I have to acknowledge that the United States is the most courageous country, the first in the world to admit that the effectiveness of vaccines will decline.
It took less than a week from the initial trend of taking a third dose to the White House's press conference yesterday, suggesting that the current strong rebound of the epidemic in the United States has forced the officials to quickly advance the injection of a third dose. At present, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have not officially announced the shot of a third dose, but the various departments, under the leadership of Biden, will cooperate closely. There are reasons to believe that the official announcement on a third dose made by the FDA and CDC will come soon.
Holding the conference on the vaccination of a third dose in the United States is a double-edged sword. People who are willing to be vaccinated will be better protected, but those who are unwilling to be vaccinated will be more reluctant to do so. The current shortcomings of group vaccination in the United States still lie in the unwillingness of conservatives to vaccinate. The conservatives suspect that the government is conspiring to implant the chip into the human body. The more things the government encourages, the more people must oppose it. This phenomenon is particularly noticeable in the United States. But there are countless pieces of empirical evidence showing that even if people have received two doses, they still have a high risk of contracting the disease when exposing to the unvaccinated. For the safety of the people who are willing to get the vaccination, a third dose must be introduced now.
Four politicians and experts, one of whom was Fauci, were invited to the conference. Although Fauci owns Biden's strong support, the Biden government will deliberately downplay his personal style. Regarding Fauci, there are many controversies. The core reason is that some of Fauci's remarks are inconsistent—for example, his attitude about wearing masks. However, the problem is not with Fauci, but with human beings.
Human beings have always advocated a certain spirit for thousands of years. From the previous "god" to the current "science," the spirit has always been based on something abstract. But the essence of "science" lies in its daring to admit its mistakes and then correct them. Newton's three laws corrected the geocentric theory and heliocentric theory, while Einstein's theory of relativity corrected Newton's three laws. As the spokesperson of "science," it is impossible for Fauci to avoid making mistakes. Any scientist in the world will make mistakes, especially that we knew nothing about COVID-19 when it broke out. But Fauci can correct his mistakes, proving that he is a qualified scientist. Unfortunately, mankind always expects an omnipotent person to lead the world.
Let's go back to the conference itself – a third dose of vaccination. My reviews made on August 9 have been attached to the document of the conference held yesterday.
In addition, the document also summarizes different studies on the decline of vaccine effectiveness. From the point of view of infection, the protective effect of the mRNA vaccine attenuates significantly after 3 to 6 months (Figure 1); from the point of view of hospitalized serious illness, the effectiveness of mRNA vaccine is not bad after 3-6 months (Figure 2).
Regarding the Delta variants, the document cited relatively few studies, but confirmed two points: (1) The effectiveness of the vaccine against the Delta variants has dropped significantly, with a study showing a decrease from 92% to 64%; (2) Higher levels of antibody may be more effective for Delta variants.
To sum up, why do we have to get a third dose of the COVID-19 vaccine? Primarily, the antibody levels will naturally decrease. Then, the vaccine does not work well for the Delta variants.
Through this conference, we also need to recognize the following points:
1. Regardless of the technology of the vaccine itself, the antibody levels in the human body will always naturally decline. This may be a defect in human genes. Not only the coronavirus antibody, but the flu antibody levels will naturally decrease in our body. No one flu vaccine can be used once and for all, though it has been developed for so long. The same situation can happen to coronavirus vaccines, too.
2. The current vaccine is not developed for the Delta variants, so its effectiveness attenuates. Pharmaceutical companies are likely to open a vaccine specifically targeted at the Delta variants, which can be combined with the original vaccine ingredients to become a "two-valent coronavirus vaccine," but it will take time.
3. No vaccine can be taken once and for all, so a good vaccine is the one with a higher antibody level. Both mRNA and inactivated vaccines have the issue of antibody effectiveness attenuation, which means that there will also be a third and fourth injection. However, the key for human beings to coexist with the virus lies in how to develop a vaccine with a longer duration of injection.
In a word, two doses within a year will be the norm.