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The CDC released the first American data on the effectiveness of boosters by age.
Age Over 65
The rate of hospitalization among unvaccinated adults older than age 65 was 246 per 100,000 people. That rate dropped to 27.4 per 100,000 among people who were vaccinated without a booster, and to 4.9 among those who were vaccinated and received a booster.
There were roughly 44 deaths per 100,000 unvaccinated adults 65 and older. Vaccinations dropped that number to about 3.6 deaths per 100,000, one-twelfth as much. Booster shots reduced the rate further, to about 0.5 deaths per 100,000, a figure 90 times as small.
AGE 50-64
Among adults 50 to 64, 73 unvaccinated adults per 100,000 were hospitalized, compared with nine per 100,000 among those who were vaccinated and two per 100,000 among those who had also received a booster shot. Boosters made less of a difference in the number of Covid-19 deaths in this age group. Vaccinations decreased the rate to 0.4 deaths per 100,000 from 8.26 per 100,000. With boosters, that number fell to 0.1 deaths per 100,000 people.
AGE 18-49
The risk of Covid-19 death among Americans ages 18 to 49 was very low. The rate was about 0.9 per 100,000 people among the unvaccinated and plummeted to 0.03 among people who were vaccinated. With the addition of a booster, deaths were too low to measure. No hospitalization data were presented for this group.
The CDC did not release data for children 17 and under. This is likely to be because the baseline risk is so low.
TAKE HOME
The older you are, the more you will benefit from a Covid vaccine booster. CDC data have found that vaccination alone, without boosters, remained strongly protective against severe illness and death in most younger people, even after Omicron's appearance. These data do not support a universal booster rollout for everyone. Boosters are most protective among the elderly and those who have certain immune conditions or live in nursing homes. The duration of the booster protection is unknown. Healthy children, particularly boys, should not take the risk of getting a Covid Vaccine booster. The risk of vaccine induced myocarditis is too high.
TWO
42% of Americans are Vitamin D deficient. The jury has been out on Vitamin D since early in the pandemic, until now.
Early papers that did find a link were deemed not rigorous enough and not definitive. But a new study has the most conclusive evidence yet. Researchers from Bar Ilan University and the Galilee Medical Center in Israel looked at patient records starting up to two years before they were diagnosed with Covid. They found people who were consistently deficient in Vitamin D were up to 14 times more likely to suffer severe disease, even after adjusting for age and other underlying health woes.
TAKE HOME
Those with Vitamin D deficiencies were found to be significantly more likely to develop severe Covid than patients with normal levels of Vitamin D. The association was so strong that the researchers could predict Covid patient outcomes using only their age and vitamin D levels. Vitamin D deficiency is a greater risk for severe Covid than obesity or underlying medical illnesses, like diabetes, heart disease, or high blood pressure. If you are in an at risk group, take Vitamin D. It is safe, effective and very inexpensive. Checking a baseline Vitamin D level is available at your doctor's office.
THREE
The protection people experience after recovering from COVID-19 with natural immunity lasts for at least 18 months and counting.
Researchers in Italy analyzed the level of antibodies in patients who were documented as contracting COVID-19 in March of 2020. About half of the patients went on to get COVID-19 vaccines, but the rest remained unvaccinated. Samples were tested at timed intervals, ending in September 2021, using assays that have received clearance from the Food and Drug Administration. At 18 months, 97% of participants tested positive for anti-NCP, hinting towards the persistence of infection-induced immunity for both the unvaccinated and the vaccinated individuals. NCP stands for nucleocapsid, a part of the Covid virus. Antibodies protect people against infection from the virus. Researchers did find that vaccination with the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine gave those with prior infection a significant boost, but that the increase in protection waned quickly.
TAKE HOME
For most infectious viruses, naturally acquired immunity is known to be more powerful than vaccine-induced immunity and it often lasts a lifetime. SARS-1 and MERS, the other coronaviruses that cause serious human diseases and that are the most closely related to Covid-19, both trigger robust and permanent immune responses and protection. The evidence continues to mount that native immunity after infection with Covid-19 is durable.