Updated versions of the mRNA vaccines roll out this week. Experts say they offer good protection against current COVID variants. Who should get them, and when's the best time to roll up your sleeve?
Readers are curious about the new variant, currently known a BA.2.86. Also: Lots of questions about boosters. Can you get it at the same time as a flu shot? And how long does protection last?
Maybe it's not a full-blown summer surge but COVID numbers are ticking up. For those with concerns due to personal risk factors or the start of the school year, the booster question is top of mind.
Let's revisit some of 2022's still relevant queries. Like: Does one-way masking help? What's the risk of outdoor transmission? What's up with faint lines on tests?
Wednesday on Political Rewind: Dr. Carlos Del Rio, Dr. Amber Schmidtke, and GPB's own Ellen Eldridge joined the panel for a conversation on the most pressing questions about Covid-19 at the current stage of the pandemic. Who should get another booster? When should you be wearing masks? What lessons can the past two years teach us about public health?
People who are 50 and older and certain immunocompromised individuals may get a second Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna COVID-19 vaccine booster four months after they received the first.
Moderna submitted data from 344 volunteers who got a third shot of the vaccine six months after their first two doses. The additional shot significantly boosted immunity, the company said.
Worries about waning immunity and talk of COVID booster shots has some Americans checking their antibody levels to see if they're protected. But scientists warn blood tests don't tell the full story.
Public health figures believe a focus on boosters for the already vaccinated will hasten the emergence of new variants among the billions of unvaccinated people — including a vaccine-resistant strain.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's leading infectious disease expert, tells NPR's Morning Edition "it is so imminent to make sure that we get them boosted so that they would be in a protected zone."
The director general is asking for a halt for at least two months. His hope is to use all available doses to vaccinate 10% of the population in every country by the end of September.
