Would you get a COVID-19 booster shot if offered?

This article is brought to you thanks to the collaboration of The European Sting with the World Economic Forum.

Author: Joe Myers, Writer, Formative Content

• A new Ipsos survey finds that a majority of fully vaccinated adults in 13 countries would get a COVID-19 vaccine booster if offered.
• However, a majority also think priority should be given to people who’ve yet to have a full dose.
• A majority also think a booster is likely to be needed at least annually.

A new Ipsos survey in 13 countries around the world finds that a majority of fully vaccinated adults would get a COVID-19 vaccine booster shot if offered.

However, a majority of adults in every country also think priority should be given to people who haven’t yet had a first dose.

The survey, a collaboration with the World Economic Forum, was conducted at the end of August and included 9,521 adults under the age of 75, of whom 5,977 had already received two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine.

Boosters likely to be needed, say most people

The survey shows a widespread belief that COVID-19 vaccine booster shots will be needed at least annually to maintain protection against the disease.

The expectation was highest in Mexico, Brazil and the United Kingdom, but lowest in Russia.

India’s leading COVID-19 last-mile responders

Each of our Top 50 social enterprise last mile responders and multi-stakeholder initiatives is working across four priority areas of need: Prevention and protection; COVID-19 treatment and relief; inclusive vaccine access; and securing livelihoods. The list was curated jointly with regional hosts Catalyst 2030’s NASE and Aavishkaar Group. Their profiles can be found on www.wef.ch/lastmiletop50india.

Top Last Mile Partnership Initiatives to collaborate with:

#BackTheFrontline – Dasra
Covid Action Collab
Covid Livelihoods Coalition – CoLive
Creative Dignity
Migrants Resilience Collaborative
Rapid Rural Community Response (RCRC)
REVIVE Alliance
Rural Access Coalition
Saath Nirbhar – vartaLeap Coalition and ComMutiny
SAMRIDH
Sanjha Collective – Goonj
Swasth

Top 50 Last Mile Responders to get behind:

Aajeevika Bureau
Adhyayan Foundation
Antarang Foundation
ARMMAN
Arpan
Barefoot College International
Breakthrough
Center for Wildlife Studies
Conserve India
Dasra
Society Of Development Alternatives
Dharma Life
Doctors For You
Dream a Dream
Eleutheros Christian Society
Every Infant Matters
Frontier Markets
Glocal Healthcare
Goonj
Haqdarshak
Hasiru Dala
Healing Fields Foundation
Hemkunt Foundation
iKure
Indian Society of Agribusiness Professionals
Indus Action
Industree Foundation
Jan Sahas
Just Organik
Karuna Trust
LabourNet Services
Lakshya
Manah Wellness
MAHAN Trust, Melghat
Mann Deshi Foundation
Mission Oxygen – Democracy
People Foundation
Naireeta Services
Nidan
Noora Health
Pink Maharani
Reap Benefit
SaveLIFE Foundation
SELCO Foundation
Sevamob
SEWA Cooperative Federation
Spandan Samaj Seva Samiti
Study Hall Educational Foundation (SHEF)
Sustainable Environment and Ecological Development Society (SEEDS)
Transforming Rural India Foundation
Ziqitza Health Care Limited

And most fully vaccinated adults would get one

The survey also showed that a majority of adults who have already had two doses of COVID-19 vaccine would get a booster shot if they were offered.

Intent to get a booster shot was highest in Brazil (96%), Mexico (93%) and China (90%) and lowest in Russia (62%) and Italy (66%).

But, priority should be given to those who haven’t yet had a jab

Despite the high intent to get booster shots, a majority in all surveyed countries agree the priority should be to get first doses to those who need them before making booster shots available.

Support for prioritizing first doses is highest in China (83%) and lowest in France (56%). No more than one quarter disagreed in any country, and in some countries as few as one-in-10 did so.

What are COVID-19 vaccine booster shots?

“The simplest answer is that it’s just another dose of a vaccine you received,” Dr. Albert Shaw, an infectious disease specialist told Yale Medicine in August. “The concept is to prolong protective immunity, particularly if there is evidence that protection is waning after a period of time.”

Boosters are used to counter declining efficacy over time. For example, July data shows that the efficacy of Pfizer/BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine dropped to 84% after six months from a peak of 96% with two months of vaccination.

The booster doses can also be tweaked to target specific variants of a virus. “The current vaccines are still effective against the variants we are now seeing, particularly for protecting against serious illness that would require hospitalization or cause death. But if the virus evolves further and there is a worse variant, the vaccine could be modified,” Dr. Shaw said.

Has anyone started using them?

Some countries have already started rolling out third doses, including Israel, France and Germany. Others, including the UK and US, plan to follow suit in September.

The World Health Organization had previously called for a pause on COVID-19 vaccine booster shots until the end of September. On Wednesday, Director-General Dr Adhanom Ghebreyesus called for this to be extended until at least the end of the year to narrow the gap in vaccinations between countries.

And, as Genya Dana, Acting Head, Health & Healthcare at the World Economic Forum explains, it’s vital we work to close the gap between those with access to vaccines and those without:

“COVID-19 has highlighted how vaccination is by far the most effective public health intervention to protect populations from disease and it is crucial that robust vaccination infrastructure is deployed in every country on earth,” said Dana.

“At least 60% of world’s population needs to be vaccinated by 2022 to get the current pandemic under control – but the issue of equity and access must be front and centre of this effort. With only 0.4% of current doses administered in low-income countries, this crisis will keep multiplying. We need to redouble our efforts to get vaccines to everyone who hasn’t had one yet.”