Following up from Google, I’m getting the sense that those of us who have had Covid and also get vaccinated are having a strong immune response to the vaccinations. Whether we will need boosters seems unclear at this point, but I would certainly get a booster to make sure, especially because of variants.
Will We Need a COVID-19 Vaccine Booster Shot?
Right now, experts say it’s too early to speculate whether we’ll need booster shots like some routine vaccines.
[URL='https://www.jhsph.edu/faculty/directory/profile/3528/amesh-adalja']Dr. Amesh Adalja, a senior scholar at Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security in Baltimore, says it’s premature to predict whether COVID-19 boosters will be needed and, if so, at what intervals.
“To me, the threshold for boosters would be to see fully vaccinated individuals getting breakthrough infection severe enough to land them in the hospital,” Adalja told Healthline. “We have not crossed that threshold.”
However, the CEO of the companies whose COVID-19 vaccines are being distributed in the United States say their shots may need to be given annually, like a flu shot. They told Axiosthose boosters could come as early as September.
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https://www.sciencenews.org/article/coronavirus-covid-vaccine-booster-shot-variant-immunity
Studies are uncovering evidence that most people develop immune memory to the coronavirus. Ellebedy has found signs of antibody memory, for instance, in people who recovered from an infection. People who had mild COVID-19 had long-lived
antibody-producing immune cells in the bone marrow 11 months after infection, he and colleagues reported May 24 in Nature. These cells continue to make antibodies against the virus long after it has left the body, providing protection if a person is exposed again.
Evidence is building that the vaccines offer similar, if not better, protection. In that case, boosters might not be needed for some time. In the last update from vaccine developers, “things looked pretty good,” Lyke says. People who received Moderna’s shot still
have high levels of antibodies six months after getting the second dose, researchers reported in April. And Pfizer’s jab
has an efficacy of 91.3 percent against COVID-19 symptoms after six months, the pharmaceutical company announced April 1 in a news release.
Still, “we don’t know how any of these COVID-19 vaccines perform past the one-year mark,” Lyke says. The earliest trials that tested whether the vaccines
prompt an immune response are just now reaching that point, and researchers are following up with participants (SN: 7/21/20).
Coronavirus variants could make booster shots more likely.
Even if the protection provided by the immune system is long-lasting, viruses like the coronavirus are adept at evading those responses. Case in point: the emergence of viral variants that can make COVID-19 vaccines
less effective than they are against the original version of the virus (SN: 5/11/21).
“I don’t think we would be talking about potentially boosting” if it weren’t for the variants, Ellebedy says. “What we are seeing so far is that the vaccine is really robust, so why would we even need a booster if the virus doesn’t change?”
Vaccinated COVID-19 survivors may be immune for life, according to new research
This article talks about Covid-19 survivors possibly being immune for life! I’d still get a booster though.
