Reuters.- The protection offered by vaccines against coronavirus infection and potentially serious illness is very likely to wane over time, so immunization campaigns will continue for years to come, scientists told the British government advisory group.
“Vaccine-induced immunity against SARS-CoV-2 infection, and against potentially serious disease (but probably to a lesser extent), is highly likely to decline over time,” according to an executive summary of a document studied by the government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE).
“Therefore, it is likely that there will be vaccination campaigns against SARS-CoV-2 for many years, but we currently do not know what the optimal frequency required for revaccination will be in order to protect vulnerable people from Covid disease.” the scientists said.
The document, entitled “How long will Covid vaccines continue to protect?”, Was written by leading virologists and epidemiologists from Imperial College London, the University of Birmingham and Public Health England.
Britain has approved and is using three vaccines – Oxford-AstraZeneca, Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna – in a mass vaccination program that began in December 2020.
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Field data shows that the vaccines protect 95% or more effectively against the Alpha variant that dominated Britain in early 2021, the scientists said, but the ability to prevent infection and subsequent transmission was lower.
They argued that the efficacy of the vaccine could be expected to remain high for severe disease, but that efficacy against mild disease and infection could decline over time.
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