COVID Vaccine Booster Shots Are Coming — Here's What To Know

COVID Vaccine Booster Shots Are Coming — Here’s What To Know
Refinery29
4 days ago
© Provided by Refinery29
Yesterday, President Joe Biden announced that every adult in the U.S. will be eligible to get vaccinated by April 19, a full two weeks ahead of his original deadline. Over 63 million Americans are fully vaccinated, and more than 108 million have received at least one dose, a total that comprises over a third of America’s population. With herd immunity now being an attainable goal, experts are already looking ahead: Vaccine makers have begun to turn their attention to COVID vaccine booster shots.
Booster shots are additional doses of vaccines, that “are given either to pump up decreasing immunity or to fight against a new variant,” explains Jill Grimes, MD, a family physician based in Texas. Not every vaccination requires a booster, she says: Tetanus vaccines require a booster every 10 years to build immunity toward the illness, while people typically only need one series of measles shots in childhood. “The flu vaccine, however, must be boosted every year, not because our immunity from the previous year is fading out, but because the virus is mutating and changing enough that last year’s protection no longer works,” Dr. Grimes says. “COVID virus acts more like the flu virus, as we are seeing new variants emerge.”

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