Do I Need a Covid-19 Vaccine Booster Shot?
Studies are under way exploring whether we will need to take booster shots to stay protected against Covid-19, and drugmakers are working on the shots. Here is what we know and dont know about the need for boosters. You probably will need a booster shot, though the matter is still under study. Though some vaccines, such as the one for measles, offer lifelong protection against a virus, other shots dont. The vaccine for tetanus and diphtheria requires a booster every 10 years, for instance, and women are supposed to get the whooping-cough vaccine each time they are pregnant, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Preventions vaccine recommendations. Many researchers suspect the immunity provided by Covid-19 vaccines will wane over time. They have that expectation partly because the natural immunity people develop against milder coronaviruses declines. Historically, at least with the coronaviruses, the mild common cold coronaviruses, the durability of the protection from infection isnt very long, Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, said at The Wall Street Journals Tech Health conference in June. Another reason researchers say we will probably need a booster shot is to protect against any emerging coronavirus variants that are able to evade current vaccines. It may be every year, 18 months or even two years. It could be a different time frame. We really dont know yet. Whether and how often we would need to get a booster shot is under study right now. Remember, the Covid-19 vaccines havent been around long, so not much time has passed to assess how long their protection lasts. In April, Pfizer Inc. released data indicating its vaccine remained effective six months after the second dose. Researchers can sort out how often we would need to get a booster shot after figuring how long the vaccines provide their fullest protection against Covid-19. That is under study right now. In June, NIAID, which is part of the National Institutes of Health, started a study looking at whether mixing and matching vaccines and boosters could prolong immunity and better protect against variants. One thing the study will explore is the best combination of shots. It may be that getting a vaccine from one manufacturer and a booster from another might actually produce stronger protection, researchers say. The ability to mix-and-match might also simplify the logistics of giving people boosters.