Recently, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorized second Covid-19 boosters shot to adults 50-year and older and immunocompromized 12-year and older individuals.

Dr. Peter Marks, director of FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, reportedly said that ‘the aim is to give older adults the option to top up waning vaccine protection against severe disease as the virus continues to circulate,” writes the Reuters.

The second boosters are especially important for those 65 and older and those 50 and older with underlying medical conditions that increase their risk for severe disease from COVID-19.

– Dr. Rochelle P. Walensky, the director of the CDC (source: LiveScience)

The Star Tribune reporter Jeremy Olson writes that the new guidance has been confusing to many Minnesotans whether they too get one or not!

Dr. Frank Rhame, an Allina Health virologist, told Star Tribune that the guidance ‘makes it easier to issue a stronger booster recommendation in the event of another pandemic wave, but for now even infectious disease experts are uncertain’.

“Maybe the CDC will give us more. It’s probably a good thing, but it’s too speculative to provide a good basis for a recommendation so far,” Dr Rhame told the Tribune, who had led a local arm of the J&J vaccine clinical trial.

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Dr. John O’Horo, a Mayo Clinic infectious disease specialist, told Star Tribune “There does seem to be some advantage to getting the repeat booster, although the biggest benefit is seen when you go from unvaccinated to vaccinated. The boosters are really providing an additional benefit on top of that.”

John P. Moore, a professor of microbiology and immunology at Weill Cornell Medicine, told Live Science, told LiveScience “Broadly speaking, there’s a consensus that extra boosters are safe and that people aged 65 and older and immunocompromised people of all ages would benefit most from a second booster shot”.

“I think where there’s differences of opinion is for healthy people in their 50s. He is not a physician and therefore can’t offer medical advice, but he’s of the opinion that healthy individuals in their 50s can get the extra booster now if they want, but it’s not necessarily a priority for them.”