Federal officials recommend COVID booster

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah–Top federal health officials are recommending all Americans get COVID-19 booster shots to raise their protection. They cite the surging Delta variant and evidence that effectiveness of the vaccines is waning as key reasons.

The CDC Director says they want to protect the American people, and stay ahead of the virus. This will be a third dose of vaccine given eight months after the second dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine.

“We do expect the level of immunity to decline over time,” said Dr. Sankar Swaminathan, chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases at U of U Health. The vaccines still offer protection against severe illness, hospitalization, and death, he said. But, emerging evidence shows protection wanes over time.

“It’s not 100% forever,” he said.

Effectiveness is also decreased against the Delta variant.

“The vaccines were not made to defend against the Delta variant. So, it’s possible that the protection that we get as it wanes is less robust against the new variant,” Swaminathan said.

If the plan gets FDA approval, the booster rollout would begin in the third week of September.

People who received the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine will also probably need boosters. Those details will come after health officials review more data.

“Fortunately, we are well-positioned that we can quickly and efficiently begin to offer these doses,” Rich Lakin, UDOH immunization program manager.

He said Utah will have all the vaccine it needs, as far as he knows right now. Eight months after full vaccination, people can get their booster from their physician, a pharmacy, or hundreds of other providers.

“If it overwhelms the nearly 1300 Covid vaccine providers, that are providing these booster doses, then we may have to return to a mass vaccination clinic model,” Lakin said.

For the unvaccinated, Swaminathan said, now is still the best time to get your first shot.

“The big problem with the transmission that we have, which is ongoing and high here in Utah and most of the country, is due to the unvaccinated,” the doctor said.

Even without the booster, Swaminathan said, the vaccinated are far less likely to end up in the hospital. He expects those who were eager to get vaccinated initially, are the same people who will be eager to get the booster.

“The real problem is: we have the capacity, but not the will for people to get fully vaccinated,” Swaminathan said.

While health officials assess how the vaccines perform over time, and against emerging variants, they say it is clear that getting vaccinated can keep us out of the hospital, and save our lives.