Boosters Significantly Protect Nursing Home Residents, Staff Against Omicron Variant

Booster vaccinations have significantly increased the number of antibodies produced to attack the omicron variant – up from 28% to 86% in nursing home residents and 28% to 93% in health care workers.

That’s about three times the level of antibodies for residents and staff on average, at a time when omicron has rapidly become the dominant variant worldwide.

Researchers from Brown University and Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, among others, published findings concerning the dominant strain of Covid and boosters in a June copy of The Lancet.

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“It was very important for nursing home residents to get that third shot. They too got a substantial boost in their omicron immunity,” Dr. David Canaday, co-author for the study and professor of infectious diseases and HIV medicine at Case Western. “It’s still not great responses in the blood, because omicron has mutated a fair distance from the vaccine strain, but it’s still present; you have detectable neutralizing antibodies and it really does take that third dose and get that.”

The booster’s effect on omicron provides a good blueprint for “optimally” vaccinating and maintaining immunity among a population with high morbidity and mortality, researchers noted, with other variants expected down the road.

“In the era of Omicron with additional future variants likely on the horizon, our data suggest that the current mRNA vaccine formulation to Wuhan strain may most effectively be given as a 3-dose rather than 2-dose series in the HCW and the frail NH population,” researchers added, while remaining unsure of when exactly to give the third dose.

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Third dose timing could warrant further examination, especially if the CDC considers administering this dose prior to five months – its current recommendation for a booster or third dose.

About 82.3% of vaccinated residents have received their booster doses, according to data published by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). Only 53% of vaccinated staff have received their booster doses, as of June 12.

Eighty-five nursing home residents and 48 health care workers participated in the study. Researchers tested antibody levels after the initial vaccination series as well as just before and two weeks after booster vaccination.

Protection for residents that had not previously contracted Covid saw a sizable jump from 7% to 93%.

Staff without prior infection saw an increase from 14% to upwards of 96% thanks to the booster.

Residents and staff that contracted Covid prior to the booster did not see as high of a jump in protection for both the Wuhan strain and omicron variant, compared to those that were not previously infected.

Still, researchers consider the proportion of subjects with detectable omicron antibody levels to be “significant” for all four groups, from primary vaccination series to post-booster.

“In general, the whole group continued to rise, even the poor responders continued to rise a bit and kind of chip away at getting the immune system to keep working better over time,” added Canaday. “Even the nursing home resident – a frail, old, multimorbid individual – they still over time and with this series of shots, including boosting, are starting to get reasonable responses.”

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