(KNSI) – For the more than 3 million Minnesotans now fully vaccinated against COVID, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Wednesday that booster shots will be recommended for Americans eight months after they got their second dose of the Moderna or Pfizer vaccines. The reason, CDC says, is because protection against COVID infection starts to wane over time.
“Our plan is to protect the American people, to stay ahead of this virus,” CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said, as reported by the Associated Press.
For those who got the one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine, the CDC is still waiting on more research data before recommending any boosters.
In June, the World Health Organization had indicated that yearly COVID boosters could be necessary to keep more vulnerable people protected against virus variants. Back in April, Pfizer’s and Johnson & Johnson’s CEOs predicted that as immunity wanes over time, people could need yearly COVID booster shots, akin to how flu shots are administered.
“What Minnesotans need to know right now is that the vaccines provide strong protection against COVID-19, especially against severe illness and death,” the Minnesota Department of Health said in a statement Wednesday afternoon. “Booster doses likely will be needed in the near future to continue that protection, but people need to wait until the prescribed time to get that booster. Based on information from CDC today, boosters should become available starting the week of September 20. Booster timing is expected to be eight months after the second dose of Pfizer or Moderna vaccine. For example, this would mean that a person who got their second dose on February 1 should get their booster dose on or around October 1.
“Many vaccines require boosters to maintain protection,” the MDH’s statement continues. “While the COVID-19 vaccines continue to be very effective in reducing risk of severe illness, hospitalization, and death, the data shared by CDC indicate that protection against COVID-19 infection decreases over time. A booster dose eight months after a second dose of Pfizer or Moderna vaccines can extend that protection.”
Before the CDC’s announcement, Minnesota health leaders on Tuesday said they hadn’t yet heard any guidance on boosters, but state infectious disease director Kris Ehresmann speculated that if or when booster shots were recommended, most Minnesotans wouldn’t need them right away.
“We want to make sure that we’re taking full advantage of the immunity that the first two doses provide people,” Ehresmann said. “Not everyone in Minnesota would be needing to get a booster at the same time. So, there will be time, and there will be plenty of vaccine available.”
In essence, for someone who became fully vaccinated in June, a third shot would be redundant and wouldn’t add much to their already existing protection against COVID. However, health care workers and long-term care residents and staff who got their doses in January could benefit from an additional shot in the coming months.
The state has, in addition, started rolling out third doses of the vaccine for immunocompromised Minnesotans whose immune systems may not have built up robust protection from the first two vaccine doses.
Amid the booster news, MDH officials say the state’s first priority with COVID vaccinations is getting those first and second doses out to unvaccinated Minnesotans.
Editor’s note: This article was updated at 3 p.m. Wednesday to include the MDH’s statement on the CDC’s vaccine booster announcement.
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