Fauci: ‘Hoping’ You Won’t Need COVID Vaccine ‘Every Six Months or a Year’

Biden chief medical adviser Anthony Fauci said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week” that he hoped COVID-19 boosters would increase immunization durability so that another shot every six months or year would not be needed.

Anchor Martha Raddatz said, “Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said there’s a high chance boosters would be needed annually. Do you think that’s a possibility, or do you believe it might be even sooner, like every six months?”

Fauci said, “You know, we follow the data, and there’s always  — it’s so easy to predict, Martha, about how often you would need it. We would hope — and this is something that we’re looking at very carefully — that that third shot with the mRNA not only boosts your way up but increases the durability so that you will not necessarily need it every six months or a year.”

He continued, “We’re hoping it pushes it out more. If it doesn’t, and the data show we do need it more often, then we’ll do it,”

Fauci added, “But we want to make sure we get the population optimally protected, and you do whatever you need to do, to make sure you do that. My hope as an immunologist and an infectious disease person is that responds and increases its strength and power, and it will be followed by a greater durability. That’s what I’m hoping for. It doesn’t happen. We’ll act accordingly.”

Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN