A new series of COVID vaccines is expected to be available in mid-September, leading to questions about how protective they will be against the latest variants and when people should get their shots.
Northeastern Global News talked to health experts at Northeastern about why they suggest waiting until October to be boosted and why the jury is still out on vaccine effectiveness against the latest variant to emerge, BA.2.86, also known as Pirola.
Latest vaccines based on variants circulating in spring
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the updated COVID vaccine will be available in mid-September.
The Pfizer, Moderna and Novavax boosters are designed to protect against omicron subvariant XBB.1.5, which began circulating widely last fall and was the dominant strain this spring.
“We’re switching to a model where we’re going to have annual vaccinations in the same way that we have with the flu vaccine,” says Neil Maniar, director of the Master of Public Health Program at Northeastern.
