Thailand Ministry of Health reports 19,982 new COVID-19 cases and an additional 101 deaths since yesterday. The ministry also announced an additional 28,057 patients recovered from the COVID-19 virus.
The government urges the public to obtain their booster shots as the 2+1 formula is proven to be effective against COVID. The Department of Medical Sciences (DoMS) said that this formula is particularly good against the BA.2 sub-lineage.
A study was conducted on volunteers from Siriraj Hospital who monitored the immune response to BA.1 and BA.2 variants. DoMS director-general Supakit Sirilak only 70% of the total vaccines distributed were including a second dose or a booster.
They also expect that in the next coming weeks, BA.2 will become the dominant strain as BA.1 is not as contagious. Delta has now disappeared from the daily cases.
Dr. Supakit said the two-week study revealed double doses plus a booster shot of most mix-and-match formulas provided more effective immunity against BA.2 than BA.1. The findings confirmed that BA.2 cannot evade an immune response after a full vaccination and a booster shot. This should allay many people’s earlier fears, according to the director-general.
A booster is given as part of the mix-and-match vaccine format — such as two doses of Sinovac plus an AstraZeneca booster shot — has proven to deliver a sustained immunity at high levels, even three months after having received the booster shot. Dr Supakit said the immunity increase from two AstraZeneca doses plus a Pfizer booster shot was being studied.
According to research, double doses reduce fatalities up to fivefold while a double dose with a booster shot can achieve 31 times greater protection.