[Asia Economy Reporter Hyungsoo Park] A study has found that the booster shot developed by Pfizer reduces the transmissibility of COVID-19 Delta variant infections.
According to foreign media on the 20th, the Technion, an Israeli public research university, and the Maccabi Research Innovation Center revealed that the effect of reducing 'viral loads' disappears six months after the second dose. The research results were published on the medical preprint site 'medRxiv'.
The researchers explained that receiving a third dose increases the preventive effect on viral loads again. Viral load is an indicator of how much virus is present in bodily fluids. It typically measures the number of virus particles detected per 1 ml of plasma. Viral load shows a proportional relationship with virus transmissibility.
It has been previously established through prior studies that COVID-19 vaccines lower the viral load of vaccinated individuals. This is the first study targeting Delta variant infections.
Maccabi, an Israeli healthcare management organization (HMO), analyzed real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) swab test results from about 11,000 Delta variant infected individuals.
The researchers divided the Delta variant infected subjects into three groups for analysis: ▲unvaccinated individuals ▲breakthrough infections within six months after the second dose ▲breakthrough infections after receiving the booster shot.
The analysis showed that the viral load of patients within two months after the second dose was lower than that of unvaccinated individuals. Symptoms and transmissibility were also lower. After two months, immunity decreased and viral load increased, peaking around six months after the second dose. However, the booster shot was found to significantly reduce viral load compared to before.
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