Boosters What makes them more effective than the first two jabs?
The Guardian Weekly|December 17, 2021
Only recently, the rollout of boosters to older age groups was seen as contentious. Now they’re the single biggest focus. So why do boosters help so significantly compared with first and second jabs, and are we on a conveyor belt towards needing an ever-increasing number of top-ups?
Hannah Devlin
Boosters What makes them more effective than the first two jabs?

Even before Omicron, it was clear boosters would be required to maintain the levels of protection against infection, although protection against severe illness appeared to be holding up well.

Vaccines prompt the body to make neutralising antibodies that intercept Covid before the virus infects our cells, but circulating antibodies can wane over time. Data from Israel, one of the first countries to vaccinate its population, showed a drop-off in protection against infection after only three months. It revealed that people were about 15 times more likely to be infected six months after their second dose compared with a few weeks after it.

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The Guardian Weekly

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The Guardian Weekly

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A roundup of the best recent science fiction, fantasy and horror

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The Guardian Weekly

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The Nobel prize winner explores the moment of death and beyond in a probing tale of a fisher living in near solitude

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The Guardian Weekly

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The Guardian Weekly

Glad rags to riches

Sarcastic, self-aware and surprisingly sad, the first volume of Cher's extraordinary memoir mixes hard times with the high life

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Sail of the century
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Anenigmatic nautical radio bulletin first broadcast 100 years ago, the Shipping Forecast has beguiled and inspired poets, pop stars and listeners worldwide

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The Guardian Weekly

How does it feel?

A Complete Unknown retells Bob Dylan's explosive rise, but it als resonates with today's toxic fame and politics. The creative team expl their process-and wha the singer made of it all

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The Guardian Weekly

Jane Austen's enduring legacy lies in her relevance as a foil for modern mores

For some, it will be enough merely to re-read Persuasion, and thence to cry yet again at Captain Wentworth's declaration of utmost love for Anne Elliot.

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