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A Singapore study of more than 700,000 people has found that any messenger ribonucleic acid booster jab would work better at reducing infections and severe disease than not receiving a booster at all.
- A Singapore study has found that any mRNA booster would work better at reducing infections and severe disease than not receiving a booster at all
- For those who had two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech jab, a Moderna booster reduced the risk of infection more than another Pfizer dose
- As for those who got two Moderna jabs, the study was inconclusive on which vaccine booster would lower the risk of severe infection to a larger extent
- Data from more than 700,000 people in Singapore was used in the study
Published February 12, 2022
Updated February 12, 2022
SINGAPORE — Getting boosted with a different brand of messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) vaccine has been linked to lower Covid-19 infection rates than if one received the same jab as their first two doses, a Singapore study of more than 700,000 people has found.
The study, published in the peer-reviewed Journal of the American Medical Association on Friday (Feb 11), also found that for those who got two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech shot in particular, getting a Moderna booster jab meant a lower likelihood of infection.
Among persons who received the Pfizer-BioNTech shot for their primary series of jabs, the incidence of confirmed infections is 227.9 per million person-days if they had taken a Pfizer-BioNTech booster, and 147.9 per million person-days for those who got Moderna as their third dose.
In epidemiology, the number of incidents per million person-days is a way for researchers to measure risk while taking into account time and sample size. A smaller number indicates a lower risk of infection.
Still, one finding was clear: Getting any brand of an mRNA vaccine as a booster shot would work better at reducing infections and severe disease than not receiving a booster jab at all.
Yet, despite the large number of samples studied, researchers could not conclude whether getting two doses of the Moderna shot would lead to more or fewer instances of severe infections if the booster shot was from Pfizer-BioNTech.
The research found that Covid-19 boosters lowered the incidence of infection, no matter which brand they were. BNT162b2 refers to the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, while mRNA-1273 is the Moderna vaccine.
Here’s what the study’s findings showed:
- Three doses of Pfizer-BioNTech’s vaccine give 73 per cent more protection than two doses of Pfizer-BioNTech
- Pfizer-Pfizer-Moderna gives 82 per cent more protection than two doses of Pfizer
- Three doses of Moderna gives 80 per cent more protection than two doses of Moderna
- Moderna-Moderna-Pfizer gives 86 per cent more protection than two doses of Moderna
The study looked at data from September to October 2021, during the emergence of the Omicron variant in other parts of the world. Singapore recorded its first cases of the highly infectious coronavirus strain in early December last year.
Seven Singapore researchers, including Professor Wang Lin-Fa from Duke-NUS Medical School and the director of the Ministry of Health’s (MOH) policy, research and evaluation division Kelvin Tan, authored the study.
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With the study now peer-reviewed, Dr Cook said that the findings published on Friday showed a few things.
“First, that receipt of a booster is protective against both diagnosed infections and severe disease, and this holds regardless of which of the mRNA vaccines you had for the primary series and for the booster,” he said.
Second, the improvement in protection is “not very different” between the brands of booster jabs used. That said, mixing a Moderna booster after two doses of Pfizer-BioNTech had led to a lower risk of confirmed infection, added Dr Cook.
Dr David Lye from the National Centre for Infectious Diseases (NCID), a co-author of the study, summed it up on Facebook: “Moderna booster protected from infection better than Pfizer booster for Pfizer-vaccinated.
“With Omicron surge, get boosted. Healthcare workers in primary care, emergency and hospitals will thank you,” wrote Dr Lye, who is also a member of the expert committee on Covid-19 vaccination.
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