The Latest COVID Booster Is Here. Should You Get It?

Short Wave

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🗓️ 15 September 2023

⏱️ 13 minutes

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Summary

This week, the Food and Drug Administration approved new COVID vaccines this week. It comes at a time when COVID cases, hospitalizations and deaths are on the rise. It's also the first time that the federal government is not paying for the vaccines. Given this confluence of events, we huddled with our colleagues, intrepid health correspondents Maria Godoy and Rob Stein. They gave us the lowdown on the CDC's recommendations for who should get it, how protective the booster is, how to access it regardless of your insurance status—and even how time this booster with other vaccines that may be on your radar.

Check out Rob and Maria's full COVID booster Q&A here.

Have health question? Email us at [email protected].

Transcript

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0:00.0	You're listening to Shorewave from NPR.
0:05.4	Hey, Shorewaveers, Regina Barber here, with news that there's a new COVID vaccine on
0:09.5	its way to pharmacies.
0:11.3	The FDA approved the shots this week and a day later, the CDC weighed in on who should
0:15.9	get it.
0:16.9	So we figured it's time to call up our colleagues Rob Stein, and Marie Godoy, hey, Chica.
0:23.3	And we're here to talk all things booster vaccines, especially this booster.
0:27.5	It was initially developed with the Omicron Subvariant XBB15 in mind, and in the middle
0:32.7	of developing this vaccine, a new subvariant of Omicron emerged.
0:36.7	BA286.
0:37.7	Right.
0:38.7	And scientists were watching BA286 closely when it popped up in August and continued to
0:44.3	keep an eye on it because it contains more than 30 mutations on the spike protein the
0:49.3	virus uses to infect cells, which is a level of mutation on par with the original Omicron
0:54.9	variant that caused a massive surge.
0:58.3	And there has been a surge recently.
1:00.5	Yep.
1:01.5	Hospitalizations have jumped.
1:02.9	Some hospitals in schools have reinstated mass requirements, or at least actively encourage
1:07.8	people to wear them again.
1:09.6	But the experts that Rob and I have spoken to have said so far, this latest subvariant
1:14.4	is not better at evading vaccines.
	...

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