Dr. Fauci: ‘Inevitably,’ We’ll Have to Give Booster Shots

Dr. Anthony Fauci suggested that coronavirus vaccine booster shots are inevitable for everyone, eventually.

Craig Melvin spoke to Fauci on NBC’s Today — where he began with Pfizer’s announcement that immunocompromised people will need a booster shot down the line to protect themselves from the delta variant. This prompted Melvin to ask if everybody will need the booster shot some time in the near future as well.

Fauci began by emphasizing that immunocompromised people “never really got a good response to begin with,” so with the complications involved in maintaining their protection, the vaccine’s durability is different for them than it is for healthy individuals regardless of age. He continued by saying it was important to keep observing people to see if their Covid protection level drops beneath a certain level, in which case, there needs to be a booster shot plan.

“No vaccine, at least not within this category, is going to have an indefinite amount of protection,” Fauci said. “So, in answer to your question, it’s right. Inevitably, there will be a time when we’ll have to give boosts. What we’re doing, literally, on a weekly and monthly basis is following cohorts of patients to determine if, when and whom should get it.”

Fauci concluded his thought by saying that, at this moment — aside from the immunocompromised — “we’re not going to be giving boosters to people, but we will be following them very carefully and if they do need it, we’ll be ready to give it to them.”

Watch above, via NBC.