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Comment by TheCoelacanth | Hacker News Reader

Efficacy is currently high, but that doesn't mean it still will be in 12 months without booster shots.

In regards to that, it hasn't been 12 months since the first round of shots. Does this mean that vaccinated people will have to get boosters every 4 - 6 months due to dropping efficacy?

They almost certainly will, yes. Especially given that all the popular vaccines are spike protein vaccines only, which are relatively easy for SARS-2 to “learn” how to evade. Exposure to the whole virus provides a much broader set of epitopes for the immune system to learn.

I’d add that anyone who got vaccinated so that they can show proof of vaccination needs to understand that there’s no getting off the train. If you don’t get your booster you’ll be - gasp! - not fully vaccinated.

Exposure to the whole virus also produces a bunch of immune disregulating components which help make this virus particularly nasty.

People get vaccinated to protect themselves and others around them - boosters will increase that protection. Proof of vaccination is about excluding those who haven't been vaccinated - it is they who are on the train, though they can get off it anytime they choose.

Maybe, maybe not.

Current vaccines do not target mucosal immunity, but intranasal and inhaler delivery are being worked on in other vaccines.

Mucosal immunity would help reduce R0 and drive the disease to manageable levels.

Recently I saw it stated that people may need one in about 8 months.

For the general population, I don't think that's going to be much before January.

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