COVID-19 variants will require a long-term booster strategy, like we have for flu
Being up to date on COVID-19 vaccines means having had 3-4 doses of the same shot at this point.
Current boosters are the same formulations as the first authorised shots, based on the original strain of the coronavirus that emerged in late 2019.
They do still protect against severe COVID-19, hospitalisations and deaths. But as immunity wanes over time and new, more contagious SARS-CoV-2 variants emerge, the world needs a long-term boosting strategy.
I’m an immunologist who studies immunity to viruses. I was a part of the teams that helped develop the Moderna and Johnson & Johnson SARS-CoV-2 vaccines and the monoclonal antibody therapies from Eli Lilly and AstraZeneca.
