Studies: Dramatic drop in COVID Pfizer vax after 2 months

Researchers have also found lockdown policies had a dramatic drop in other vaccinations

Two studies are now showing that the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine loses protection levels after just two months.

UPI.com reported:

In one study, Israeli researchers found that antibody levels among 4,800 health care workers fell rapidly within months after two doses of the Pfizer vaccine, "especially among men, among persons 65 years of age or older, and among persons with immunosuppression."

That study also found that that immunity lasts longer in people who are vaccinated after natural COVID-19 infection.

The UPI.com report also cited a second study from Qatar that showed "protection against infection builds rapidly after the first dose, peaks in the first month after the second dose, and then gradually wanes in subsequent months.”

According to the researchers behind the Qatar study, "The waning appears to accelerate after the fourth month, to reach a low level of approximately 20% in subsequent months.”

It was also noted by those same researchers that the vaccine appears to provide protection against hospitalization and death at a rate of over 90%.

An Oct. 7 report by MedicalXpress says that “Stringent lockdown measures imposed in the spring of 2020 led to a dramatic drop in vaccinations among both children and adults, according to a new study led by Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP).”

The study, which has been published in the American Journal of Public Health, looked mainly at data from Michigan. The results, according to MedicalXpress, indicated a “decrease in sites providing pediatric vaccinations, particularly those dedicated to caring for more vulnerable populations, like Medicaid-insured children.”

The topline takeaway from the study was an overall “dramatic decreases” between 2019 and 2020 in doses and vaccinations of children and adults.

Key details of the study via MedicalXpress:

The researchers analyzed data from the Michigan Care Improvement Registry (MCIR), the state's immunization information system (IIS), from 2018 to September 2020. They compared monthly dose administrations from January to September 2020 with an average of the doses administered from January to September in 2018 and 2019 to account for seasonal fluctuations. The research team also compared vaccinations among children aged 19 to 35 months on September 30, 2020 and September 30, 2019, as point estimates.

[…]

In all age groups, the greatest decreases occurred in April 2020. Adolescents saw the greatest drop, with an 85.6% decrease in vaccinations, followed by an 82.7% decrease in children ages 2 through 8. Adults also saw an 82.2% decrease in vaccination that month, while children younger than 2 years of age saw the smallest change, with a 34.9% decrease.

The number of sites reporting vaccinations in children ages 0 to 18 decreased in the early months of the pandemic and remained below 2018 levels by the end of the study period. The number of patients vaccinated through the Vaccines for Children (VFC) program, a federal safety net that seeks to ensure all children have access to vaccines without financial barriers, also decreased.