Topline
Poor booster shot uptake has left millions of Americans dangerously vulnerable to the coronavirus variants now tearing across the country, as officials push vaccine makers to update their vaccines to counter the most evasive omicron variants, BA.4 and BA.5.
A Covid-19 vaccine is prepared for administration at Union Station in Los Angeles, California on … [+]
Key Facts
The CDC recommends that everyone ages 5 years and up get a booster dose if they are able in order to be considered “up to date” with their shots.
Most people should wait at least five months after finishing their initial round of shots to get boosted, the agency said, though those who received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine or have weakened immune systems are advised to do so sooner, respectively from two and three months of the primary series.
The agency recommends all adults ages 50 years and older, as well as those ages 12 years and older with compromised immune systems, get a second booster shot at least four months after the first one.
In late June, the FDA advised manufacturers to develop modified vaccines that also target the BA.4 and BA.5 omicron variants for an anticipated booster campaign in fall amid growing evidence they can evade immunity from previous shots and infections.
With the rise of BA.4 and BA.5 variants, high-risk people—particularly those ages 65 and over or are living with health conditions that increase the odds of serious illness—should not wait until revised boosters are available to get their next shot, experts told Forbes.
If you’re high-risk, “get your booster ASAP,” Dr. John Swartzberg, an infectious disease expert at the University of California at Berkeley, told Forbes, or else “you leave yourself vulnerable” at a time when there is a lot of virus circulating.
What To Watch For
Expanding eligibility. Unless immunocompromised, people 50 and under are not yet recommended (or able) to get a second booster dose, but even without one research shows vaccination still provides strong protection against serious illness and death. Perlman said he is sure eligibility will be expanded in the fall and did not see any issue with the present recommendation. Swartzberg stressed that having the first booster is still important, particularly with “so much virus circulating now.” Dr. Albert Shaw, a professor of medicine and infectious disease specialist at Yale University, told Forbes everyone should “get the booster shot you are eligible for—the first or the second.” Even younger individuals at low risk of serious illness benefit because of the “unpredictable nature of who will suffer from Long Covid,” Shaw said. Estimates on the prevalence of Long Covid, persistent or even novel symptoms after infection, vary wildly, though it is as many as one in five, according to the CDC.
Key Background
Over time, it became clear that vaccine protection against infection waned rapidly, sometimes within weeks of getting the second or third dose. But vaccines do seem to provide reliable protection against serious illness, hospitalization and death—which experts and officials widely believe to be the main purpose of vaccination. Though officials stress the importance of getting booster shots to maintain protection against severe disease, uptake among eligible Americans has been poor. The shots, as with the initial round of Covid vaccines, are free and available at various providers and pharmacies across the country. Just over half of fully vaccinated adults have had their first booster dose by the start of July, according to CDC data. This is much lower in some areas, such as North Carolina, where only 30% of adults have been boosted. Just 27% of boosted people ages 50 and over have had their second booster. Swartzberg said the number of people getting their booster shots is “disappointingly low,” adding that people are “not well protected without them.”
Tangent
Vaccine makers like Pfizer, BioNTech and Moderna have been working for months to retool formulas to tackle the omicron coronavirus variant. The updated shots target both the original coronavirus strain, which will stay in use for the primary vaccination round, and the original omicron, BA.1, which differs from the omicron variants in circulation now. The vast majority of cases are now made up of omicron BA.2.12.1, BA.4 and BA.5. The latter two are collectively dominant in the U.S. and account for more than half of cases.
Further Reading
We Cannot ‘Boost Our Way Out’ Of The Covid Pandemic, Experts Warn (Forbes)
Fast-evolving COVID variants complicate vaccine updates (Nature)
This Fall Will Be a Vaccination Reboot (The Atlantic)
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