Pfizer CEO, Albert Bourla, now says we’ll likely need a fourth dose of the COVID vaccine, but a local expert says she wants to see the data.
The CDC last month reported that data shows some waning immunity over time after receiving COVID shots, which Doctor Shireesha Dhanireddy, an infectious specialist with UW Medicine, says could also mean the vaccine was slightly less effective against Omicron.
Dhanireddy says the vaccine’s effectiveness against hospitalizations did drop slightly, but she says they are still very effective. Among the data she wants to see is how much protection we’d get from a fourth dose.
Doctor Dhanireddy says we may reach a point where we get COVID shots once a year, like flu, but she’s not sure we’re there yet. “There are definitely certain populations who are going to get the boosters, and that’s our immunocompromised patients. There’s fourth doses already approved, and whether they get ongoing doses, that is probably going to be likely.
Dhanireddy also says with little increase in global COVID activity and no variants of interest right now, combined with how generally-protected we are here, she thinks it’s an appropriate time for most of us to lighten up on mask-wearing.
