Fact Check: Will COVID Vaccine Require Booster Dose, Annual Revaccination?

A single or double dose vaccine may not be enough to be safe from coronavirus. If Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla is to be believed, a booster shot may be required within 12 months of completing the full dose of a particular COVID-19 vaccine.

“A likely scenario is that there will be likely a need for a third dose somewhere between 6 and 12 months… and then from there, there will be an annual revaccination, but all of that needs to be confirmed. And again, the variants will play a key role,” Bourla was quoted as saying in a televised interview.

His comments are similar to those of Johnson & Johnson CEO Alex Gorsky, as well as a number of epidemiological experts. They have all suggested that vaccinating against SARS-CoV-2 may become an annual exercise considering the rapidly increasing COVID-19 variants across the world.

Also Read: COVID-19 Vaccine Update: Clinical Trials For Third Dose Of Covaxin Allowed

COVID vaccines have been developed at a record pace across several countries, and the world already has several options with many more in the pipeline.

Rare adverse events like blood clots have posed a few question marks over the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine. But overall, there is great optimism that the world will be free of the deadly pandemic soon.

Emergence of more aggressive variants like B.1.351 (South African variant), B.1.1.7 (UK variant) and P.1 (Brazilian variant) have been forcing researchers to rethink and rework their strategy, leading to talk of booster shots to beef up immunity level that original doses provide.