COVID-19 Vaccine Boosters

Recently, there has been a lot of information in the news about COVID-19 boosters in people that have already been fully vaccinated. There is some evidence that vaccines may start to lose full effectiveness after a few months, but there is other evidence that protection may last for years. With the current outbreak of the Delta variant, a fair number of people who have been fully vaccinated are still contracting COVID-19, but it is important to note that these breakthrough infections are almost always mild and do not lead to severe disease or death. These are my thoughts on COVID-19 vaccine boosters:

• First, I want to emphasize that people that have not yet been vaccinated should get their vaccine now. Many people feel that they are healthy and are unlikely to catch it. However, the Delta variant is much more transmissible and can still severely affect healthy individuals. I recently admitted somebody to the hospital who was a healthy unvaccinated 60-year-old man taking no medications. His daughter’s boyfriend’s boss came down with COVID, and his daughter and boyfriend both tested positive even though they had no symptoms. The patient unfortunately caught it from his daughter, got admitted to the hospital, and is now in the intensive care unit because of respiratory failure. Had he been vaccinated, he likely would NOT have required hospitalization.

• I agree with the World Health Organization that, with rare exception, people who are fully vaccinated do not need a booster at this time, and it is important that the rest of the world receive their first vaccine doses. Unvaccinated countries can lead to widespread transmission of the virus in their populations, causing more virus mutations and then potentially spreading to people who have fully been vaccinated. These mutated strains may not respond to the current treatments for COVID-19. To this end, the US has already shipped more than 110 million doses to other countries to aid in the worldwide vaccination effort.

• We are still conducting studies to see if certain population groups would benefit from a booster shot, and once the recommendations come out, those people would be eligible.

• If you have been fully vaccinated, and you do end up contracting COVID-19, you have a less than 0.01% chance of being hospitalized from it, and less than 0.001% chance of dying from it.

• Because vaccinated people can still catch and transmit COVID-19, I recommend that everyone who has cold-like symptoms or unexplained fevers to still get tested, either through the traditional testing sites, or through at-home antigen self-testing (click the COVID-19 tab above to read more).

• Likewise, if you have cold-like symptoms or “allergy” symptoms, please do not come into our office for your regularly scheduled appointment without calling us first.

Having said all this, is also true that there have been over a million doses of COVID-19 vaccines that have gone to waste in the US because they have expired or not enough people are choosing to get them. Our office is currently receiving only excess vaccine doses from health facilities that cannot use them, and we are not ordering them directly from the government. From my standpoint, instead of letting these doses go to waste when they expire, I would rather have someone receive them as a booster shot, even before we have definitive evidence that they are beneficial. I feel that as long as there is a chance that a booster shot will be beneficial, and any risks from the shot are negligible, it would be worth putting that vaccine in someone’s arms as opposed to in the trash can. To that end, we are now accumulating a list of people who are interested in receiving a booster shot. Because the data have not come back yet, we cannot say if it would be better to get the same manufacturer as your first vaccine or a different one. We will prioritize individuals over age 65 and those on immunosuppressive medications first, as these individuals are likely going to be the first that will receive approval for a booster shot if and when it is needed. If you are interested, please send us a message through the portal or email us at  drsuncovidvax@choice.md and let us know your name, phone number, and which vaccines you are willing to come in for.