With data showing that the COVID-19 vaccines failed to end the pandemic, health officials pushed for the third or booster dose at least five months after the first set of shots. However, evidence shows that boosters become significantly less effective in just four months, which opens the possibility of getting ongoing shots in the future.
A recent study funded by the CDC involving data from ten states collected from August 26 to January 22 showed that within months of the second COVID-19 shot, protection against the disease went from 69 percent to 37 percent.
More COVID-19 shots on the horizon
The CDC data also confirmed statements made by Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel in January that the efficacy of the third shot is likely to decline over several months. Thus, another shot is necessary after.
"I will be surprised when we get that data in the coming weeks that it's holding nicely over time – I would expect that it’s not going to hold great," Bancel said.
Moderna is also working on an omicron-specific vaccine, which it hopes to release soon.
With the effectiveness of COVID-19 booster shots dropping to just 31 percent after five months, regulators are already opening the door for another dose of the vaccine.
"The finding that protection conferred by mRNA vaccines waned in the months after receipt of a third vaccine dose reinforces the importance of further consideration of additional doses to sustain or improve protection against COVID-19–associated ED/UC encounters and COVID-19 hospitalizations," the CDC said.
Peter Marks, one of the top vaccine experts from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), said in a virtual session that there may be a need for people to get an additional booster in the fall – a fifth dose. He stated that an FDA advisory committee will discuss the matter, but if another booster is authorized, it could be tweaked to defend against a particular variant or a mixture of variants.
"It’s not actually clear yet what the optimal booster should be," he said.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said in a press briefing that there may be a need for another boost for those who received the mRNA vaccines. (Related: FDA considering approval of FOURTH vaccine dose despite dangers.)
Moderna's Bancel, meanwhile, said they are working with public health experts like Fauci's team to come up with a shot for the fall season and annual boosters after, including combination shots that could put a flu shot and a respiratory syncytial virus shot in one dose in 2023, to avoid "compliance issues."
"We’re going to do this by preparing combinations, we're working on the flu vaccine, we're working on an RSV vaccine, and our goal is to be able to have a single annual booster so that we don’t have compliance issues, where people don’t want to get two to three shots a winter, but they get one dose, where they get a booster for corona, and a booster for flu and RSV, to make sure that people get their vaccine," he said.
While Moderna, Pfizer and other vaccine manufacturers have started their clinical trials for COVID-19 shots that specifically target the omicron variant, many have questioned the move, as Big Pharma companies will always be one step behind the latest variant, and studies have so far failed to show any advantage of the new shots.
A study that tested an omicron-specific shot showed that an omicron-specific boost may not provide greater immunity or protection. Even among mice subjects that have not previously received COVID shots, the omicron-specific dose only produced high levels of antibodies against omicron and wasn't effective against other variants. (Related: Fully vaccinated and boosted make up vast majority of COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths in the UK.)
COVID analyst Marc Girardot noted that artificially inflated antibodies caused by repeated booster shots signal that a person is always infected, and the resulting immune response could prove to be detrimental to health, leading to a "death zone" that accelerates the development of autoimmune conditions.
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