CDC “keenly interested” in whether COVID-19 booster vaccines are linked to higher risk of side effects, expert says

People looking for a COVID-19[female[feminine booster vaccine dose in hopes of greater protection do so as the evidence for safety remains unclear, top experts have said.

A reporter asked Dr Jay Butler, deputy director of infectious diseases at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Dr Andrew Pavia, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at the University of Utah School of Medicine, about potential safety concerns with a third dose. , noting that some fully vaccinated people sought booster shots on their own.

“We are very keen to know if a third dose may be associated with a higher risk of side effects, especially some of those more serious although very rare side effects, ”Butler said in a virtual briefing. He reiterated the data suggesting local reactions and rare side effects occur more frequently after the second dose in the two-dose regimens.

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While several drugmakers have developed booster dose strategies involving variant-specific injections and have speculated that boosters may become necessary as early as September, federal health authorities last week said fully vaccinated Americans “don’t need” an extra dose at this time.

Pavia said that several ongoing studies by the National Institutes of Health are evaluating a third dose in a mixed approach (or administering vaccines from different manufacturers) and also by the same manufacturer.

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“We’ll get those answers pretty soon, hopefully,” he said.

Scientists have yet to find evidence of decreased immunity or lowered antibody levels in fully vaccinated individuals, they reiterated, and questions remain as to whether the boosters are. needed, when and for whom. The ongoing work of the FDA and a panel of independent experts advising the CDC seeks answers. Butler said researchers are concerned about people over the age of 75 who are at the highest risk of severe COVID-19, and those with weakened immune systems, or people who are immunocompromised, some of whom are unresponsive. as well to vaccination.