It is available for people over 50. The CDC says that some people can wait, while others may want to be boosted soon.
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People 50 and older as well as some younger people who are immunocompromised have been able to get a second booster dose of the Moderna or Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. People who received a second booster dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine after they received the first one are eligible.
All Americans 12 and older have been able to get a first booster shot since early January. The second boosters shots have been slower than the first.
100 million people had a first booster dose. According to data presented at an April 20 meeting of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention vaccine advisory group, just 4.3 million people had received a second booster by April 19.
Gregory Poland, MD, director of the Vaccine Research Group at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., says that with each additional vaccine dose, there has been less demand. It is not yet clear if people should get a fourth dose.
A national survey of 2,224 US adults shows that 11 percent of people eligible for a second booster have already received one, and 42 percent say they are very likely to do so.
According to the CDC, anyone who is eligible for a first booster dose should get one. There is a lot of research showing that boosters lower the risk of serious disease and death.
The recommendation for a second dose is not as strong. Some people may want to get one as soon as possible, while others may want to wait. The recommendation says that eligible people can choose to get a second booster, but it doesn't say that people should get one.
Some of the confusion about who should get the second booster sooner has been cleared by the CDC.
The reason to get a second booster is the same as the reason to get a first: There is evidence that protection provided by vaccination or prior infections fades after a certain amount of time. The efficacy of the vaccine against emergency room and urgent care visits was 87 percent after a booster shot, according to a study released by the CDC. Four months after the shot, efficacy against hospitalization fell to 78 percent.
The data from Israel shows that people 60 or older who got a second booster had a 78 percent lower risk of death than people who just got one booster.
It's difficult to decide when to get a second booster because the extra protection fades too. The protection against any infections begins to diminish about a month after the fourth dose, according to a study published in The New England Journal of Medicine.
Poland says the best time to get a booster is two weeks before you get sick. It's not possible to determine when that might happen, but your own health status, the current risk in your community, and potential risks you may be exposed to in the future can help you figure out when you should get that shot.
You need to be able to take a fourth shot. If you are at least 50 years old and at least 12 years old and moderately or severely immunocompromised, you are eligible. If you fall into one of the eligibility groups, you can get a second booster dose with either the Moderna or Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
Rochelle Walensky, MD, the director of the CDC, said in April that people at the highest risk for severe COVID-19 who have not recently had a second boost should do so.
There is an ongoing surge in cases related to subvariants of the omicron strain of the coronaviruses, which could increase the risk of infection for many now or in the coming weeks.
People who have medical conditions that put them at higher risk for severe COVID-19 should get their second boost sooner. Poland says immune system protection weakens when people are in their 70s. Those who live or work in communities where the risk for COVID-19 is higher may want to consider getting the booster sooner, as well as those at increased risk for getting the coronaviruses because of work, travel, or planned gatherings, according to the CDC.
The CDC says that other people can wait. The agency says that people who have had COVID-19 in the past three months may want to wait. In the fall of 2022, when public health officials expect another surge in cases, getting a second booster may be more important.
Poland, who has consulted with a number of manufacturers on the development of their vaccines, says it is likely they will have a booster targeting specific versions of the coronaviruses by late summer or early fall. Some people may want to wait. Poland says that people may need a booster targeting a specific variant if they get boosted now.
Many vaccine manufacturers have suggested that we will need annual boosters. The CDC says they could consider waiting if getting a booster now would discourage someone from getting a booster in the fall when one is likely to be recommended.
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