What to Know About a Fourth COVID-19 Vaccine Dose

Most people ages 12 and older are considered “up to date” with their COVID-19 vaccines if they received either three doses of the mRNA shots from Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna, or two doses of Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen vaccine. But some public health experts say another dose might be needed in the coming months. The Washington Post reports today that Pfizer and BioNTech soon plan to request authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for a fourth dose of their vaccine in people ages 65 and older. In the past few days, Albert Bourla, Pfizer’s CEO, has said that he believes everyone will one day need a fourth dose in order to help prevent infections (a move that would have obvious benefits for the company’s bottom line.) [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] In order to authorize a fourth shot, the FDA will consider troubling signs that the immunity provided by the vaccines is starting to wane, which could make people more vulnerable to COVID-19’s more severe effects. Recent data published by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) show that protection against hospitalization for COVID-19 waned even after a booster dose of either the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccines. From Aug. 2021 to Jan. 2022—a time span that includes waves of both Delta and Omicron variants—the booster was 91% effective at protecting against hospitalization in the first two months after people received it, but d...
Source: TIME: Health - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Uncategorized COVID-19 healthscienceclimate Source Type: news