Americans can receive COVID-19 booster shots in fall

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

• Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel said Wednesday that people who are at high-risk against COVID-19 would need to secure booster shots by September.
• Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla made a similar statement regarding the timing of the booster shot.
• Fully vaccinated individuals would still need a booster shot in order to prolong their protection against the virus.

In an email released on Wednesday, Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel said that people within the most vulnerable groups such as the elderly and healthcare workers, would be needing a third dose around September this year, per Caitlin Owens from Axios.

Booster shots should be given within eight to nine months after receiving the first two doses. This would mean that groups who are at high risk of contracting the virus should secure the medication around December to January.

“I think as a country we should rather be two months too early, than two months too late with outbreaks in several places,” Bancel said, Axios reported.

In another interview with Axios Wednesday, Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla also spoke about the same vaccine timing, saying that the data he observed backs giving a booster shot “somewhere between eight and 12 months” upon receiving the first two doses.

Last April, Moderna told concerned groups that US residents as well as other nationalities who received their vaccination early would need to obtain booster shots before the year ends or early next year. This is needed in order for them to stay protected against the novel coronavirus.

“I hope this summer to get the vaccine authorized for a boost so that we can help people getting boosted before the fall, so that we all have a normal fall and not a fall and winter like we just saw in the last six months,” Bancel said in an interview with Insider in April.

As of May 19, the US has provided over 118 million doses of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine, per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Around 38 percent of the country’s population or 12 million adult Americans had been fully vaccinated. Per Bloomberg, around 10 percent of the world’s population is projected to have received complete vaccinations.

Source: Business Insider