Dr. Monica Gandhi, an infectious disease expert at UCSF, who this week was already advocating for the elimination of the outdoor mask mandate for cities, also pushed the usual assumption that vaccine booster shots will certainly be needed.
Showing data on study participants in vaccine studies, some of whom have been vaccinated since July 2020, Dr. Gandhi suggests that booster vaccines may prove unnecessary and that T cells in vaccine recipients may do enough work to protects you from COVID Variant.
“It’s important to say that public health should decide on booster vaccines, not on the heads of these vaccine companies,” Dr. Gandhi told ABC 7. His comments come after some were made by Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla, at the end of last week, in what suggested that the need for boosters is “probable” at the moment.
“Anyone who received the vaccine during their studies actually received it in July 2020,” she said. And of the 44,000 participants in the study, “We do not see infections detected, even in conditions of overvoltage.” This included residents of South Africa who were exposed to variant B.1.351.
T cell immunity, which Dr. Gandhi pointed out earlier, is more difficult to measure than antibody levels, may actually be very strong in the immunized population, denying the need for a third booster shot.
“I am very hopeful that we will not need these booster vaccines, but if we do, technology will make it very easy for us to get them in the future if we have outbreaks,” she told ABC 7.
Other experts said that while reminder photos may not be considered necessary, they may still be recommended for healthcare professionals, the elderly or other at-risk groups.
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