Fauci: COVID Booster Shot Likely Needed, More Needs to be Done to Build Adult Vaccine Infrastructure

“We will likely need a booster shot for durability of protection,” explained Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, this week, adding that unlike vaccines for some other diseases – such as measles - that essentially offer lifelong projection, “we are not likely to see that.”

Appearing on the Connecticut-based podcast Conversation on Health Care, Fauci said it has not yet been determined precisely when COVID-19 boosters would be needed, estimating that it could be in the year to year-and-a-half range. 

“Whether it’s going to be a regular boost, or maybe just once every few years, we don’t know.  We’re doing the studies now to determine what the need would be, number one, and what the right boost approach is.”

Conversations on Health Care features in-depth discussions on health policy and innovation with industry newsmakers from around the globe.  The weekly program, co-hosted by Mark Masselli, Founder and President/CEO of Community Health Center Inc. and Margaret Flinter, Senior Vice President and Clinical Director of CHC, can be seen in video format or as an audio podcast in Connecticut and across the country.  CDC Director Rochelle Walensky appeared on the program last month.

Fauci, who has led the National Institute of Health’s NIAID since 1984, was making a return visit to the program. Fauci has advised seven Presidents on HIV/AIDS and many other domestic and global health issues, and has been on the CHC program to discuss the agency’s leadership on emerging health care concerns on numerous occasions through the years.

Founded in 1972, CHC has become a leading independent, non-profit healthcare provider in the state of Connecticut, providing comprehensive primary care services in medicine, dentistry, and behavioral health to more than 145,000 people.

Responding to a question from Masselli regarding the efficacy of the nation’s infrastructure for adult vaccination versus vaccinating children, Fauci said the “infrastructure for childhood vaccines is infinitely better” than for adult vaccination, and “we have got to integrate the idea of adult vaccines right into the health care system.” 

He noted that “many physicians are doing that right now, encouraging their patients.” But that won’t be enough to reach all populations, now or in the future. “You’ve got to have an infrastructure that goes beyond requiring a physician.  You’ve got to be there, available, to be able to give vaccines to people who don’t necessarily have the accessibility of a physician that they could call up.”

“We have a ways to go,” Fauci explained, “because we haven’t solved that issue yet.”