Covid booster is 88 percent effective against Omicron hospital treatment.

People Receiving Covid Vaccine which is 88% Effective

According to recent statistics from the UK Health Security Agency, a booster vaccine is 88 percent effective in preventing people from being hospitalized with Covid-19.

The current research reveals that two doses of the Omicron vaccines from AstraZeneca, Pfizer, or Moderna provide minimal protection against infection.

But protection against severe disease appears to be holding up much better against the new variant.

Health officials said this reinforces the importance of getting a third dose.

The health secretary Sajid Javid said: "This is more promising data which reinforces just how important vaccines are. They save lives and prevent serious illness.

"This analysis shows you are up to eight times more likely to end up in hospital as a result of Covid-19 if you are unvaccinated."

The UKHSA analysed more than 600,000 confirmed and suspected cases of the Omicron variant up to 29 December in England.

It found that a single vaccine dose reduced the risk of needing hospital treatment by 52%. Adding the second dose increased the protection to 72%, although after 25 weeks that protection had faded to 52%.

And two weeks after getting a third dose, that protection against hospitalisation was boosted to 88%.

The UKHSA report said there was not enough data yet to work out how long this protection would last but it is expected to last longer than protection against developing symptoms.

In people who already had symptoms, protection after each dose was slightly lower and reduced to 68% after a booster compared to unvaccinated people.