Your questions, answered I'm 58 and healthy (no comorbidities). Should I be concerned about the ethical aspects of getting a fourth shot – i.e. will I be taking a shot from someone who needs it more than I do? – Lauri from Massachusetts Federal officials last month authorized a second booster shot of the Pfizer/BioNTech or Moderna vaccines for all people over age 50. That means anyone in that age group is allowed to get one four months after their first booster. People who are over age 12 and immunocompromised are also allowed to get an additional booster. Amesh Adalja, an infectious disease physician and senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins University Center for Health Security, said that getting a fourth shot will not take it from someone else who needs it. The world "has the capacity to manufacture more vaccine doses than it could use or need. But a delivery and infrastructure issue is behind low vaccine uptake globally. Thus, a person in the United States getting a fourth dose doesn't impact global supply," Adalja said. There is much debate over whether everyone needs a fourth shot - last month's decision was not a permanent solution to the pandemic but could provide an added layer of protection for those at risk of severe illness as the more-transmissible BA.2 variant becomes dominant in the U.S. Expert advisers to the Food and Drug Administration met Wednesday and started sketching out a long-term strategy for booster shots, amid uncertainty about future variants. Some experts think additional boosters may be needed for all; others, like Adalja, do not. "Boosting to provide transient protection against mild infection in healthy individuals is not, in my analysis, an appropriate vaccine strategy," Adalja said. |