A local doctor who was chosen to help the Biden team transition into the fight against the coronavirus expects the COVID-19 vaccine to be given yearly, like the flu shot.
Dr. Robert Rodriguez is a UCSF professor of emergency medicine who works in the emergency room and intensive care unit at San Francisco General Hospital, and as experts break down the efficacy of one vaccine versus another, one thing is becoming clear to him.
“It’s looking more and more like we may be in a situation where we’re giving yearly COVID-19 vaccines just like we do influenza vaccines,” he told KCBS Radio.
That’s because, as new vaccines have varying rates of efficacy, new strains have been popping up.
The most troubling one, out of South Africa, may not be as easily stopped by the vaccines the U.S. has now.
It’s all the more reason, Dr. Rodriguez said, that if people have a chance to get a vaccine, they should not pass it by.
“The more people that get vaccinated the less virus there is around to mutate,” he noted. “So, it’s a sheer statistical issue.”
Still, with several strains already and the slow vaccine rollout, he said he believes Americans will be getting those annual shots alongside flu shots.
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