(HealthDay News) — The bivalent COVID-19 vaccines seem to provide protection against symptomatic infection with BA.5 and XBB/XBB.1.5 SARS-CoV-2 variants, according to research published in the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
Researchers analyzed data from the Increasing Community Access to Testing national pharmacy program to estimate the effectiveness of the bivalent mRNA COVID-19 vaccines against symptomatic infection caused by BA.5-related and XBB/XBB.1.5-related sublineages among adults from December 1, 2022, to January 13, 2023.
A total of 29,175 nucleic acid amplification tests were included from adults who had previously received 2 to 4 monovalent COVID-19 vaccine doses.
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The researchers found that, for adults aged 18 to 49 years, the relative effectiveness of a bivalent booster given 2 to 3 months earlier was 52% against symptomatic BA.5 infection and 48% against symptomatic XBB/XBB.1.5 infection, compared with no bivalent booster.
“All persons should stay up to date with recommended COVID-19 vaccines, including receiving a bivalent booster dose when eligible,” the researchers wrote.
