Bivalent COVID vaccines: how they're stacking up against omicron

Bivalent COVID vaccines have now been in use for a few months—here's how they're stacking up against omicron Vaccines have played a major role in mitigating the harms of the COVID pandemic since their rollout began just over two years ago. They're estimated to have saved tens of millions of lives across the ... Neil Mabbott

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A large study from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention looked at adults with symptomatic COVID between September and November 2022. It found that use of a bivalent booster targeting the original virus plus the omicron BA.4/BA.5 variant provided additional protection against symptomatic infection compared with a monovalent booster targeting just the original strain.

Other US studies have shown the risk of hospitalization was reduced by at least 38% in people who received a bivalent booster compared to those who had received two or more doses of the original vaccines. In adults over 65 the additional protection was as high as 73%.

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