News 12's Elizabeth Hashagen was joined by Dr. Paul Offit to discuss COVID-19 booster shots. Offit is the director of the Vaccine Education Center and an attending physician in the Division of Infectious Diseases at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. He's is also a member of the FDA Vaccine Advisory Committee and inventor of the rotavirus vaccine.

Who should be getting a COVID-19 booster?

Over the past few weeks, a common refrain has popped up in reports about the Omicron variant of COVID-19 - the variant seems to be "less severe" than earlier forms of the virus. But as hospitals fill up with coronavirus patients and infections skyrocket, there's some context needed to understand what the full impact of a less severe variant might be. Is Omicron a less severe variant of COVID-19? Why does that matter?

Is the number of cases underreported due to at-home rapid tests? Is the number of hospitalizations more important than the number of cases?

Should children who were previously infected by COVID-19 get the vaccine?