When do you need to get another round of COVID-19 vaccinations? Well, the answer to that is a little unclear. But we’re starting to hear rumblings about plans for the future.
When will we know about third COVID-19 vaccinations?
BBC News reports that Matt Hancock, the U.K.’s health secretary, recently said plans for the third COVID-19 booster shots could come as early as next week.
Experts are waiting to see the results of multiple studies about vaccine combinations — like mixing and matching different vaccines — and how long COVID-19 immunity lasts, according to BBC News.
- “We are currently trialing which combinations of jabs are the most effective,” Hancock told BBC News.
- “In the next few weeks, when we get the clinical data through on what’s the most effective combinations to have … then we’ll set out all the details for the booster programme for the autumn.”
Moderna and Pfizer: New shots needed this fall?
Both CEOs from Moderna and Pfizer — who developed the common two-dose COVID-19 vaccines — told Axios that the “booster” COVID-19 shots will be available and needed by fall 2021.
- “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, according to Axios.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the White House chief medical adviser on COVID-19, told Axios that the third COVID-19 shot will be needed by the fall, too.
- “I think we will almost certainly require a booster sometime within a year or so after getting the primary (shot) because the durability of protection against coronaviruses is generally not lifelong,” Fauci said, according to Axios.
Johnson & Johnson: When will you need a third shot?
Johnson & Johnson CEO Alex Gorsky told CNBC that people will likely need to get vaccinated against COVID-19 every year. So, based on that logic, a second shot of the J&J vaccine — which uses one shot instead of two for fully vaccination — might not be needed until next year.