Anthony Fauci, MD, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said people who have already been vaccinated against COVID-19 may need to get a booster shot as soon as eight to 12 months after their second dose, CNN reported May 19.
Moderna, Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson have all said they're developing booster shots or new versions of their vaccines that will increase protection against the original strain of the virus or against some of the new variants.
"I think we will almost certainly require a booster sometime within a year or so after getting the primary [shot] because the durability of protection against coronaviruses is generally not lifelong," Dr. Fauci said during an Axios event.
Dr. Fauci also said variant-specific boosters may not be necessary. Instead of developing a shot to target each variant that emerges, he said drugmakers will probably keep working on boosters that elicit immune responses strong enough that variants won't be a cause for concern.