Will Booster Dose Be Required For COVID-19?

New Delhi: Will a 3rd dose or a booster dose of COVID-19 vaccine be required?

While the health authorities are still divided over it, Soumya Swaminathan, the World Health Organization’s chief scientist in a Zoom interview said it is too early to say and that the “science is still evolving.”

“Call for a third booster shot is also “premature” since high-risk individuals in most of the world haven’t yet completed a first course of vaccination,” Swaminathan said.

Many are questioning vaccine efficacy when it comes to new strains such as Delta and Delta plus variants.

In April, Pfizer and Moderna had announced that a booster shot will probably be required at the end of the year, followed by an annual shot thereafter.

In Dubai, takers of Chinese Sinopharm vaccine are being given a booster dose after six months. They are also eligible to take a booster shot from Pfizer even after taking two doses of Sinopharm earlier.

Similarly, booster shots are being planned in the UK before the winter. A booster study is being carried out with 7 different vaccines.

According to Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health in the US, the existing vaccines approved in the US give sufficient protection against beta, delta and two other variants of concern.