Booster Shots Are a Powerful Weapon
We Are All Combatants in the Fight Against COVID
For a moment, I thought I was done with writing about COVID. However, that was not to be. We are dealing with a virus that will undoubtedly be with us, in various forms of variants, for the foreseeable, if not the longterm, future. Omicron is rapidly spreading in the U.S. It jumped sevenfold last week according to the CDC. California hospitals are reporting increases in COVID patients, with a 31 percent increase in L.A. County alone. Dr. Fauci says Omicron is the most transmissible variant of COVID we’ve had to deal with. The Omicron variant spreads more easily than the Delta variant.
Research shows that three doses (two doses plus a booster) of COVID-19 vaccine can neutralize the Omicron variant. Data shows that boosters fortify the antibody response sufficiently to deliver a substantial increase in protection. A third dose of vaccine increases the neutralizing antibody titer by 25-fold compared to two doses against the Omicron variant. Studies in the U.S. and U.K. concluded respectively that a COVID booster provides 75-85 percent protection against severe illness and death from Omicron. Public health officials are urging those eligible for booster shots to “get them now.” Yet, a significant number of Americans are resisting booster shots.
As of last week, only 19.7 percent of the eligible population had received their third shots. The are several reasons for this, all of which deny reality.
