ROCHESTER, Minn. (KTTC) -- Now that you've received all of your recommended COVID-19 vaccine doses, you are considered to be protected from the virus.
But could you need a booster? And if so, when?
"Right now, there is no official recommendation for a booster," said Dr. Greg Poland, an Infectious Disease Professor of Medicine at Mayo Clinic.
Poland also said there is currently early testing going on to determine if a booster may be needed some time in the future.
"It's appropriate for us to be prepared," Poland said. "But that does not imply that at this point we know or even have the data to suggest that a routine booster, much less when, would be needed."
But should a booster be needed, Poland expects our most vulnerable populations to receive those first shots.
"I gave the example of a solid organ transplant, that might be true for people receiving certain kinds of chemotherapy agents, the very elderly with a collection of other diseases they might have," Poland said. "That's who I expect that we might first see such a recommendation. For you and I, I think what the concern is that with the seasonal coronaviruses. We know that people become susceptible again and can get re-infected. So by extrapolation, there's been some concern that we may have to periodically give another booster."
Poland added that as long as there are people not vaccinated and COVID-19 variants exist, a variant based booster may be needed.
"It's possible that a new variant could become different enough, from what we've been vaccinated against, that we would need a variant focused booster," Poland said. "But again, all of that is a thought experiment. People are gathering the data and watching. No such recommendation currently."
It may be a while still before any official announcements are made. And if a booster was ever required, there is no indication yet as to how often it would need to be given.
The Link LonkJune 29, 2021 at 06:58AM
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COVID-19 BOOSTER: Mayo Clinic addresses vaccine booster questions - KTTC
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