COVID-19 Boosters Q&A With Dr. Josh Sharfstein
Public Health On Call
The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
4.6 • 644 Ratings
🗓️ 30 September 2021
⏱️ 18 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
What, exactly, is a booster shot? For which groups has the FDA authorized Pfizer boosters? What about boosters for Moderna and J&J? Will we need a fourth shot in the future? Will there be a delta-specific booster? Would it make a difference in world vaccine supply if the US refrained from giving any boosters? Stephanie Desmon interviews cohost Dr. Josh Sharfstein about these and more COVID-19 booster questions.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to Season 4 of Public Health On Call, a podcast from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. |
| 0:13.0 | I'm Josh Sharfstein, Vice Dean for Public Health Practice and Community Engagement, and a former Commissioner of Health in Baltimore City. |
| 0:20.0 | Our goal is to bring |
| 0:21.7 | scientific evidence and experience to current topics in public health through engaging interviews |
| 0:27.1 | with scientists, community leaders, policy experts, public health officials, clinicians, and more. |
| 0:32.8 | If you have ideas or questions for us to cover, please email us at public health question at jhhhu.edu. |
| 0:40.4 | That's public health question at jhhu.edu for future podcast episodes. |
| 0:46.8 | Today, Stephanie Desmond turns the tables and interviews me about a topic that has dominated |
| 0:52.8 | headlines recently. Booster shots. Let's listen. |
| 0:57.7 | My co-host, Josh Sharstein, thanks so much for joining me. Good to be here, Stephanie. |
| 1:02.4 | So let's start with a really big picture question. What is a booster shot? Is it just a third |
| 1:07.9 | dose of the same thing we've already had, or is it something special about it? Well, for the Pfizer vaccine, it is a third dose of the same thing we've already had or is there something special about it? |
| 1:11.6 | Well, for the Pfizer vaccine, it is the third dose of the same doses that have already been received. |
| 1:17.6 | My understanding is that Moderna may be looking for a smaller dose for a booster shot. |
| 1:23.6 | So talk to me about the news that we've been hearing. |
| 1:26.6 | So the booster shots are now approved for some people. Can you talk me through who? Well, technically they're not approved for anyone. They're authorized, which is a definition with a distinction. An authorization is the emergency use authorization that can only be |
| 1:48.7 | done during a declared emergency like the pandemic. And it reflects that there's not the same level |
| 1:55.4 | of evidence that you would expect for a full approval. But the evidence is there and has been reviewed by the advisory |
| 2:03.7 | committee to FDA, the FDA professional staff, the advisory committee to CDC, and now the CDC |
| 2:09.5 | director. So all that adds up to a recommendation that some people should get boosters and that |
| 2:17.0 | some people may receive boosters. The people who should get boosters and that some people may receive boosters. |
| 2:19.0 | The people who should get boosters, according to the CDC, are people who are 65 and older |
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