In March, 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic wreaked havoc on everyone’s daily routine.
Whether this be work, school, or even the way we shop.
The pandemic has impacted each of our lives in one way or another.
Over the past almost 2 years, many of us have wondered when things will get back to normal?
Then, on December 14th, 2020, some of the very first COVID-19 vaccines were administered in Canada.
With this vaccine, came a lot of relief, and hope for an end to the pandemic.
However, it also brought lots of questions such as: Is the vaccine safe? And, Is it effective?
And now, when COVID-19 booster doses have begun being administered, some of these questions are arising again.
I do believe that all of us are going to need another shot at some point.
It's much more of a grey area for younger people particularly under 50.
I don't think we should get hung up on should, may, just go out and get boosted.
FDA's Dr. Marion Gruber and Dr. Phil Krause say there's currently no need for boosters for the general population.
The most common question on many people’s minds is: “I have already received two doses of the vaccine, why do I need the booster?”
In Canada, 84% of eligible Canadians have received at least one dose of the vaccine.
78% are fully vaccinated, which means they have had 2 doses of the vaccine.
But, when it comes to boosters, only 40% of eligible Canadians have received the booster.
This increased hesitancy in getting the vaccine combined with the rise of the Omicron variant have led to a faster increase in the number of cases.
The booster dose is important to curb this rise in cases, and we need it now.
When we are infected with the COVID-19 virus, the virus enters our healthy cells,
and begins making copies of itself.
The virus enters by attaching to our cells using a specialized protein called a spike protein.
Now our body isn’t defenseless against the virus, we have two main lines of defense, our innate immune response, and our adaptive immune response.
The innate immune response acts faster and results in some of the symptoms we experience after contracting the virus or getting vaccinated such as a fever.
The adaptive immune system takes longer to respond, and is composed of T cells and B cells which retain memory of the virus. The B cells are the cells responsible for making antibodies to the virus.
Antibodies fight the virus by binding to the spike protein on viral particles, and preventing them from attaching to and entering our cells.
When we get the first dose of an mRNA vaccine, something similar happens.
The vaccine contains instructions to make harmless proteins that the virus also has.
This way, the immune system can be trained to recognize the virus and fight it when it is encountered in the future.
Like with an actual COVID-19 infection, the adaptive immune response begins working and the B cells begin creating antibodies to the viral proteins presented to them.
When we get the second dose of the mRNA vaccine, the body goes through the same process of recognizing the virus, and creating more antibodies.
The reason we need this second dose, is to ensure that we build a very strong immune response to the virus.
Essentially, the second dose sends our immune system the message that
“Hey, this virus came back, it might be a threat again, so we should strengthen our defenses against it for the future.”
So, going back to the question at the beginning of the video,
why do we need a booster at all then, shouldn’t the two doses of the vaccine provide sufficient protection?
Well we need the booster dose because, our body needs to perform many many functions, and needs lots of energy and resources to do so.
In order to keep functioning at optimal levels, it sometimes stops certain processes that it feels are not necessary in order to save resources.
This is similar to how computers or phones will put certain apps to sleep, in order to ensure the device is functioning optimally for the apps that are in use.
Now if you remember, our immune system has those B cells which have the recipe for creating antibodies ready.
So, if our immune system hasn’t encountered the virus for a while, it will begin thinking that it's no longer an imminent threat.
And thus, it will reduce the number of freely circulating antibodies, to save resources.
This can be seen around the 6 month mark after the 2nd dose, where the amount of antibodies freely circulating, decreases.
Of course this doesn’t mean that we no longer have protection against the virus,
there will still be a small amount of circulating antibodies and those B cells that are ready to go as soon as an infection is detected.
When we get the booster dose, our immune system is stimulated again.
This means our B cells will make more antibodies, thus increasing the number of freely circulating antibodies again,
ensuring that we are ready, should the virus, or a mutated form of the virus attack in the future.
As more people get vaccinated, hospitals tend to see
a general decline in hospitalizations.
Currently, according to the CDC, 72% of hospitalization cases are of unvaccinated individuals,
and we can compare this to only 17% of hospitalizations are of individuals who are fully vaccinated.
Those who are fully vaccinated make up the least proportion of hospitalizations due to COVID-19.
This goes to show the efficacy of the vaccine at reducing the severity of the virus.
Most hospitalizations of fully vaccinated people are those who are high risk individuals, with other underlying health conditions.
The vaccine is ideal for these people as they are more at risk of developing complications due to the virus.
Similarly, there is also a drastic difference in the number of deaths due to COVID-19 between vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals.
70% of COVID-19 related deaths were of unvaccinated individuals,
whereas 17% of deaths are of those fully vaccinated.
This goes to show how effective the vaccine is in decreasing the mortality rate of the virus and protecting individuals.
While we have come a long way in the fight against COVID-19, there is still a long road ahead of us.
In order to end the pandemic as fast as possible and to prevent individuals
from developing severe symptoms, being hospitalized, or dying due to COVID-19, vaccines, especially boosters, are a must.