Dr. Fauci warns Americans may face having booster shots INDEFINITELY and says fully-vaccinated 'breakthrough' infections could still cause long COVID: FDA approves third dose for those with weakened immune systems

  • Fauci said 'there are a lot of factors' that go into making decisions such as whether people will routinely have to get vaccinated against COVID-19
  • He said researchers have already started conducting studies giving boosters to people who have already been full vaccinated
  • Those studies have shown hopeful promise that future booster shots beyond a third jab may not be needed
  • But Fauci said it was too early to say whether people would have to have the shots regularly, as many do with the annual flu jab  
  • Fauci said 'the only way' the public health officials will become certain whether continued booster shots will be needed will be by conducting further studies

Dr. Anthony Fauci said on Thursday that he can't rule out people having to have COVID-19 booster shots indefinitely as the virus continues to surge. 

Fauci, the chief medical advisor to the president, made his comments in an interview with Anderson Cooper on CNN in which he also warned that fully vaccinated people with so-called breakthrough infections can still get long-term COVID.

'We know a lot more than we did to start, but there's obviously, you know, we need to be humble in the face of this virus,' Fauci said.

Fauci said 'there are a lot of factors' that go into making decisions such as whether people will routinely have to get vaccinated against COVID-19 like an annual flu shot. 

He said researchers have already started conducting studies giving boosters to people who have already been full vaccinated, which have shown hopeful promise that future booster shots beyond a third jab may not be needed. 

'The good news about that is that the acceleration of the response goes way up. I mean even better than what you get with the two doses together. In other words, it goes up and up and then if you give a boost, it goes way up,' he said.

'I don't know for certain, but that could mean that you induce a response that's high enough - and durable enough - that you may not have to worry about what people are concerned about, needing a so-called boost every year or so.'

He continued: 'I would hope that the degree of elevation of response that we will see with the boost might actually give us a lot of wiggle room of not necessarily needing a boost often.'

'But I have to be, as you say, we are humble and we are modest about it. We don't know the answer to that.' 

Dr. Anthony Fauci said on Thursday that he can't rule out indefinite COVID-19 booster shots but that he hopes that, if booster shots are needed, just one will suffice

Dr. Anthony Fauci said on Thursday that he can't rule out indefinite COVID-19 booster shots but that he hopes that, if booster shots are needed, just one will suffice

Fauci said 'the only way' the public health officials will become certain whether continued booster shots will be needed will be by conducting clinical and observational studies.

Cooper asked Fauci how future booster shots would be administered - namely if people would get them at their doctor's office and pharmacies or at mass vaccination locations.

'We don't want to get ahead of ourselves,' Fauci said. 

'Let's assume that this occurs that we're making a decision to do this, it would have to be in an orderly fashion. So you would not want to say, okay, now everybody's going to go getting a third boost. It will be an orderly fashion in a timely way.'

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is working with vaccine makers Pfizer and Moderna to let some vulnerable people receive a third booster shot of their COVID-19 vaccines to improve their immune response. 

Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said on Thursday that the shots would be available to certain people who are moderately and severely immunocompromised.

That group, which she estimates sits at less than 3% of U.S. adults, would include people who have had organ transplants and some cancer patients.

Walensky said the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices will meet on Friday to discuss this issue and offer recommendations.

Some Americans have already taken it upon themselves to get booster shots themselves, even before they're approved.

Fauci did not condemn those who had done so, but said he'd urge anyone considering it to wait until more data becomes available.  

In his interview on Thursday, Fauci also issued a stark long COVID warning for people with breakthrough infections - those that happen even when someone is fully-vaccinated.

He told Cooper that breakthrough infection sufferers are still at risk of long COVID, a term for those who suffer from lingering symptoms for months after their body clears the infection.

'Certainly if you get vaccinated and you get a breakthrough infection, you can get long COVID,' Fauci said.

'We don't have enough data in that to say if it's the same kind of risk of getting long COVID of others. But it is likely it would be less because you got a good deal of protection from your vaccine.'