Booster questions: Fauci says vaccine boosters probably needed, but timing unclear

President Biden’s chief medical adviser Anthony Fauci said it is unclear when a booster shot will be needed for the coronavirus vaccine — but that it will probably be needed at some point.

“I don’t anticipate that the durability of the vaccine protection is going to be infinite — it’s just not,” Fauci said during a Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing. “So I imagine we will need, at some time, a booster. What we’re figuring out right now is what that interval is going to be.”

“We know from studies following people from the original clinical trials that the protection goes out at least six months and likely a year,” he added. “I believe we will need a booster. I’m not exactly sure when.”

What he previously said: Earlier this month, Fauci told Axios: “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.”

Follows: The CEOs of Pfizer and Moderna said last week that those who were among the first in the U.S. to receive a coronavirus vaccine could need a booster shot by September.

Officials and experts have said that booster shots may be necessary to keep the virus under control in the country, especially as variants spread.