Dr. Anthony Fauci said over the weekend that people may need a COVID-19 booster shot within the next year, but it’s something to watch.
Fauci talks about third COVID-19 shot
Fauci spoke with MSNBC’s Mehdi Hasan about the efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccine and how long immunity lasts. Last week, Pfizer said its COVID-19 vaccine will last for at least six months, according to The Hill.
- “We need to be careful about that six month number,” Fauci said. “We know for sure it’s effective for six months and highly likely that it will be effective for considerably longer period of time.”
- Fauci said people who get the vaccine need to be “followed closely enough to determine when that level of efficacy and when, or if, the protection diminishes.”
- “So the good news is that it’s at least six months,” Fauci said. “Hopefully a lot more. But in direct answer to your question, if it turns out a year or a year and a half, we very well may need to get booster shots to keep up the level of protection.”
Volunteers test new COVID-19 vaccine shot
Volunteers have signed up to try a third shot for the COVID-19 vaccine, hoping that the third shot will make the vaccine effective against the South African variant of the virus, according to Today.com.
- “The trial has a total of 210 volunteers — including some who’ve not yet received any COVID-19 shot — divided into several cohorts testing different formulations. Researchers want to test the safety of the vaccine, how people’s immune systems respond and what side effects come up,” according to Today.com.
Both Pfizer and Moderna — which require two shots for full vaccination — have teased a third shot of its COVID-19 vaccine to help people combat the variants to the novel coronavirus, as I wrote for the Deseret News.