A booster shot of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine provides strong protection, at least initially, against COVID-19 hospitalization, though the effect against the Omicron virus variant is lower than that seen when the Delta strain was prevalent, according to a new study. Researchers in Qatar estimated the booster was 76.5 percent effective against severe, critical, or fatal COVID-19 caused by the Omicron variant, when compared to the protection offered by the two-dose primary series. The effectiveness was measured relatively soon after administration, with a median followup time of 22 days in the booster cohort and 21 days in the nonboosted group with which it was compared. “Having a booster recently is very protective against COVID-19 hospitalization and death due to Omicron,” Dr. Laith Abu-Raddad, one of the researchers, told The Epoch Times in an email. The study was published by the New England Journal of Medicine following peer review. The study team …