Coronavirus: Experts worry about ‘booster fatigue’ amid hunt for new vaccine improvements
- Despite success in preventing serious illness and death, there’s growing pressure to develop vaccines better at fending off milder infections on top of aggressive variants
- Moderna and Pfizer are testing new vaccine recipes that mix the original, proven vaccine with an Omicron-targeted version
Covid-19 vaccinations are at a critical juncture as companies test whether new approaches like combination shots or nasal drops can keep up with a mutating coronavirus – even though it’s not clear if changes are needed.
Already there’s public confusion about who should get a second booster now and who can wait. There’s also debate about whether pretty much everyone might need an extra dose in the fall.
“I’m very concerned about booster fatigue” causing a loss of confidence in vaccines that still offer very strong protection against Covid-19’s worst outcomes, said Dr Beth Bell of the University of Washington, an adviser to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Despite success in preventing serious illness and death, there’s growing pressure to develop vaccines better at fending off milder infections, too – as well as options to counter scary variants.
“We go through a fire drill it seems like every quarter, every three months or so” when another mutant causes frantic tests to determine if the shots are holding, Pfizer vaccine chief Kathrin Jansen told a recent meeting of the New York Academy of Sciences.
Yet seeking improvements for the next round of vaccinations may seem like a luxury for US families anxious to protect their littlest children – kids under 5 who are not yet eligible for a shot.
Moderna’s Dr Jacqueline Miller said that its application to give two low-dose shots to the youngest children would be submitted to the Food and Drug Administration “fairly soon”. Pfizer hasn’t yet reported data on a third dose of its extra-small shot for tots, after two didn’t prove strong enough.
