122 – Update: COVID Vaccination in Aging (9.9.21 Edition)

Better Health While Aging

In This Episode:

This video update covers my latest thoughts on the Delta surge, what we’ve learned about the efficacy of COVID vaccination in older adults over the last six months, breakthrough COVID cases, and whether “boosters” will be required.

(View the show notes page to watch my subtitled talk and my slides.)

This episode covers:

• The current COVID situation in US
• What we’ve learned about COVID vaccination over 6 months
• The latest on third doses (aka “boosters”)
• How to know what’s safe & answers to FAQs
• My latest recommendations for older adult & families

Note: A day after I recorded my update, the CDC released three additional studies regarding COVID vaccination. You can read about them here. Basically, one study concluded that vaccinated people are 5x less likely to get COVID, 10x less likely to be hospitalized, and 11x less likely to die of COVID. Another study found that vaccine efficacy is a bit lower in adults older than 75, compared to younger than 75, and that vaccine efficacy was better with Moderna than Pfizer. And a study in veterans found that “vaccine effectiveness in preventing COVID-19–related hospitalization was 80% among adults aged ≥65 years compared with 95% among adults aged 18–64 years.”

Related Episodes:

121 – Update: COVID Vaccination in Aging (7.29.21 Edition)

Related Resources:

• BHWA:
  • COVID Vaccination for Aging Adults: What to Know & Do
• CDC:
  • CDC COVID Data Tracker (to check your local transmission rates)
  • CDC: When You’ve Been Fully Vaccinated
  • Nursing Home Covid-19 Data Dashboard
  • COVID-19 Vaccines for Moderately to Severely Immunocompromised People (CDC)
  • Effectiveness of Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna Vaccines in Preventing SARS-CoV-2 Infection Among Nursing Home Residents Before and During Widespread Circulation of the SARS-CoV-2 B.1.617.2 (Delta) Variant — National Healthcare Safety Network, March 1–August 1, 2021
• From medical journals:
  • Comparison of two highly-effective mRNA vaccines for COVID-19 during periods of Alpha and Delta variant prevalence (Mayo Clinic pre-print Aug 2021)
  • Viral loads of Delta-variant SARS-CoV2 breakthrough infections following vaccination and booster with the BNT162b2 vaccine (Pre-print from Israel)
• From news and other media:
  • What to know about booster shots if you received Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine (9/8/21)
  • So you got the J&J vaccine? Here’s what you should know about the delta variant, boosters, and more (8/18/21)
  • Highly Vaccinated Israel Is Seeing A Dramatic Surge In New COVID Cases. Here’s Why (NPR 8/20/21)
  • Health Officials Advise White House to Scale Back Booster Plan for Now (NY Times, 9/3/21)
  • NY Times: COVID-19 Vaccine Tracker
  • NY Times: Coronavirus Variant Tracker

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