In the past, the general thinking was that you needed to get a booster every 6 months or so, but now there seems to be a trend toward annual boosters along with the flu shot. But don’t COVID boosters lose a large percentage of their effectiveness over the course of a year? What is the “Straight Dope” on this?
The CDC has not offered any guidence for SARS-CoV-2 vaccine boosters or beyond the ‘updated’ BA.4 and BA.5 specific vaccines that were made available in September 2022. There is no schedule for annual or seasonal vaccination, and in general you are not eligible to receive any further vaccines unless your personal physician recommends it based upon potential risk factors. By and large, the government, like most of the population, has decided that the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic is over, is actively dismantling federally funded surveillance programs, and appears to be making little effort to prepare for either the emergence of a more virulent variant or another infectious pathogen with potential to become the next global pandemic.
So it goes.
Stranger
Well, here we are, Stranger & DaveRaver, trapped in the amber of this moment. There is no why. 
Anyway, @Stranger_On_A_Train summed it up pretty well. However, the best evidence available indicates that someone who’s up to date with the vaccines AND has had COVID is probably pretty safe for up to a year since they had their last vacccine/case of COVID.
Last fall, there was a White House briefing where Anthony Fauci said:
But, as @Stranger_On_A_Train notes, there doesn’t seem to be any official guidance in that direction that’s been given since then, and I’m not sure that it’s clear that the vaccine manufacturers are working toward that “annual booster” goal.
“And even if the wars didn’t keep coming like glaciers, there would still be plain old death.”
Frankly, these days I’m feeling more like Ike, Mike, and Mustard.
Stranger
As with so many things regarding this subject from day one:
We are not completely sure.
NPR recently reported that the FDA is going to allow some adults (over 65 or immunocompromised) get a second bivalent booster.
There’s still debate about whether this is a good idea, given that there’s a newer variant, but the article says the feeling is that’s it’s better to use the boosters than to just let them expire. There’s also mention that the FDA was planning to concentrate on an annual booster program for the fall.
With my last booster, my biochemist sister recommended trying to time it for a month or so before the expected peak season, so that’s what I’m doing.
Paywalled WaPo article looks interesting:
Past warp speed to next gen, huh? Can we skip past the first couple of boring seasons and get straight to the Borg?
After the last few years, be careful what you wish for.
Personally, I’m hoping for the movie where Biden has to face down a conspiracy, is put on trial and convicted of creating the virus, escape from a mining colony along with Dr. Fauci, and stop an assassination, all the while everybody is appropriating Shakespeare and Arthur Conan Doyle for some reason.
Stranger
“You have not experienced Shakespeare until you have read him in the original Klingon.”
It would explain Titus Andronicus at least, although The Merchant of Venice would seem to have a much more…Ferengi interpretation.
Stranger
I just today sought a covid booster after getting the last one in early October, and was refused by the pharmacist, even after I pointed out my cancer diagnosis. I’m 60.
@squeegee Frankly, best evidence and current recommendations do seem to side with the pharmacist. I’d tell a patient of mine in your situation to wait, also. And unless/until specific recommendations come out recommending earlier revaxxing, I’d tell the patient to plan on looking into getting boosted in early October of this year.
Cool, thanks for the informed commentary. I was surprised to be turned away, but not all that worried after five covid vaccinations. I have been and am going to travel overseas, so I thought more caution a good thing.
This should be a gift link
The gist is that the feds will provide funding and encouragement, similar to operation warp speed, for the following
ha and others said the new effort will focus on three goals: creating long-lasting monoclonal antibodies, after an evolving virus rendered many current treatments ineffective; accelerating development of vaccines that produce mucosal immunity, which is thought to reduce transmission and infection risks; and speeding efforts to develop pan-coronavirus vaccines to guard against new SARS-CoV-2 variants, as well as other coronaviruses.
We’re getting our second bivalent booster tomorrow at 10 a.m. Both of us are over 65 and we’re looking at some possible air travel in a couple of months. I made the appointments online at CVS, and nowhere did it refuse us, so I’m hoping the newest FDA recommendations are in effect.