Dr. Monica Gandhi, infectious disease expert at UCSF, who this week called for the scrapping of the urban outdoor mask mandate, also hinted at the widely accepted belief that vaccine booster shots will definitely be needed.
Referring to data on study participants in the vaccine trials, some of whom have been vaccinated since July 2020, Dr. Gandhi that booster shots may prove unnecessary, and that the T cells of the vaccine recipients may be doing a sufficient job to protect them against COVID variants.
“It’s important to say that it is public health to decide on booster shots, not the heads of these companies that make the vaccines,” said Dr. Gandhi v. ABC 7. Her comments come after some comments from Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla late last week in which he suggested the need for boosters was “likely” at this point.
“Anyone who received the vaccine during the trials will receive it in July 2020,” she said. And of those 44,000 study participants, “We don’t see any breakthrough infections, even in the setting of spikes.” This included residents of South Africa exposed to the B.1.351 variant.
T cell immunity, which, like Dr. Gandhi has previously emphasized is more difficult to measure than antibody levels, may in fact be very strong in the immunized population, obviating the need for a third booster shot.
“I am hopeful that we will not need these booster vaccines, but if we do, the technology will make it very easy for us to get them in the future if outbreaks emerge,” she told ABC 7.
Other experts have said that while the booster shots may not be considered necessary, they may still be recommended for healthcare professionals, the elderly, or other at-risk groups.
Earlier: Pfizer CEO suggests a third vaccination dose is likely to be needed, perhaps an annual occurrence like a flu shot
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