COVID-19 and Boosters: What You Need to Know

“We know how to bring the economy back to life. What we do not know is how to bring people back to life.” — President of Ghana, Akufo Addo

COVID-19 has killed almost as many Americans as the 1918–19 Spanish flu, around 676,000, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

The U.S. is projected to reach a cumulative total of more than 780,000 deaths by March 2022. It is a tragedy that even with the widespread availability of vaccines, many people are choosing not to take them. So far, only 182 million Americans are fully vaccinated, translating into 55% of the population.

The COVID-19 Virus and Vaccination

Scientists predict that the COVID-19 virus could gradually weaken as it mutates. The latter could occur as our immune systems learn to attack the virus mainly through vaccination and surviving infection. The best-case scenario is that the weakening of the virus could occur gradually over a few years.

According to the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report,

“COVID-19 vaccination has continued to provide robust protection against hospitalization and death even after the highly contagious Delta variant became the dominant variant in late June. If you aren’t fully vaccinated and get COVID-19, your risk of being hospitalized or dying is more than 10X higher than that of someone who is fully vaccinated.”

Keep in mind that being fully vaccinated for COVID-19 can protect you from the variants, but breakthrough infections can still sometimes occur. These infections tend to be mild in those without additional risk factors.

Limiting the spread of the virus through mask-wearing, social distancing, hand hygiene, and most importantly, getting vaccinated affords the virus fewer opportunities to mutate. It also lessens the spread of more infectious variants.

Booster Shots

My family was ready to roll up our sleeves for our booster shots of the COVID vaccine, as it has been nearly six months since our second dose of the Moderna vaccine. Recent studies show that vaccine effectiveness may begin to decline after around six to eight months. A vaccine booster would allow for added immune protection against COVID-19 and its variants.

However, the FDA and the CDC have only endorsed booster shots for people aged 65 and older and those at high risk of severe COVID-19 symptoms, including long-term care facility residents and staff and frontline health care workers.

The government has already authorized third doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines for people with weakened immune systems, such as cancer patients and transplant recipients.

The CDC advisors still have not considered boosters for Moderna and J and J. They have no data on whether it is safe or effective to mix and match different vaccine brands.

The scientists recommended against booster shots for the general public, citing concerns about insufficient data and the potential for heart inflammation. This rare but severe side effect may occur in younger men.

Additionally, the World Health Organization strongly opposes the widespread rollout of booster shots by wealthy nations, asking that available doses be used to help countries that lag in vaccinations to get the pandemic under control. New variants can arise from countries with low vaccination rates and spread worldwide.

Takeaway

We will hold off on the booster shots for the time being until further studies confirm the safety of the shots. If we wait a bit more, we can extend our immunity longer as well.

According to Dr. William Schaffner, professor of preventive medicine and infectious diseases at Vanderbilt University Medical Center:

“You’ll get a more robust immune response if you wait a little longer before you get your booster.”

In the meantime, we will continue to follow COVID 19 safety protocols for the foreseeable future. We are all in this together.

This story originally appeared on Medium.