The White House may recommend additional COVID-19 booster shots for already vaccinated people, according to The New York Times.
The Biden administration is expected to announce guidance that vaccinated Americans should seek third shots eight months after completion of an initial vaccination course. Boosters may be offered as early as the third week of Sept., The Times’ sources said.
Dr. Gregory A. Poland, director of the Vaccine Research Group at the Mayo Clinic, told KNX “the jury is still out” as to whether Californians will need a third shot. He said later phase data will indicate whether there is a need for boosters nationwide.
“Remember that just more antibody in and of itself doesn’t mean better protection,” he said. He added that wide scale administration of booster shots will ultimately depend on FDA and CDC approval of use of a vaccine as a booster—whether it is simply an “additional dose,” a booster dose, otherwise known as a “late booster” or a new variant vaccine that would be deployed as a booster, also known as a “variant specific booster.”
Poland told KNX that while he understands why the White House is preparing to issue guidance on a possible COVID-19 booster, predicting overall need is difficult due to the chaotic and unprecedented nature of the disease’s spread.
“We’re flying this airplane while we’re building it,” he said. “But in my opinion, we’re not there yet.”
Still, Poland speculated that the possibility of not just one booster, but multiple boosters down the road, is very real.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen a year from now or a week from now, but it is very likely we will continue to see the emergence of variants,” he said. “If we’re lucky, this will eventually become more flu-like, in which case, we periodically—whether that’ll be every year or every two years—have to vaccinate.”