No vaccine to provide protection indefinitely, everyone will need booster shots: Fauci

Dr Anthony Fauci said researchers are collecting data to determine when the protection for vaccinated groups will go below a “critical level.”

Amid uncertainty over the use of vaccine boosters against coronavirus disease (Covid-19), top US infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci has said no vaccines that are in use in the United States are going to provide an indefinite amount of protection. Appearing for NBC’s ‘Today’ show, Fauci revealed that booster shots will be recommended “imminently” for fully vaccinated people with weakened immune systems.

Earlier this month, the World Health Organization (WHO) called for a moratorium on booster shots until at least the end of September. (AP)

While the 80-year-old immunologist said the United States is not going to administer booster shots in coming days to people other than those who are immuno-compromised, he acknowledged that “inevitably there will be a time when we'll have to get boosts” since “no vaccine, at least not within this category, is going to have an indefinite amount of protection.”

Fauci, the chief medical advisor to US President Joe Biden, said researchers are collecting data to determine when the protection for other vaccinated groups, like the elderly, will go below a “critical level”.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will have to amend emergency use authorisation for Pfizer and Moderna vaccines to approve booster shots for immuno-compromised people.

"I understand the concern of all governments to protect their people from the Delta variant. But we cannot accept countries that have already used most of the global supply of vaccines using even more of it, while the Earth globe Europe-Africa's most vulnerable people remain unprotected," the WHO chief said.

However, the call has largely gone unheeded with most of the high-income countries as they have moved ahead with their booster shots plan.