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Experts Urge People to Get the New Bivalent COVID Booster

In a call with the Infectious Diseases Society of America, experts recommended the booster, which contains components of the original Wuhan strain of the COVID-19 virus as well as the omicron variant.

Glass vials of COVID-19 vaccine
Distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine quickly and efficiently will require robust intergovernmental efforts.
(Photo: Getty)
The questions about who should get a COVID-19 booster and when may become clearer, as health officials recommend the bivalent booster for people aged 12 and over to help mitigate the circulation of the omicron variant.

That was the message yesterday during a briefing by the Infectious Diseases Society of America, which discussed the latest on the vaccines, their safety and who should be getting them.

Both infectious disease experts on the call recommended that those 12 and over get boosted with the new bivalent vaccination after the initial rounds of vaccinations. The updated boosters contain components of the original Wuhan strain of the virus as well as the omicron variant.

“So, the amount of antigen is the same as the original vaccine that only contained the original strain,” said Dr. Kathryn Edwards, professor of Pediatrics at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. “It’s recommended that people with normal immune systems who are 12 and over receive the bivalent booster dose at least two months after receiving the primary series of vaccinations.”

For those who have had COVID-19 recently, the recommendation is to wait three months before getting the new bivalent vaccination.

It may be that the vaccination will have to be updated again and more boosters will be needed to keep up immunity. It’s also possible that scientists will develop one vaccine that can be administered yearly to combat COVID-19 in the future.

“The issue here is we’re just going to have to wait and see,” said Dr. Walter Orenstein, professor and associate director at the Emory Vaccine Center at the Emory University School of Medicine. “There are two things that can happen: One is immunity can wane, and the second is the virus can mutate.”

He said those two factors will determine how often a booster will need to be administered and how often the contents of the booster need to be changed. “We need to prepare for the potential for annual boosters, but we may need it more or less frequently,” Orenstein said.

“We’ll have to see how long the booster persists,” Edwards said. “It would be wonderful if it persists a year and it would make it easier because then we could go and get two respiratory vaccine shots — one for influenza in one arm and one for COVID in the other arm.”

That will depend on how well the booster works and how many people get immunized. “As more people throughout the world get vaccinated, we may find there are fewer changes to the virus,” Edwards said.

Edwards said the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices have been planning all along for the potential need to add several different antigens to the vaccine. We have plenty of experience with doing that, she explained, and evidence of that is seen every winter when people line up for the influenza booster. The difference is that COVID-19 has been mutating more rapidly than the flu does.

“It’s the same structure,” Edwards said. “It’s been studied in the same way, and we should feel good that we have chosen to have a vaccine that is going to contain the contemporary circulating strains.”

The key is for people to continue to get vaccinations.

“We have great tools,” Orenstein said. “What is it that will convince people to accept it and get vaccines that are recommended for them? It’s critical to overcome that hesitancy and build confidence to get vaccinated, which is not just to their benefit but to society’s benefit.”

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