ONE: Should you get a fourth dose to beef up protection against Covid-19?

A preliminary study from Israel, published last Tuesday, suggests that for the general population, the answer is NO. A fourth shot of Pfizer or Moderna offered very little extra protection against infection compared with three shots.

"Not a third dose, not a fourth dose, not a fifth dose will do anything to stop infections," said Dr. Gili Regev-Yochay, the lead author of the study.

In the new study, the investigators gave health care workers a fourth shot, either Pfizer or Moderna. And then they looked to see if those people were less likely to become infected, compared with health care workers who had received only three shots.

They also measured antibody levels in the health care workers' blood before and after the fourth dose.

Although the extra shot boosted antibody levels to about the level observed right after the third shot, the rise in antibodies didn't translate into strong protection against infection. During the 30-day study period, about 22% of the people who received the extra shot became infected with the omicron variant of the coronavirus, compared with about 25% of the people who received only three shots. The slight difference was not statistically significant. The extra dose also didn't activate T cells, which are critical for clearing out a future infection.

Could a fourth dose help extend protection against severe disease?

A study published this month found that three doses offer about 90% protection against hospitalization with an omicron infection two months after the last dose. But that protection drops to about 80% after four months.

For healthy people under age 65 or so, this waning protection doesn't cause a big problem because they have such a low risk of hospitalization to begin with.

In fact, for people under 30 there is NO Benefit to even a third booster shot!

We once again have to look overseas for reliable data. An Isaeli population study compared boosted vs. non boosted people with the primary vaccine series. The risk of COVID death among non boosted vaccinated people under age 30 was ZERO! — the same as it was among the boosted. Zero risk can't be lowered.

Several countries are already moving forward with a fourth dose. Israel has authorized fourth shots to adults over age 60 and any adult with underlying health conditions.

Take Home

Sweden has been proven correct all along. When it comes to Covid, we should start asking- What is Sweden doing? On Tuesday, Sweden began to offer a fourth injection which is limited to people over age of 80 and those living in nursing homes.

An extra booster or fourth shot does nothing to prevent infection. It may help extend protection against severe disease for people over 65 and for people with compromised immune systems.

TWO

The Pfizer vaccine has done almost nothing to protect inoculated five- to 11- year-olds from infection, according to data revealed by New York state yesterday. New York researchers gathered data on 365,502 children aged five to 11 for the study. The study gathered data from the Omicron period of the pandemic, from December 2021 through January 2022.

Participants in the study were followed up with and compared to general figures from unvaccinated populations. Researchers at the New York State Department of Health found that the two-dose Pfizer shot was only 12 percent effective at preventing infection in this age group one month after injection. The protection actually decreased from there. Six weeks after becoming “fully vaccinated,” kids under 12 are 40 percent MORE likely to be infected with Covid than those who never received one of the mRNA shots, according to the huge New York database. The mRNA injections provide some protection for the first two weeks of “full vaccination.” But it declines rapidly, turns negative by the fifth week, and more sharply negative in the sixth. “Negative” vaccine efficacy means that vaccinated children are more likely to become infected than unvaccinated children. It is not clear how high the increased risk could become, since the database only covered six weeks and the trend worsened each week.

Children do not suffer much of a risk from the Covid virus, with hospitalizations and deaths being incredibly rare. Per CDC data, children make up less than 0.1 percent of COVID-19 deaths suffered in the U.S. since the pandemic began. A study from October of last year also found that around half of pediatric Covid cases are asymptomatic, and that was before the more mild Omicron variant became dominant in the U.S. When infected, children also release lower totals of virus particles into the air, making them less likely to spread the virus than adults.

TAKE HOME

The main argument in favor of vaccinating children has been to prevent them from spreading the virus, these findings imply that the vaccine INCREASES the likelihood of viral spread. This could be due to the Delta vaccine formulation not working against Omicron in 5 to 11 year olds.

In cities like New York, children as young as five years old were made to show proof of vaccination to enter indoor dining, fitness and entertainment establishments. Children also had to be vaccinated to take part in school activities.

Some parents had significant fears about potential side-effects of the vaccine, and were coerced to take a risk to give their child the shot, only to now find out it is not only not as effective as advertised, but by this data, increases the risk of infection. If this data is reproduced, childhood Covid vaccination in America will end.

Sweden has decided against recommending COVID vaccines for children aged 5-11, the Swedish Health Agency said that the benefits did not outweigh the risks.

RJ Harris