Why 8 Months? What's Behind Expected Timing of COVID Booster Shot

Federal health officials are expected Wednesday to present evidence for why people are likely to need COVID-19 boosters eight months after their second doses of a vaccine, according to sources with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The eight-month time frame is most likely based on findings from both the U.S. and abroad looking at how the vaccines have held up over time — and whether they can stand up to the hypertransmissible delta variant of the coronavirus that has overtaken the country.

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“Delta is forcing this discussion” on boosters, said Dr. Colleen Kraft, associate chief medical officer at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta.

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NIH Director Says New Israeli Covid Data Is Building Case for Booster Shots in the U.S.

Limited research from Israel, one of the first countries to begin widespread vaccination, which has almost exclusively used the vaccine from Pfizer-BioNTech, is likely to have played a role in the administration's expected rollout of timing for booster doses, doctors said.

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