The Associated Press reported Tuesday that US public health authorities will recommend as early as Wednesday a COVID booster shot eight months after one becomes fully vaccinated.
“The move is being driven by both the highly contagious [Delta] variant and preliminary evidence that the vaccine’s protective effect starts dropping within months,” the report says.
Just one month ago, however, CDC deputy director of infectious diseases Jay Butler stated during a media briefing that a third dose may come with even more serious side effects.
“The risk of some of the rare side effects that have been reported have been greater after the second dose and even just the local reactions, which are fairly common, are more common after second doses as well,” he said. “So we’re keenly interested in knowing whether or not a third dose may be associated with any higher risk of adverse reactions, particularly some of those more severe, although very rare, side effects.” Read more…