A coronavirus booster shot may be needed within a year, says Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
Fauci and Pfizer Chairman and CEO Albert Bourla said a booster shot for inoculated people may be needed as soon as eight to 12 months after their second shot.
“We know that the vaccine durability of the efficacy lasts at least six months, and likely considerably more, but I think we will almost certainly require a booster sometime within a year or so after the primary,” said Fauci, who also serves as President Biden’s medical adviser, CNN reported.
Fauci said boosters targeting newer mutations of the virus that have cropped up since the pandemic began may not be needed.
“Instead of having to play whack-a-mole with each individual variant and develop a booster that’s variant-specific, it is likely that you could just keep boosting against the wild type, and wind up getting a good enough response that you wouldn’t have to worry about variants,” he said Wednesday, CNN reported.
Regarding the variants, Bourla said his company hasn’t finished its trials on the booster vaccine.
“I believe in one, two months we will have enough data to speak about it with much higher scientific certainty.”
So far, roughly 48% of the U.S. population has received at least one coronavirus vaccine dose, with 38% fully vaccinated, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
