If you are infected with the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2, even two doses of the vaccine won’t do anything to help you out.

A new study published in the open-access journal PLOS Medicine by Mie Agermose Gram and colleagues from the Statens Serum Institut in Copenhagen, Denmark, says that a 3rd COVID-19 vaccine shot increased the level and period of protection against Omicron infection and hospitalization.

The emergence of new SARS-CoV-2 variants could make vaccines less effective over time, making it more likely that people will get infections and go to the hospital.

However, data confirming the effectiveness of three doses over time is limited.

To determine the efficacy of two or three vaccine doses against COVID-19 infection and hospitalization, researchers accessed individual-level data from the Danish Civil Registration System and Danish Vaccination Registry to conduct a nationwide cohort study of all previously uninfected Danish residents aged 12 and older.

After correcting for age, sex, region, and comorbidities, the researchers evaluated vaccine effectiveness using vaccination status as a time-varying exposure, before comparing infection and hospitalization rates to uninfected people.

The researchers discovered that a third shot of the vaccine offered more protection than two doses against infection and hospitalization caused by the Omicron strain, as well as less evidence of fading protection.

More research is needed to find out how long a third vaccine dose lasts after 120 days and to figure out if you need more boosters.

The non-randomized nature of the data meant that there could be unmeasured differences between the vaccinated and unvaccinated groups.

The results, according to the authors, suggest “a third dose is necessary to maintain protection against infection for a longer time and to ensure a high level of protection against COVID-19 hospitalization with the Omicron variant. 

“Continued emergence of new variants and waning vaccine durability require ongoing evaluation of vaccine effectiveness against infection and hospitalization to inform future vaccination strategies.

 “Despite being less effective against infection with Omicron than previous variants, a third mRNA COVID-19 vaccine dose offers better protection against Omicron infection than two doses and protects well against COVID-19 hospitalization.”

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