Public health officials are expected to recommend in the next few days that all people–regardless of age, pre-existing conditions or risk factors–should get a booster shot for the coronavirus vaccine eight months after they become fully vaccinated, the Associated Press reports.
The increasing spread of the delta variant, as well as the rise of other further variants, prompted federal officials for ways to increase the effectiveness of the vaccine. Data show that while vaccinated people may get infected with the coronavirus, the vaccinated have far lower likelihoods of having a severe case of COVID-19 and of dying of the disease.
“There is a concern that the vaccine may start to wane in its effectiveness,” the Director of the National Institutes of Health, Dr. Francis Collins said. “And delta is a nasty one for us to try to deal with. The combination of those two means we may need boosters, maybe beginning first with health care providers, as well as people in nursing homes, and then gradually moving forward” with others