Do healthy adults still need annual COVID shots?

Dr. Dan Barouch, director of the Center for Virology and Vaccine Research at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, said booster shots prevent severe disease for about four to six months but are less effective at preventing infection and mild symptoms. For a healthy young person with existing immunity and without co-morbidities and a low risk of severe disease, the added benefit of a booster shot is limited.

“The most important benefit of the COVID-19 vaccines is their ability to prevent severe disease,” Barouch said. “They have a more limited ability to prevent mild disease.”

By contrast, there is some benefit to getting flu vaccines annually, Barouch said, because flu viruses are more able than COVID to mutate in ways that evade immunity from year to year. Read Full Article…