Filenews 6 November 2021
Professor of the Medical School and Vice Rector of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athanasios Tsakris, refers to the importance of the third dose of the vaccine for SARS-CoV-2. SARS-CoV-2 with its variants/mutations has come and will remain, passing at some point from the pandemic situation to an epidemic form.
At the moment, vaccination has been proven to be our most effective shield against this virus that never ceases to take us by surprise, as its high circulation in the community creates fertile ground for new mutations, which make it difficult to manage the pandemic.
But vaccination does not mean absolute protection. Because of some new variants that are more contagious and can escape to some extent of our immune response, but also because of the fact that immunity to coronaviruses in general (through the vaccine or disease) weakens relatively quickly, the virus can infect even people who have been ill or vaccinated.
We are already seeing it happening in our social environment in many cases.
Shield of protection the vaccine
But again, we are not unarmed. In the face of such a contagious variant as delta, the third dose of the vaccine brings about a significant increase in antibodies in those administered and at the same time prevents to a much greater extent both the likelihood of infection after exposure to the virus, and severe disease.
The data from Israel, where the administration of the booster dose, as early as the age of sixteen, is progressing at a very fast pace (about four million citizens have already been vaccinated) come to confirm this beyond any doubt.
People who have received the third dose are, depending on their age group, 8 to 10 times less likely to become ill than those who have received the two doses and 20 to 25 times less likely than unvaccinated people.
Similar are the rates for the chances of serious illness.
The third dose is therefore necessary both for our personal protection and for reducing the spread of the virus in the community. It can be administered even before six months have elapsed since the second instalment and those who have this possibility through the system, should not hesitate to do so.
