Infectious Diseases Expert: Why Get a Booster?

As of Feb. 2, some 24,000 students have verified they received their booster, with proof still outstanding from another 1,800 eligible students. Those students have been contacted either to get a booster or upload their information.

Among UB faculty and staff, just about 50 percent have reported receiving a booster.

Thomas A. Russo, MD, SUNY Distinguished Professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases, answers some questions about the importance of getting a COVID-19 booster:

If you have been previously infected with SARS-CoV-2 there’s no question that’s going to afford a degree of protection against subsequent infection.

However, we do know that if you have been infected with any of the pre-omicron variants — such as alpha or delta — the immunity acquired affords imperfect protection against omicron.

And if you have been infected with omicron — particularly if you had asymptomatic or mild infection, which is often the case for individuals who have received their first two shots — the magnitude and durability of the resultant immune response is unpredictable.

Therefore, the most reliable way to ensure optimal protection is for you to receive the booster shot.

An increasing body of evidence is emerging on the benefit of being boosted in the omicron phase of this pandemic. Data from the UK report that efficacy for preventing hospitalization and death was 35 percent and 59 percent, respectively, with only two shots, but increases to 90 percent and 95 percent, respectively, after three shots.

U.S. data on preventing hospitalization is similar; in three studies two shots resulted in only 44 percent, 68 percent and 57 percent effectiveness, whereas three shots increased effectiveness to 88 percent, 89 percent and 90 percent.

The message is simple and unequivocal; at this time optimal protection requires being boosted.

Although the magnitude of the benefit from a booster shot in protecting against a serious acute infection is going to be less for younger, healthier individuals, no one is absolutely bulletproof. Further, intermediate or long-term consequences of getting COVID is a significant concern. Therefore, there is no question a booster will benefit the individual.

Equally important, it will help break the transmission chain and decrease the likelihood that you can transmit to others. So, not only does the booster shot afford you a personal benefit, it benefits the UB community and the Western New York community at large.

It’s not just about you.

Absolutely.

Students who have recently had COVID-19 and are eligible for a booster shot must get their booster within seven days once they have finished their 10-day isolation period and are asymptomatic. This assumes the individual does not have another valid medical exemption.

Your 10-day isolation period may consist of five days of isolation and five days of restricted activity consisting of rigorous mask use and minimizing interactions with others, as long as on day five you no longer have a fever and your symptoms are improving.

It’s not uncommon for 24 to 48 hours to have those reactogenic symptoms — soreness at the site of infection, a sense of fever, muscle aches, possibly a headache.

Whatever reactogenic symptoms you had with your previous shot, you’ll likely get something of a similar order of magnitude with your booster shot, as well.

Certainly, on a population basis, those reactogenic symptoms have not been any worse with the third shots compared to the first two shots. Importantly, there has been no increase in safety signals of concern from booster shots.