NBC News/Today
- COVID-19 vaccine booster shots are inevitable, Dr. Anthony Fauci said on the "Today" show Thursday.
- "No vaccine, at least not within this category, is going to have an indefinite amount of protection," he said.
- "Inevitably, there will be a time when we'll have to give boosts" to the general population, said Fauci.
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Those who are vaccinated against COVID-19 will "inevitably" need booster shots, said Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert.
"No vaccine, at least not within this category, is going to have an indefinite amount of protection," Fauci said during an interview on NBC News' "Today" show Thursday.
Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, added, "Inevitably, there will be a time when we'll have to give boosts" to the general population.
"What we're doing, literally, on a weekly and monthly basis is following cohorts of patients to determine if, when and whom should get it," Fauci said. "But right now at this moment, other than the immunocompromised … we're not going to be giving boosters to people, but we will be following them very carefully and if they do need it, we'll be ready to give it to them."
The Food and Drug Administration is reportedly expected to announce soon that it will authorize COVID-19 vaccine booster shots for immunocompromised Americans.
Fauci said immunocompromised people have different needs than the general population.
"I think the important thing to point out the difference between the immunocompromised - who really never really got a good response to begin with," said Fauci, who is President Joe Biden's chief medical advisor.
He continued, "So for them, it's more of getting them up to what they hopefully had gotten the first time around, but we know because of their immunocompromised, they don't."
This story is developing. Please check back for updates.