Referring to its conversations with health experts, Reuters News writes that people with high risks shouldn’t wait for the next generation of updated, Omicron subvariants (BA.4 and BA.5) as current vaccines appears to provide enough protections from severe illness. “And, as the virus evolves, it is not known what version will be widely circulating in the fall or whether new vaccines – expected to target BA.4/5 in the United States and BA.1 in Europe – will be a good match.”

Last Friday, the US government has reportedly ordered 66 million doses of Moderna’s updated Covid-19 vaccine for the fall season.

Dr. John Moore, a professor of microbiology and immunology at Weill Cornell Medical College, told Reuters “If you need a booster, get it now.”

Dr Moore further added “the evidence he has seen, including at a June U.S. Food and Drug Administration meeting and since, suggests that the benefit of a BA.4/5 booster compared to the original vaccine is ‘negligible‘ in terms of preventing infection. The public should not regard these Omicron-based boosters as some kind of magic bullet that’s going to change the face of the pandemic and solve all their problems. It will have a marginal impact compared to the booster we currently have.”

Dr Eric Topol, a genomics expert and director of the Scripps Research Translational Institute in La Jolla, California, told Reuter News “Too many people are waiting when we have really good proof. Getting a second booster offers a survival benefit over just one booster that has been documented in five different studies.”

“Whatever is in the pipeline is months away. This is a more virulent, more pathogenic version of the virus and being protected as best you can is smart,” Dr Topol added.