WHAT’S PROMPTING ALL THE BOOSTER DEBATE? U.S. health officials have long said that people one day might need a booster -- after all, they do for many other vaccines.
That's why studies are underway to test different approaches: simple third doses, mix-and-match tests using a different brand for a third dose, or experimental boosters tweaked to better match different variants.
But last week, Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech announced that in August, they plan to seek Food and Drug Administration authorization of a third dose because it could boost levels of virus-fighting antibodies, possibly helping ward off worrisome mutants.