PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The FDA has authorized a second COVID-19 booster shot for Americans over the age of 50, saying they should receive it four months after their last vaccine.
Penn Perelman School of Medicine Institute for Immunology Director Dr. John Wherry said the second booster can come in handy for certain groups of people, based on their age and health.
"In people over 65, it does look like your protection from severe disease starts to wane between four to six months,” said Wherry.
“For younger, otherwise healthy individuals, we are seeing the protection from severe disease does last out longer than that, and we are seeing the immune responses sort of settle in and look pretty good, almost out to a year."
He said we will have a better idea of when an extra boost of antibodies is needed when we see new peaks of the virus.
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"We can't do any real harm by boosting too often, but we may not get as much benefit,” said Wherry.
“We're not going to get as great of a boosting effect if you boost every two months. Your immune system just hasn't had enough rest, and there's really no need to do that."
He said a lot of people will be getting four shots anyway.
Specifically, he added that the fourth booster can be valuable to people whose environment has a lot of positive infections and if people are at a higher risk or are immunocompromised.
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He guessed that like other vaccines, the COVID-19 vaccine may be a regularly-administered shot in the future.
"You don't stay in marathon running shape by sitting on the couch, eating potato chips. We don't keep our brain fit and active by watching cartoons all day,” said Wherry.
“What we do, is we have to do some active maintenance. So I think what we're probably going to see, is we have to keep our immune system trained."
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As for Tuesday's announcement from the FDA which was backed by the CDC, several outlets are reporting the decision was made without it going through the vaccine advisory board, as past decisions about the vaccine and boosters had.
That's raising some questions for what age group specifically could benefit from the extra dose.
"There's some data driving the decision for the over-65 and immunocompromised,” Wherry said. “But I think that's where some of the scientific community is saying ‘Where's the data for over 50?’"
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