Older adults in the U.S. should get another COVID-19 booster even if they received one in the fall, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The guidance was released on Wednesday from Mandy Cohen, CDC director, and the CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP).
The agency recommended that adults ages 65 years and older receive “an additional updated 2023-2024 COVID-19 vaccine dose” due to an “increased risk of severe disease from COVID-19 in older adults,” as stated in the announcement.
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Those who are immunocompromised are also eligible for an additional booster, as announced in October 2023.
“Today’s recommendation allows older adults to receive an additional dose of this season’s COVID-19 vaccine to provide added protection,” said Cohen in a press release.
“Most COVID-19 deaths and hospitalizations last year were among people 65 years and older,” she added.
“An additional vaccine dose can provide added protection that may have decreased over time for those at highest risk.”
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Dr. Marc Siegel, clinical professor of medicine at NYU Langone Medical Center and a Fox News medical contributor, said the decision about whether to get an additional dose depends on the patient and the prevalence of the virus.
“I am certainly keeping an eye on my older patients in high-risk groups, especially those with chronic illnesses like diabetes, cancer, COPD and obesity — but this is not ‘one size fits all,’” he told Fox News Digital.
“The vaccine is a useful tool and it appears to be effective against the prevailing strains,” he added.
“I would not be giving it routinely to all unless new evidence emerges that it is wearing off.”
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Dr. Jacob Glanville, a virology expert and founder of Centivax, a San Francisco pharmaceutical company, said the CDC’s advice is based on the much higher risk of death by COVID-19 in this age category, combined with the relatively low 51% efficacy of the vaccines against current mismatched circulating strains.
“A boost can serve to increase the proportion of antibodies and T-cells that can still respond to a mismatch strain, and thus provide additional protection,” Glanville told Fox News Digital.
As of Feb. 23, the share of adults 65 and over that have received the updated COVID vaccine was 41.8%, according to CDC data.
The compliance rate was 22.3% for adults 18 and over and 13.1% for children.
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