COVID-19 Booster Shots Might Be Available This Fall

To help our members plan ahead for vaccination drives for their staff and individuals supported, we share this Axios article:

“The first Americans to be vaccinated against the coronavirus could require a third ‘booster’ shot as early as September, the CEOs of Pfizer and Moderna told Axios.

Driving the news: ‘The data that I see coming, they are supporting the notion that likely there will be a need for a booster somewhere between eight and 12 months,’ Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said yesterday during an Axios event.

That means some Americans could need a booster as soon as September or October, he added.

State of play: Only time will tell how long protection from the first two vaccine doses will last, but there’s no evidence yet that it’s fading. Even if protection does begin to fade — which is common among vaccines — it won’t happen overnight.

• And as the virus continues to spread around the world, it’s possible that vaccine-resistant variants could eventually emerge. (The existing vaccines are highly effective against the variants currently circulating in the U.S.)

[…]

The bottom line: Even if you received your first shot in December, you don’t need to worry that you’ll wake up tomorrow having lost all of your immunity.

• ‘Personally, if I was in that situation, I wouldn’t be worrying about it — not yet. But I would want to see that data later in the year,’ Moore said.
• The decline in protection would be gradual, and researchers around the world are gathering data on the subject through clinical trials and real-world evidence.”

Related read: We encourage our members to also read this Kaiser Family Foundation article, How Employer Actions Could Facilitate Equity in COVID-19 Vaccinations.