Should you get a second COVID booster now, or wait for updated shots?
New Omicron variants are prompting vaccine-makers to tweak their formulas. Experts weigh in on who needs additional boosters and whether to hold off for the revised shots due in the fall.
COVID-19 infections have continued to sicken people across the United States as new Omicron subvariants capable of escaping the immune system have become dominant. What worries experts is that protection against Omicron infections and hospitalization from the current vaccines decreases as people get older. Hence the recommendation for people to get booster shots.
The existing boosters have already proved effective. They significantly reduced severe disease from the original Omicron variant BA.1, which swept the country last winter. Now they are helping blunt disease severity seen with the new subvariants BA.4 and BA.5—although to a lesser extent, according to data shared at a June 28 independent committee meeting of the U.S. Food
