Andrew Pollard, one of the creators of the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine against Covid-19, said giving the booster dose twice a year was “not sustainable”.
“We cannot vaccinate the planet every six months,” the immunologist stressed to the British newspaper, The Telegraph.
Pollard, who also chairs the UK’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunization (JCVI), also highlighted the need to target immunization boosting to the most vulnerable, rather than giving doses to everyone over the age of 12.
However, he remembers, more data is needed to determine “whether, when and how often people at risk need additional doses” and also to determine whether or not a fourth dose is needed.
It should be noted that on Monday, Israel began giving a fourth dose of the vaccine to the population, specifically to all health professionals and people over the age of 60. Also in late December, German Health Minister Karl Lauterbach admitted that the German population would need a “fourth vaccination” against COVID-19.
In the current scenario, Pollard was optimistic, asserting that “the worst is over” and that the world “just needs to get through this winter.”
“At some point, society is going to have to open up. When we do that, there will be a period where infections will increase, which is why winter is probably not the best time.”
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