Still, tallies from the CDC show the vast majority of the 50-plus population is lagging behind on boosters. As of July 20, less than 30 percent of adults 50 and older who were eligible for a second boost had received one.
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That could be due to an overall feeling that things are less dangerous now than they were in 2020, says Svea Closser, a medical anthropologist and associate professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. As the pandemic persists, the risks of COVID-19 have “sort of faded from our consciousness a little bit,” she adds. But the evidence is clear, Closser says: The second booster is “actually really important” when it comes to reducing the risk of hospitalization among older adults.
In May, unvaccinated individuals ages 50 to 64 were 3.4 times more likely to be hospitalized with COVID-19 compared to their peers who are up to date on their shots, CDC data show. That hospitalization rate is slightly higher (3.8) among adults 65 and older.
50 or Older? When to get a booster
Adults 50 and older vaccinated with either Pfizer or Moderna:
• Get your first booster at least five months after completing the primary series.
• Get your second booster at least four months after the first.
Adults 50 and older vaccinated with J&J:
• Get your first booster (the mRNA shots from Pfizer and Moderna are preferred) at least two months after your initial vaccine.
• Get a second booster (again, the mRNA shots are preferred) at least four months after the first.
If you are immunocompromised, your doctor may recommend a different schedule.
Adults 50 and under who are not immunocompromised are not eligible for a second booster at this time. People ages 18 through 49 who got a J&J COVID-19 vaccine for both their primary dose and booster can choose to get a second booster of either the Pfizer-BioNTech or the Moderna vaccine at least four months after their first booster, the CDC says, though it’s not required for this age group to be considered up to date on their COVID-19 vaccines. Stay tuned for updates.
Source: CDC
It’s not clear when the new vaccines will be ready
Another reason not to fall behind on your booster schedule: It’s still unclear when, exactly, the next generation of shots will be available. Jha has said it could be October before they’re ready, and November or December before their distribution is more widespread. Clinical trial data still needs to be submitted. And federal agencies and independent experts need to review and recommend the shots — a process that, even under urgent circumstances, can still take some time. Among those recommendations would be the wait time, if any, to receive a new bivalent booster after receiving one of the currently available COVID vaccines.
There’s also the possibility that we’re dealing with another dominant variant this fall, different from the ones the new vaccines are designed to target.
“Given the unknowns that still exist, when it comes to my parents, my advice is still get that second booster. It’s a couple of months [until the new shots are potentially available], we don’t know what’s going to happen in the meantime, and we do know that getting a booster now is going to help,” Closser says.
