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Why do I need a COVID-19 booster?

Why Do I need a COVID-19 Booster?

It’s been a year since the COVID-19 vaccines were released. What many people hoped would be a “one and done” shot has likely turned into a series of boosters to keep your immunity up. We take a dive and answer some FAQs about the COVID-19 vaccines.

How does a vaccine even work?

How do vaccines even work? Vaccines work by exposing your body to either a weakened version of the virus or a little piece of it. This makes your immune system mount a defense against it. Then when you are exposed to the real virus, your body remembers it and can find it and fight it more easily.

Vaccines work by stimulating your immune system and getting it ready to fight a virus.

An mRNA vaccine will tell your own cells to make a tiny non-dangerous part of the virus, which your immune system will immediately make B-cells and T-cells to fight against.

An adenovirus vaccine will expose your body to either a dead or weakened version of the virus, which will cause the same immune reaction.

With both vaccines your body has already created an army to fight the virus, so when it’s exposed to the strong live virus in the real world, your body is ready to fight it.

So why do I need a booster?

So why do I need a booster? It all comes down to how well your body remembers the disease it's fighting. In some cases (like the measles vaccine) the memory cells of the immune response were detected DECADES after vaccination. Other times like with the flu vaccine, your body forgets in about a year.

This has to do with the durability of your body’s immune response.

In some cases like with the HPV or measles vaccine, B-cells specifically created to attack those viruses have been found in people’s systems DECADES after getting vaccinated.

In other cases the immunity just doesn’t last that long. One example of this is the flu virus, where you need to get a booster every year because the levels of antibodies you created to fight the disease dwindle in just a few short months.

How long does immunity with the COVID vaccines last?

How long does the immunity from the COVID vaccines last? Scientists are still measuring people's immunity levels, but they have seen some drop off at around the 6-month mark. Immunity can also vary slightly among individuals.

Scientists are still measuring people’s immunity levels, but they have seen some drop off in protection levels around the sixth month mark that vary between the three FDA approved vaccines. Immunity may also differ slightly between individuals.

If immunity from the vaccines drops off, why bother getting vaccinated, especially if I’ve had COVID?

If I've had COVID why bother getting vaccinated? Natural immunity varies a lot from person to person, so it's very hard to tell how much immunity you'll have after a bout of COVID. Studies have shown that the immunity level you get from the vaccine is stronger than natural immunity.

If you’ve had COVID you will have antibodies that will boost your immune response to the virus. However, natural immunity levels have varied a lot between individuals.

Studies have also shown that the immune response from vaccination is much stronger than a natural disease induced response.

That’s why the CDC recommends getting vaccinated even if you’ve had COVID.

Are we going to have to get a COVID shot every year?

Are we going to have to get a COVID shot every year? The answer is, WE JUST DON"T KNOW. Scientists are tracking people’s immunity levels as we go. We may get lucky and this could be a three or four dose series like polio, or we may end up needing a boost every year along with our flu shot.

The answer is we just don’t know yet. Scientists are still trying to track people’s immunity levels and see how we respond to the initial doses and the booster. We may get lucky and this could be a three or four dose series like polio, or we may end up needing an annual boost every year along with our flu shot.

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