How booster shots can help protect you from Omicron
Immunity from COVID-19 vaccines fades over time, but data show boosters do offer better protection against all variants—including the more contagious Omicron.
As the new Omicron variant spreads, experts say the best defense against all viral variants that cause COVID-19 is a full dose of a vaccine followed by a booster shot several months later.
Since the first mRNA vaccine against COVID-19 was authorized on December 11, 2020, studies have shown that unvaccinated people are at five times greater risk of getting infected and 10 times greater risk of hospitalization or death from COVID-19 than those who are fully vaccinated.
But research from Israel and the U.S. also revealed that vaccine-induced immunity against the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus wanes in six to eight months. That’s especially worrying as more populations are exposed to the more contagious