Vaccine expert says data does not yet show need for Covid-19 boosters



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People line up at a Covid-19 vaccination clinic at Lyman High School in Longwood, Fla. On August 9.
People line up at a Covid-19 vaccination clinic at Lyman High School in Longwood, Fla. On August 9. Paul Hennessy / SOPA Images / LightRocket / Getty Images

Available data does not yet show a need for booster doses of Covid-19 in the United States, and the focus should be more on initial vaccinations than on booster doses, said Dr Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Pennsylvania Children’s Hospital said Tuesday

“I think we’ll cross the line, where we know we need a booster dose, when vaccinated people, fully vaccinated, are nonetheless hospitalized or in intensive care or die,” Offit said in a conversation moderated by Brown University. “This is where the line is crossed for me. We are not there yet. We are not and I hope the CDC is looking carefully at this data because that is what you need to know. “

Offit said as San Francisco moved forward by offering an extra dose to those who received a single Johnson & Johnson vaccine, “I see no evidence that you need to.”

“This discussion of boosters is just a little off topic. The problem is going to be not to boost the people who have already been vaccinated, the problem in this country is that the people who have not been vaccinated, that’s where we have to focus our efforts, all our efforts, I think.

Offit also spoke briefly about the upcoming meeting of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices, of which he is a member. The committee is to meet to discuss booster doses in immunocompromised people.

Offit said Friday’s discussion would likely conclude that immunocompromised people are those who depend on the “herd” of vaccinated people.

“I mean, the worst thing an anti-vaccine person says is they say, ‘What does it matter what I do? You are vaccinated. which makes two wrong assumptions. First, the vaccines are 100% effective, which is true of no vaccine, and second, anyone can get the vaccine when they cannot. “

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