Preparations are underway for potential Covid-19 vaccine boosters, CDC director says

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Sat, 2021-05-08 13:37 — mike kraft

Preparations are underway for potential Covid-19 vaccine boosters, CDC director says As experts grow concerned about a possible Covid-19 surge in the winter, the director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention acknowledged it's still possible seasonal vaccine boosters will be necessary. Madeline Holcombe, CNN CNN

(CNN) As experts grow concerned about a possible Covid-19 surge in the winter, the director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention acknowledged it's still possible seasonal vaccine boosters will be necessary.

"We want to hope for the best, and prepare for the worst," CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky told actress Jennifer Garner in an interview streamed on Instagram.

More than a third of the US is fully vaccinated against coronavirus, but it's still short of the benchmark of 70% to 85% of the total population that needs to be immune -- through vaccination or previous infection -- to control its spread.

And many yet to receive the vaccine are those who have not decided whether they want it or have decided against it.

Meanwhile variants have been spreading, threatening to mutate to a point where current vaccines may not offer enough protection against them, experts warn.

Researchers at the CDC are looking into whether a booster specific to variants that are already in the US will be needed as well as if protection from the virus fades over time, Walensky said.

"We are doing the studies on boosters to see if we will need them, and that is six months, one year, two years -- we don't really know," Walensky said. "But we want to be prepared for them should we need them."

If the US does need them, officials have processes already in place to get them out.

"The vision would be that we would do it in the same way that we do flu vaccine," she said. "We hope we don't have to do it every season, but we're preparing in case we do."

Health experts have hailed vaccination as the ticket back to a sense of normalcy, but officials have come up against conflicts over who can monitor vaccination decisions.

Wyoming is the latest state to prohibit state agencies from asking people whether they have been vaccinated against Covid-19.

Under a directive signed Friday by Gov. Mark Gordon, the state boards and agencies are ordered to "provide full access to state spaces and state services, regardless of a constituent's COVID-19 vaccination status." ...

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