According to data published on Friday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, booster shots of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines are keeping Americans out of hospitals.
The variant is 90 percent effective at preventing hospitalization. Booster shots reduce the chance of going to an emergency department. The data shows that extra doses are most beneficial for Americans 50 and older.
The research shows that the vaccines are more protective against the Delta variant than against Omicron, which lab studies have found is partially able to sidestep the body's immune response.
Rochelle Walensky, director of the C.D.C., said at a White House briefing on Friday that the reports add more evidence to the importance of being up-to-date with Covid vaccinations.
While data from Israel and other countries suggest that boosters can help prevent severe illness and hospitalization in older adults, it was not clear if the extra doses would have the same effect in the United States.
The three studies published on Friday are the most comprehensive and reliable assessments of the role booster shots are playing in the U.S. The researchers looked at millions of cases, as well as tens of thousands of hospitalizations and deaths, as the Delta and Omicron variant each came to prominence.
The figures released on Friday should be very convincing according to Akiko Iwasaki.
There were hints that the Omicron surge may be waning. The nation is reporting 736,000 new cases a day, down from more than one million last week.
More than 2,000 deaths occur on many days because of the virus in many states.
Two studies were published in the Morbidity and Mortality Report. Researchers looked at hospitalizations and visits to emergency departments and urgent care clinics in 10 states.
The authors found that the vaccine's effectiveness against hospitalization fell to 57 percent in people who had received their second dose more than six months before. The protection was restored to 90 percent with a third shot.
More than 117,000 deaths and nearly 10 million Covid cases were looked at in the second study.
Cases and deaths were lower among people who received a booster dose, compared with people who did not, and much lower than among people who had not received a booster.
The study found that people ages 65 and older had the biggest gains in protection. There was no data on the benefits of the shots in younger people.
In the third study, data from more than 70,000 people who sought testing showed that a third dose provided more protection against symptoms than two or none. The Omicron variant was less protective than the Delta variant.
Unvaccinated Americans 50 years and older were 45 times more likely to be hospitalized in December than those who got a third shot, according to new data published by the C.D.C.
The studies show that boosters are a good defense against Omicron. Less than 40 percent of Americans who are eligible for a booster shot have received one.
Natalie Dean said it was too soon to know if the protection from the extra shots would diminish.
She said that all the estimates of Omicron third-dose protection are going to be people who have recently been boosted.
The C.D.C. now recommends booster shots for everyone 12 years and older, five months after getting two doses of the vaccine made by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, or two months after a single dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
Scientific advisers to the Food and Drug Administration and the C.D.C. were critical of the lack of data specific to the United States when discussing booster shot recommendations.
It was difficult to interpret Israeli data for Americans because of the differences between Israel and the United States.
The scientific advisers of the agencies had a chance to review the data from Israel before some members of the Biden administration supported the use of booster doses. After the arrival of the Omicron variant, federal health officials intensified the boosters-for-all campaign.
Booster shots for Americans younger than 50 were a topic of vigorous debate in the fall. Several experts argued at the time that third shots were unnecessary for younger adults because the vaccine was holding up well.
The experts were unconvinced by the new data.
Dr. Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and a member of the F.D.A.'s vaccine advisory, said it was clear months ago that older adults and those with weakened immune systems would benefit from extra doses of the vaccine
He asked where the evidence was that a third dose benefits a healthy young person.
If you want to stop the spread of the virus, you need to bevaccinated. We are trying to protect the already protected.
The arrival of the Omicron variant changed the minds of some experts. They said a third dose could limit the spread of the virus by preventing infections, even if two doses were enough to keep young people out of hospitals.
John Moore said that they are both data-driven, legitimate positions.
The debate is over, because we are using boosters in everyone.
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