A New Formulation is Needed for the COVID-19 Booster Vaccine

To be up to date on COVID-19 vaccines, you must have received three or four doses of the same shot. It is not a surprise that booster is not a new formulation, but actually, the same one, but only given after the effectiveness of the previous shot weans off. It is needed to reduce the severity of disease, limit hospitalization and reduce the chances of death.

The world needs a long-term strategy to boost immune systems as immunity wane and new, more contagious variants of SARS-CoV-2 emerge.

An immunologist, Dr David R. Martinez in his blogpost at the Conversation explained the need for more booster shots.

COVID-19 booster shots are likely to be needed in the future, according to him. Nobody can predict which SARS-CoV-2 variant will emerge next or how effective future variants will be at evading vaccine immunity. It is possible to suggest what the future might look like by looking at other respiratory viral foes that have plagued humanity for a long time.

It is expected that people will need periodic booster shots for the foreseeable future as SARS-CoV-2 continues to evolve and is more likely to become endemic. It’s expected scientists will have to update the COVID-19 vaccine eventually to take on the newer variants, much as they do for influenza.