White House announcement on booster shots after 8 months

National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins said Tuesday that data from Israel on vaccine effectiveness waning over time helps show the need for booster shots eight months after initial vaccination.

Collins’s comments largely confirmed what was first reported by The New York Times late Monday night, that the Biden administration is poised to recommend booster shots after eight months.

“As you may have seen from the information overnight, the notion is to encourage boosters eight months after initial vaccinations,” Collins said on “The Hugh Hewitt Show.”

Looking at data from Israel, “unsurprisingly, vaccine protection does gradually wane over time,” Collins said.

“And so in the Israeli data the people who got immunized in January are the ones that are now having more breakthrough cases,” he added. “Mostly of course these are symptomatic but not serious, but you’re starting to see a little bit of a trend towards some of those requiring hospitalization.”

Collins said officials, who have been meeting “almost daily,” are also reviewing U.S. data.