NIH’s Collins: Vaccine Boosters ‘Are Going to Be Necessary at Some Point’

Thursday on Fox News Channel’s “Special Report,” National Institutes of Health director Dr. Francis Collins acknowledged boosters for the COVID-19 vaccine could be necessary in the future, first for the immunocompromised, but ultimately for everyone.

Collins told host Bret Baier timing remained the question.

“So, right now, a booster for someone who’s immune-compromised, but possibility that we all get boosters come the fall?” Baier asked.

“I’m glad you mentioned the immunocompromised,” he said. “Clearly, we do want to help those folks who have not been able to raise an adequate immune response from the standard dosing. And there is clearly an effort to try to make that possible ASAP. And that is a separate circumstance. Those aren’t people who sort of needed a booster after six months. They are people whose initial immunization didn’t quite take.”

“For the rest of us, well, maybe this fall, I think all of us looking at the data will say boosters are going to be necessary at some point,” Collins added. “The question is, what’s the right timing? That’s what we’re really working to try to define from the most rigorous science that we can get our hands on.”

Follow Jeff Poor on Twitter @jeff_poor