COVID-19 vaccinations are at a critical juncture as companies test whether new approaches like combination shots or nasal drops can keep up with a mutating coronavirus — even though it’s not clear if changes are needed.
FILE - A health worker administers a dose of COVID-19 vaccine during a vaccination clinic in Reading, Pa. COVID-19 vaccinations are at a critical juncture as companies test whether new approaches like combination shots or nasal drops can keep up with a mutating coronavirus even though its not clear if any change is needed.
Despite success in preventing serious illness and death, there's growing pressure to develop vaccines better at fending off milder infections, too — as well as options to counter scary variants. But there's a looming deadline. FDA's Dr. Doran Fink said if any updated shots are to be given in the fall, the agency would have to decide on a recipe change by early summer.For the average person, two doses of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine plus one booster — a total of three shots — “gets you set up” and ready for what may become an annual booster, said Dr. David Kimberlin, a CDC adviser from the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
But some people — those with severely weakened immune systems — need more doses up-front for a better chance at protection.
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