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Booster10/30/2023 If new variants of concern emerge in the coming months, boosters may be modified to cover them. Current boosters may not cover future variants.It may be better to wait on boosters if most people are still well-protected by their initial vaccinations. While studies published to date suggest that boosters are safe, we don't yet have long-term data. The risks of waiting too long are obvious: as immunity wanes, the rates of infection, serious illness, and death may begin to rise.īut there are downsides to providing boosters too early: Ideally, vaccine boosters are given no sooner than necessary, but well before widespread protective immunity declines. Getting the timing and dose right on vaccine boosters For them, the extra dose is not a booster it's considered part of their initial immunization series. This includes people who have HIV and those receiving treatment for cancer that suppresses the immune system. In August 2021, the FDA approved a third dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine for people who are immunocompromised. It's not trick wording: not all extra vaccine doses are boosters. Is there a difference between a booster dose and a third shot? The administration emphasizes that starting a booster program in the US and helping other countries get their citizens vaccinated are not mutually exclusive. Meanwhile, the Biden administration has announced a promise to donate another half billion vaccines to countries with low vaccination rates, bringing the total US commitment to donate 1.1 billion doses. That's why the World Health Organization (WHO) called for a moratorium on booster doses. That goes for people in the US who have been unable or unwilling to get the vaccine, and people in places throughout the world with limited access to vaccines.īroadening the pool of people with initial vaccinations would not only save more lives than promoting boosters, but would also reduce COVID-related healthcare disparities between richer and poorer countries. I'll discuss these recommendations in a moment.īut first, it's important not to overlook this fact: vaccinating the unvaccinated should be a much bigger priority than giving booster shots to those who've received vaccines. In the US, the CDC and FDA have reviewed the necessity, safety, and effectiveness of boosters for the Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna, and Johnson and Johnson vaccines. And we've known from the start that the strong protection they provide would likely wane over time.īut has protection declined enough to warrant booster shots? Studies published in the last few months by researchers in the UK, Israel, and the US (reviewed here and here) raised this possibility, and Israel and the UK have already started ambitious booster programs. Fortunately, the vaccines authorized in the US have proven remarkably safe and effective. Vaccination against the virus that causes COVID-19 is the most important lifesaving tool we have in this pandemic.
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