Schaffner points out that those who are nervous about getting the vaccine should consider that more than 600 million doses of the COVID shots have been safely administered in the U.S. 'We have ample data going back three years now showing that gaining immunity through vaccination is far safer than getting it by infection,' explains John Moore, a microbiologist and immunologist at Weill Cornell Medicine. Though research does show that so called 'natural immunity' that occurs after a previous COVID infection is as protective as getting vaccinated against the virus, it is much riskier and dangerous. 'For more than 40 years, flu shots have been updated annually to protect against new strains of influenza and we're now updating our COVID vaccines the same way.' Vaccination versus infectionĪlthough some still believe getting infected with the virus confers greater immunity than a COVID shot, the data continues to suggest otherwise. Schaffner explains that these updated vaccines are like the annual flu shot in that we are getting closer to needing only one COVID jab a year-rendering the term 'booster' obsolete.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) encourages people to stay up to date on their COVID vaccines. In the case of COVID-19, it takes an average of about seven months for such waning to occur from one’s last COVID infection and about nine months following one’s last COVID vaccine. Waning immunity occurs when protective antibodies and cellular defenses that were first stimulated by vaccine or infection diminish over time. The primary reason for the rise “is because immunity is waning for many people,' says William Schaffner, an infectious disease specialist at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. Last week, for instance, COVID-19 deaths in the United States rose by 8 percent from the previous week, and the number of hospitalizations hit 19,079-up by nearly 4,000 from the same week the month before. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the new COVID vaccines have arrived just as the latest strain of the virus is causing a spike in hospitalizations and death rates. Unlike earlier in the pandemic, when the initial vaccines were followed by a seemingly never-ending stream of boosters, the recently updated COVID vaccine is simple: a single shot.ĭeveloped by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna and approved on September 11 by the U.S.

Price chopper vaccine for covid