Are third doses of Covid-19 vaccines boosters or a necessary dosing schedule? Elizabeth Tracey reports

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Many vaccines require more than one dose to be effective in preventing disease, and Covid-19 is no exception. That’s according to Jonathan Zenilman, an infectious disease expert at Johns Hopkins.

Zenilman: We do know that the boosts, actually at several different dosing levels, provide exponential increases in antibody levels. The framework is are these really boosters or is the true schedule of the vaccine something that should be 0,1, and six months, very similar to other vaccines that we use. And actually was the problem that because of the pandemic they really needed accelerated schedules?  :28

Zenilman says that as global criticism mounts against providing third doses on a routine basis when so many people haven’t had even one dose, it’s worth considering that the best protection against Covid-19 may very well be a three or more dose regimen. At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.