Maryland Pushes Boosters As Pfizer Says They're Effective Protection Against Omicron; State Has Not Released New Case Data Due To Cyberattack

BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- Pfizer says three shots are better than two when it comes to fighting the omicron covid variant and that "a booster shot neutralized omicron in lab tests."

It provided 25 times more protection than just two doses which "may not be sufficient to protect against infection."

"With two doses, you still have protection against severe disease but the drop in antibodies is substantial," said Dr. MIkael Dolsten, Pfizer's Chief Science Officer.

Dr. Mike Ryan, the World Health Organization's emergencies director, stressed on Wednesday that there was no indication yet that the vaccines would prove less effective at preventing serious illness with Omicron than with previous variants.

"We have highly effective vaccines that have proved effective against all the variants so far, in terms of severe disease and hospitalization," he told the French news agency AFP. "And there's no reason to expect that it wouldn't be so" for Omicron.

Ryan also pointed to early, real-world information coming from South Africa, which suggests that while Omicron is extremely contagious, it does not appear to make people any sicker than Delta or other strains: "If anything, the direction is towards less severity."

In Maryland, Governor Larry Hogan tweeted a "thank you" to people for getting their boosters.

More than 26,773 Marylanders have received their booster shots in the past 24 hours alone.

"Boosters are the most important thing you can do if you've been vaccinated to protect yourself," Maryland Health Secretary Dennis Schrader told WJZ.

Right now, we do not know how fast cases are spreading in Maryland because of a cyberattack on the Department of Health. Most numbers have not been updated in days.

Baltimore City noted on its covid dashboard, data has not been updated since last Friday.

The exception is hospitalizations. 925 people are currently in the hospital statewide. That is the highest number since May.

In:
• COVID-19
• Omicron Variant
• Vaccines
• Baltimore City