Advise Patients: COVID Booster Shots May Be Updated for Fall

It’s been established that being “fully vaccinated” against SARS-CoV-2 means not only the full course of initial shots but also all available booster shots. One challenge in advising patients accordingly is that recommendations keep changing. The latest revelation from the Food and Drug Administration is that doses of booster shots may be modified by autumn 2022 in order to include some version of the omicron variant that has proved to be dominant since its discovery. As with seasonal influenza vaccination, however, there’s no way to predict whether omicron or another (possibly yet-to-be discovered) variant will be the main COVID concern come fall. The exact makeup of the new booster dose has not been determined yet. It’s also not known which patients will be advised to receive the newly concocted booster shots once it’s available.