White House medical adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci said Sunday that getting booster shots may be a part of life going forward but acknowledged it’s too early to tell until more information comes out regarding how long the current booster shots offer protection.
“If it becomes necessary to get yet another boost, then we'll just have to deal with it when that occurs,” the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos on “This Week.”
“I'm hoping from an immunological standpoint that that third shot of an mRNA and the second shot of a J&J will give a much greater durability of protection than just the six months or so that we're seeing right now,” he added.
Fauci noted that it’s difficult to say with certainty right now.
"It's tough to tell because the third shot of an mRNA could not only do what we absolutely know it does, is it dramatically increased the level of protection. But from an immunological standpoint, it could very well increase the durability of protection by things that you can't readily measure by the level of antibodies that you might have a maturation of the immune system that would prolong the durability," Fauci said. “You don't know that, George, until you just follow it over a period of months.”
I’m old enough to remember when this was a “cOnSpiRacY tHeoRy” https://t.co/v33rtItPR7
— Raheem J. Kassam (@RaheemKassam) December 12, 2021
Approximately 53.8 million people in America have received a booster shot, or 26.6 percent of the fully vaccinated population, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.