Story at a glance
- The CDC expanded eligibility for booster shots to those who received a Pfizer, Moderna or Johnson& Johnson vaccine.
- But the CDC’s own data suggests that young adults who received a COVID-19 vaccine still carry strong protection against hospitalization and death.
- Adults ages 65 and older would benefit the most from receiving a booster shot.
As the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) rolls out new vaccine guidance, it may be confusing to figure out when and if someone needs a booster shot. However, the reality is that most adults who have been fully vaccinated don’t yet need a booster shot.
As the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) rolls out new data, they created a chart that visualizes how many people need to be vaccinated with a booster shot in order to prevent just one hospitalization due to COVID-19 over a six month period.
The chart can be viewed here, on page 22 of the CDC’s evidence to recommendation framework: Moderna & Janssen COVID-19 vaccine booster dose.
The 65 and older age group needs the lowest number of booster shots in order to prevent just one hospitalization.
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This may sound confusing as the CDC expanded eligibility for booster shots to those who received a Pfizer or Moderna vaccine that are 65 years and older and to anyone 18 years and older who received a Pfizer or Moderna vaccine who live in longer-term care facilities, have underlying medical conditions or who work or live in high-risk settings.
In the same announcement, they also said anyone 18 and older who received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine can get a booster shot.
But taking a closer look at CDC data, when researchers tried to study the effects of booster shots for those who received a Moderna vaccine in causing hospitalizations and death, there simply was not enough evidence to calculate what effect a booster shot would have. That underscores the Moderna vaccine’s efficacy, which sits at 94 percent.
Data studying the effects of a Pfizer booster shot were similar, indicating that adults 65 and older would largely benefit from a booster, but results for adults aged 18-29 were varied.
Dr. Matthew Daley, a senior investigator at Kaiser Permanente Colorado and a member of the CDC advisory committee, told The New York Times, “I don’t think that we have evidence that everybody in those groups needs a booster today.”
The biggest hurdle that remains outside of booster shot considerations is getting more people vaccinated, as Dr. Rochelle Walensky, CDC director, said in a statement, “While today’s action was an initial step related to booster shots, it will not distract from our most important focus of primary vaccination in the United States and around the world.”
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