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Are the new boosters that target omicron better than the previous shots?

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

President Biden has an extra COVID shot. He rolled up his sleeve yesterday for the latest booster.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: Now is the time to do it - by Halloween, if you can. That's the best time. And that way you can be protected for the holidays.

FADEL: Some research questions, though, whether the new bivalent boosters that target omicron are any better than the old shots.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Researchers at Columbia and Harvard University studied that. Here's Dr. David Ho at Columbia.

DAVID HO: To our disappointment, the bivalent vaccine did not show superiority over the original vaccine.

INSKEEP: His team found that about a month after getting the shot, people did not have significantly higher levels of antibodies to neutralize the dominant omicron subvariants.

FADEL: But Deepta Bhattacharya at the University of Arizona considers the new studies too small and too short for firm conclusions.

DEEPTA BHATTACHARYA: For those who are saying see, see, I told you so, I would say, let's stand down a little bit and wait for some cleaner data to come out because these studies can't be used to support really one argument or another.

INSKEEP: Dr. John Wherry at the University of Pennsylvania is also saying to wait.

JOHN WHERRY: It's a little bit of a - sort of a reality check or a reset that the bivalent vaccines are not a magic bullet. They're not going to give us, you know, perfect protection from these new omicron variants that are circulating.

FADEL: Only about 20 million people have stepped up to receive a new booster, even though more than 10 times that number - over 200 million people - have been eligible since Labor Day.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

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SOMOS CONNECTICUT es una iniciativa de Connecticut Public, la emisora local de NPR y PBS del estado, que busca elevar nuestras historias latinas y expandir programación que alza y informa nuestras comunidades latinas locales. Visita CTPublic.org/latino para más reportajes y recursos. Para noticias, suscríbase a nuestro boletín informativo en ctpublic.org/newsletters.

The independent journalism and non-commercial programming you rely on every day is in danger.

If you’re reading this, you believe in trusted journalism and in learning without paywalls. You value access to educational content kids love and enriching cultural programming.

Now all of that is at risk.

Federal funding for public media is under threat and if it goes, the impact to our communities will be devastating.

Together, we can defend it. It’s time to protect what matters.

Your voice has protected public media before. Now, it’s needed again. Learn how you can protect the news and programming you depend on.