Experts warn against giving second booster shot in the spring

Experts in the US and UK are warning against giving a fourth COVID-19 shot in the spring, citing the possibility of over-vaccinating populations.

The warnings come as Israel's Health Ministry announced earlier this month that it will be offering a fourth those 60 and older, immunocompromised people, and health care workers. Those eligible will have to wait four months after their third dose to receive the vaccines according to The Washington Post.

A number of experts though told the Daily Mail that administering a fourth dose so soon may not be advised, recommending instead a yearly vaccine schedule similar to that of the flu vaccine for older adults and immunocompromised people.

They state that more data on gaps between doses should be viewed before creating a vaccine schedule going forward, with some stating that the protections offered by the vaccine have barely waned nearly one year after the doses began rolling out to the public.

"Professor Lawrence Young, a virologist from Warwick University, insisted vaccines should protect against severe illness for much longer than they do against getting infected or becoming ill, suggesting that an annual booster for the elderly and vulnerable groups will be enough to thwart off Covid in the coming years," the Daily Mail reported.

Data shows that the efficacy of the booster preventing symptoms drops to 40 percent after just 10 weeks, but two doses of the vaccine still drastically prevents a person from being hospitalized with the virus, and a third shot improving those odds.

"Dr Simon Clarke, a microbiologist at the University of Reading, admitted he 'can't see' governments pushing out Covid vaccines every three months for much longer. He said: 'Although after two-and-a-half months immunity starts to wane, that doesn't mean it drops below being extremely effective,'" the outlet added.

Clarke added that the only way to see the long-term effectiveness of the booster shots was to wait and see. "We can only get that long term data over the long term, there's no crystal ball with this. We just don't know what the optimum strategy is."

With the shots still providing protections against hospitalization, experts are warning against releasing another round of vaccines so soon.

According to the Daily Mail, One of the UK Government's own advisers has warned that giving people vaccines every three months may make it impossible to "defeat" COVID-19.

"It would see the UK's national Health Service have to dish out the equivalent of up to 50 million jabs every 90 days, or around 550,000 every day. This would put the cost of an annual vaccination drive in the region of £4billion (around $5.4billion) , based on one jab being priced at around £20 ($27) per dose — similar to Pfizer," the Daily Mail reported.

National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director Dr. Anthony Fauci said last week that it may be "premature" to be talking about a fourth jab.

"One of the things that we're going to be following very carefully is what the durability of the protection is following the third dose of an mRNA vaccine," he said.

"If the protection is much more durable than the two-dose, non-boosted group, then we may go a significant period of time without requiring a fourth dose," Fauci continued. "So, I do think it's premature, at least on the part of the US, to be talking about a fourth dose."

Professor Ian Jones, a virologist at the University of Reading, noted that while vaccine response "clearly wanes," it is not clear whether the booster shot experiences the same waning, also adding that the concept of issuing boosters every 10 weeks is "not doable."

"Boosting every 10 weeks or every time a new variant appears to be on the rise is not doable and in consequence I think we need some sort of grading system for new variants to ensure we act appropriately and practically," he said.

Jones also stated that those describing the omicron variant as a "natural vaccine" may be correct, though warned against "chickenpox parties" for people to contract the virus.

"Whatever version you were infected with your immunity would be boosted," he told the Daily Mail. "That mild bit suits us because it means we can get immunity without, or with much less, risk."

"You have to be careful here not to stretch it to things such as chickenpox parties because there will always be a vulnerable minority and to encourage infection puts them at risk," he said.

Clarke though warned against the idea of labeling the current strain as a "natural vaccine."

"The immunity we've had from other variants doesn't protect all that well against Omicron, so there is no reason to think it works in the other direction," he said, adding that "The idea that viral evolution is a one-way street to the common cold is absolute bullsh*t."

Clarke said that there will be an "optimum" gap between doses, but "we just don't know what it is yet," noting that it "won't be good" if jabs are done too far apart or close together.