Boosters give 88 per cent protection against hospitalisation

The good news picture continues to build for Omicron. Late on New Year’s Eve, the UK Health Security Agency released an update to their estimates for vaccine effectiveness, and for the first time they’ve been able to give a picture of how well vaccines protect against hospitalisation from Omicron. The figure is strong: 88 per cent. This bodes well for a country with the highest booster uptake in Europe (94 per cent of over-60s are now boosted) and the study should offer reassurance ahead of Monday’s decision on whether to impose more restrictions on England.

First of all, this chart shows protection against symptomatic disease. Oxford/AstraZeneca is ineffective against Omicron for symptomatic infection. But with a Pfizer booster, protection against symptomatic disease jumps to 64 per cent after 2-4 weeks; after ten weeks, it falls to 42 per cent.

The boosters protect even better against the (still-circulating) Delta variant, even with a slight decrease by ten weeks after a booster jab is received.