Earlier in the COVID-19 pandemic, as signs of waning immunity and changes in the virus prompted the rollout of additional doses of vaccine, health authorities took to urging Americans to seek out “booster” shots to improve their protection against the virus.
Now, with an updated vaccine formula rolling out for the fall, officials are changing that message to move away from the word “booster.”
Instead, doctors and health departments are now working on getting used to calling this year’s newly recommended shots the “2023-2024 COVID-19 vaccine” or simply the “updated COVID-19 vaccine.”
Virtually all Americans ages 6 months and older are now recommended to get one dose of these updated shots from Moderna or Pfizer, regardless of what vaccines they have or have not received before.
“Bye bye, booster. We are no longer giving boosters, and it’s going to be very difficult to stop using that word because that word has become pervasive,” Dr. Keipp Talbot, a member of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s committee of vaccine advisers, said.
Read more at CBSnews.com
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