The U.S. plans to authorize boosters—but many already got a third dose
Here’s what we know about waning immunity and the science supporting the booster shot.
News of SARS-CoV-2 slipping past the protection of COVID-19 vaccines, infecting more than 300 fully vaccinated Massachusetts residents, shook Tampa Bay resident Crystal Gorges. But it was her stepfather’s hospitalization that broke her: After her fully vaccinated relative contracted COVID-19, Gorges drove on August 9 to her local grocery store and requested an mRNA vaccine.
It was the 47-year-old’s third COVID-19 shot.
“It’s kind of like the Wild, Wild West here,” says Gorges, citing Florida’s soaring coronavirus case load and its lack of mask mandates. “And I just want to be extra safe.”
Gorges is one of more than one million Americans who received additional doses of COVID-19 vaccines before the U.S. Food
