Thread by @sailorrooscout

Just a friendly reminder. Despite what you might hear, there has yet to be a variant that isn’t susceptible to the vaccines.

The term infection refers to the virus entering and being detectable in your system regardless of whether OR NOT it makes you sick, whereas the term illness refers to the virus entering, being detectable in your system AND making you sick. It it important not to conflate the two.

In regards to BA.2. Per @tuliodna, WHO stated:
•There’s NO evidence of a difference in severity between BA.2 & BA.1 (BOTH are Omicron)
•BA.2 is more transmissible than BA.1 BUT the gap is smaller than between Omicron & Delta
•Vaccines are EQUALLY effective against BA.1 & BA.2

Chise, what about the preprint out of Japan regarding BA.2 severity? WELL, it turns out if you read the study and look at the antigenic data, they only show an antigenic difference when they used RODENT sera. When they tested human sera, there was NO DIFFERENCE. READ THAT AGAIN.

Not only does this fit in with at least two other preprints, it fits in with REAL-WORLD data out of the UK, Denmark, and South Africa who have found NO DIFFERENCE in risk of hospitalization or severe disease for BA.2 vs BA.1.

https://twitter.com/kallmemeg/status/1495004839411081218?s=21

If needed, I went into detail regarding BA.2 here and have stated a lot of this information prior to the data given recently within the past week. It’s good to see the majority of this being confirmed with supporting data.

https://twitter.com/sailorrooscout/status/1484507422513319941?s=21

Now, back to the vaccines. UKHSA data has found NO evidence of a difference in vaccine effectiveness in regards to BA.2. VE against symptomatic disease after Omicron BA.2 shows that VE remains UNCHANGED. With a booster, you are looking at 70% VE against SYMPTOMATIC infection.

That’s even HIGHER than BA.1. Remember, this is ONLY in regards to symptomatic infection. Against death? Per UKHSA data VE against death is 95% at 2+ weeks after a booster. assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/upl…

So, just HOW effective are the COVID-19 vaccines at protecting you from severe illness and hospitalization even in the face of Omicron?

Boosters BEFORE Omicron variant increase: 94% effective

Boosters DURING Omicron variant increase: 90% effective

Answer: VERY EFFECTIVE

“Booster doses of Pfizer’s and Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccines have proven highly effective at preventing Omicron-related hospitalisations, according to three new studies by the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention.” aljazeera.com/news/2022/1/22…

“The booster doses were 90% effective at keeping people out of hospital after they had become infected with the Omicron variant. The doses were also 82% effective at preventing emergency department and urgent care visits, data indicated.”

You can find this study and more here: cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/7… and read more here: reuters.com/business/healt…

You can find the entire study on BA.2 out of South Africa here: medrxiv.org/content/10.110…. In addition, if you you need data on Denmark I HIGHLY recommend reading: en.ssi.dk/covid-19/typic… which clears up ALL the misinformation currently circulating regarding Danish COVID numbers.

TLDR. The COVID-19 vaccines are extremely effective at preventing serious illness, hospitalization AND death even in the face of Omicron and it’s sub-lineages. Yes, that includes BA.2. Real-world data speaks for itself. Make sure you are protected. Don’t walk around immune naive.