FDA advisor DrPaulOffit spoke with MrJDWalsh about why he thinks a COVID booster shot is unnecessary for most people, even with Omicron
Illustration: Intelligencer. Photo: Getty Images On November 29, a few days after South African scientists issued their first report on the Omicron variant, the CDC called for all adults to get a booster shot. The decision was based on the earliest data available on Omicron, which offered a preview of the variant’s ability to erode the protection of vaccines and prior infection, leading to increased transmissibility.
The evidence that we have so far is that protection against severe disease induced by two doses of an mRNA-containing vaccine — all of the data are obviously with Pfizer — is that you’re going to be protected against serious illness, meaning the kind of illness that causes you to go the doctor’s office, the hospital, or the ICU. And that’s what you would expect based on the other variants. The protection against serious illness is mediated by immunological memory cells, T-cells.
The question, as I’ve said, is for how long? I think we’ve confused people about what it means to be fully vaccinated. On the one hand you have the CDC recommending a booster dose for everybody over 18, which was rejected twice by the FDA’s vaccine advisory committee and the CDC’s advisory committee, and then on the other hand you have research institutes, universities, colleges, and hospitals that now have three-dose mandates while others have two-dose mandates. We’ve confused people.
You had expressed some concern over “original antigenic sin,” saying that some people may want to wait until a booster is customized to target a specific variant. Is that still the case?
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