Coronavirus in Context | COVID expert EricTopol speaks with drjohnwhyte and answers the many questions circulating about the COVID boosters. MedTwitter
JOHN WHYTE: Welcome, everyone. I'm Dr. John Whyte, the chief medical officer at WebMD, and you're watching Coronavirus in Context. Have you got your COVID booster? Do I mean the first one, the second one, third one? Is it the original one? Is it this new bivalent one? Who exactly should get boosted, and when? Well, joining me to answer all of those questions and more is my good friend, COVID expert Dr. Eric Topol. Well, Dr. Topol, thanks for joining me today.
The main thing is that once Omicron, and now all of its subsequent variants, lineages that we've seen, and we've seen lots of them now, we just don't have that kind of infection protection. You know, it may be 30%, 40% for a month or two, and then it basically falls off. The reason for a booster is just about prevention of hospitalizations and deaths, and to some extent also, The chance of preventing long COVID.
ERIC TOPOL: I know. I'm with you. The two most worrisome are BQ.1.1 and XBB. And we've learned a lot about these two. They're also picking up new mutations. So it's not just BQ.1.1 now. There's BQ.1.1.10, and XBB.1 or XBB.4. So basically, the virus is going through pretty rapid add-on mutation evolution.
JOHN WHYTE: What about the fact that a lot of people got COVID this summer? They're wondering, OK, Dr. Topol, they might be open to the idea of getting a booster, but when do they get it done, recognizing the immunity wanes in a lot of areas? The country, almost 90% of counties are in low transmission, so it depends where you live. How do they factor into that timing? They don't want to get it too soon, but they don't want to get it too late.
ERIC TOPOL: Yeah, well, a lot of -- by default, since the booster uptake is so poor in this country, since the virus -- ERIC TOPOL: If you're over 18 and you're past 6 months from when you got your primary shot, get it. Get a boost.
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