The shots may help vulnerable Americans dodge serious illness or death. But some experts believe boosters must be improved and are calling for a new strategy.
The coronavirus revealed flaws in the nation’s pandemic plans. The spread of monkeypox shows that the problems remain deeply entrenched.
Variants that are adept at dodging the body’s defenses and waves of infections two, maybe three times a year, may be the future of COVID-19.
Studies linked to Cassava Sciences, once a stock market favorite, have been retracted or challenged by medical journals.
For adults, vaccines proved to be safe and powerfully protective in clinical trials and were speedily authorized for use. But the trials in children were complicated by the arrival of virus variants.
The vaccine does protect against severe illness, and booster shots increase the protection.
New studies suggest that several parts of the immune system can mount a sustained, potent response to any coronavirus variant.
Next week, advisers to the U.S. FDA will decide whether to endorse two doses of the vaccine for children 6 months to 4 years old, before trials have shown the full course to be effective.
Several recent studies have found that vaccination alone, without boosters, remained strongly protective against severe illness and death in most people, even after omicron’s appearance.
Nasal vaccines may be the best way to prevent infections long term, because they provide protection exactly where it is needed to fend off the virus: the mucosal linings of the airways.
