It’s possible that people who get vaccinated for COVID-19 will need a booster shot at some point, according to the state’s epidemiologist.
Dr. Benjamin Chan said the pharmaceutical companies that have made the three vaccines Americans are receiving have begun testing whether a booster would be needed.
The booster might be needed if it’s determined that protection from the vaccine wears off or that it will combat new variants of the coronavirus, Chan said Friday at a webinar for employers sponsored by the Business & Industry Association of New Hampshire.
“It’s unclear at this point,” Chan said. “This could be something that is done once, like a booster, or becomes an annual vaccination which we have for the flu because of the new strains.”
Chan said the state will offer the vaccine to younger residents later this spring once the delivery of vaccines from the Biden administration ramps up.
“We expect some time in April that allotment is going to dramatically increase and that’s going to allow us to expand the population that we vaccinate,” Chan said.
Jim Potter, executive vice president with the New Hampshire Medical Society, said a growing number of private companies have begun to work with health experts to offer vaccine to their eligible employees on site.
“The opportunity is there. We will probably be moving to both open and closed pods,” Potter said; pods are points of delivery and an open pod is offered to the general public, while a closed pod is offered to a specific target population.
Chan said he expects that in the coming months the vaccine will be administered in more places.
“There still needs to be a health care provider connection, because this is a medical therapeutic which requires the experience of trained individuals,” he added.
The most common question Chan said he gets is which of the three vaccines — Moderna, Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson — is the most effective.
Some studies concluded the J&J vaccine had a lower effective rate than the other two, but Chan noted this analysis was done on this latest vaccine after more resistant variants had emerged.
Studies have concluded all three vaccines have virtually eliminated the prospect of long-term hospitalization or death from the virus, he said.
“We are not expressing a preference,” Chan said. “It is more important to take the first available appointment, and not to try to wait to get another.”
March 20, 2021 at 02:38AM
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