Good news. You may not need another booster for COVID-19 due to your memory cells, several studies suggest.
Most people have received two vaccine shots — 214 million people in the United States are fully vaccinated — from Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna. And if you received the one-time Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen vaccine, it’s recommended you receive a booster. This may be sufficient.
“We’re starting to see now diminishing returns on the number of additional doses,” said John Wherry, director of the Institute for Immunology at the University of Pennsylvania, according to the New York Times.
According to the study, two or three doses may be enough to protect your body against illness. And although numbers from the omicron variant have dropped significantly, researchers believe the variant may be able to sidestep some antibodies. But it would be unable to continue to do so with a booster.
The third shot produced more antibodies that help fight off the virus. This has led health officials to forgo recommending the fourth shot for now.