Licensed vocational nurse Denise Saldana vaccinates Pri DeSilva, associate director of Individual and Corporate Giving, ...
...with a fourth Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine booster at the Dr. Kenneth Williams Health Center in Los Angeles, Nov. 1, 2022.
Licensed vocational nurse Denise Saldana vaccinates Pri DeSilva, associate director of Individual and Corporate Giving, ...
...with a fourth Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine booster at the Dr. Kenneth Williams Health Center in Los Angeles, Nov. 1, 2022.
Currently, people who want to be fully vaccinated against COVID have to first get their primary vaccinations — two shots of the original vaccine spaced weeks apart.
Under the new approach, most people would be advised to simply get whatever the latest version of the vaccine is annually each fall like the flu vaccine.
They wouldn’t have to worry about how many shots they’ve already gotten and which one they got when.
Some immunologists and vaccine researchers say simplifying the process along the lines of the flu vaccine is appropriate at this point in the pandemic. However, many questions remain about emerging booster strategy.
Questions about efficacy of updated shots
Some researchers question whether that really makes the vaccines more effective. Offit and others also question ...
...whether everyone will necessarily need to be boosted regularly, or just those at high risk, like the elderly.
Another concern some researchers have is that the FDA continues to rely on antibody levels to test vaccine efficacy.
Arguments for alternate vaccine strategies
Others say updating the vaccines make sense to make sure people are as well-protected as possible while researchers continue to try to develop new vaccines.
FDA looks ahead to endemic COVID
Some researchers think it’s too soon to rely on annual boosters. That doesn’t mean it’s going away or it’s not a threat anymore. ...
...And while that immunity appears to protect most people from severe disease, that protection does appear to fade with time.
That way people wouldn’t have to worry which brand they’re getting. Again, the change is aimed at making COVID shots more like the flu shots.
And the FDA advisers would meet again in the spring to pick the specific strain or strains of the virus the new shots should target.