a) True b) False

2. After having your COVID-19 vaccination, you definitely should not get – after 6 months – another brand for your booster vaccination. a) True b) False

You’ll find the answer below.

BIBLIOGRAPHY 1. http://dict.leo.org. 2. www.cdc.gov. 3. www.dict.cc. 4. www.rki.de. 5. www.webster-dictionary.org.

CARMEN LOBITZ Carmen Lobitz ist freie Trainerin, Lehrerin und MTA. Sie gründete 1998 in Berlin lobitz seminare, die unter anderem Englischseminare für Health Professionals anbieten. Kontakt: mail@lobitz-seminare.de www.lobitz-seminare.de

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Lösung für Exercise:

1. A)

2. B)

A Quick Guide to COVID-19 Booster Vaccination

Who should have a booster vaccination and when to get it?

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A Quick Guide to COVID-19 Booster Vaccination

Who should have a booster vaccination and when to get it?

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