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The New Normal: What does it mean to be vaccinated and boosted in the current stage of the pandemic?

News 12’s Elizabeth Hashagen was joined this morning by Dr. Paul Offit, the director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and a member of the independent advisory group to the FDA, to talk about vaccines, boosters, reinfection and new variants of COVID-19.

News 12 Staff

Jul 19, 2022, 2:58 PM

Updated 856 days ago

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News 12’s Elizabeth Hashagen was joined this morning by Dr. Paul Offit, the director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and a member of the independent advisory group to the FDA,  to talk about vaccines, boosters, reinfection and new variants of COVID-19.
As new strains of the virus have formed, the FDA has discussed creating vaccines for specific variants. Would a vaccine specifically for the Omicron variant be beneficial? The doctor explains why he voted no to this idea:
As people receive more booster shots, does that make them less likely to have an immune response against new variants?
Hospitals continue to be less overwhelmed than at the start of the pandemic as a result of vaccines preventing severe illness. Should the goal now be to minimize destruction to people’s lives?
Now that doctors have a better understanding of where the virus starts and how it replicates, should the focus be on creating new ways to intake vaccines? Dr. Offit talks about the possibility of a nasal spray vaccine and oral vaccines.
Vaccines and boosters continue to be created with the ancestral strain of the vaccine. Will people be locked in to this form of vaccine? Will those previously vaccinated with mRNA get added protection from if they switch to Novavax?
As severe illness and hospitalizations continue to decrease, have we entered a new phase of the pandemic?