Will You Need a Covid-19 Booster Shot?
A vaccine reporter distills what we know now, how boosters work, and some (fun) lessons in immunology
A lot of articles and discussions have been popping up on the topic of booster shots for Covid-19 vaccines: Will we need them? Why will we need them? When will we need them? I’ve noticed an unsettling trend among the articles I’ve been reading about boosters. Many suggest we’re almost certainly going to need booster shots, but none provide actual data to support that claim. The articles are highly speculative.
The reality is that we won’t know if we need boosters at all until we have data in hand telling us we need them. But I’ll explain what that means and why I’m skeptical of articles claiming we’ll “probably” or “likely” need boosters “by fall” or “by the holidays.”
If you don’t want to read this whole article (and my fun analogies designed to simplify immunology), here’s a quick summary:
- The Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson CEOs have all at some point publicly said they think boosters will be needed. They also have a vested financial interest in saying so. (It doesn’t mean they’re wrong — we just don’t know yet.)
- Some infectious disease experts say we’ll likely/probably/definitely maybe need a…
