Good Question: Do we need a third COVID-19 vaccination shot?

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (WBTV) - We’ve gotten some questions about whether you should get a third dose of the Moderna or Pfizer vaccine.

It’s because of this Delta variant that’s spreading.

Here’s a look at the last month in North Carolina.

Cases spiked Sunday to 6,800. They dipped down to 3,800 on Monday.

But this is still much higher than we’ve been used to.

Hospitalizations are steadily rising.

Health officials say this specific variant is much more contagious and there have been some breakthrough cases.

Meaning, they’ve been vaccinated, but still tested positive for COVID.

But again, it’s worth reminding you those who are vaccinated are far less likely to be hospitalized if they have a breakthrough case.

“The numbers that we’re seeing are are...unbelievable. They’re just unbelievably frightening,” said Dr. Aileen Marty, Florida International University Infectious Disease Expert.

“80 to 85 percent of those people who are hospitalized are unvaccinated, and a hundred percent of the people my ICU in the intensive care unit are unvaccinated,” added Dr. Yvonne Johnson, from Baptist South Miami Hospital.

Regardless, it has some people wondering, do I need to get another shot to boost up my immunity?

Good question.

The U.S. government has not approved booster shots.

“No American needs a booster now, but if the science tells us there’s a need for boosters, then that’s something we’ll do,” President Joe Biden said.

The World Health Organization has said there isn’t enough information to show a third dose is needed.

It’s also unclear who would need one, and when they’d need it.

Researchers are still trying to figure out when our immunity dwindles, and how much it decreases by.

Last month, Dr. Ashish Jha went on CBS This Morning to talk about who might need a booster in the future.

“Yeah, this is one where my views have changed because science has changed,” Dr. Jha said. “We’ve seen a lot of new data coming out in the last month or so, primarily from Israel, elsewhere, that frail elder, for instance, who are more than six months out from their second shot. They may need a booster. Other people, immunocompromised people need a booster. I don’t know that everybody in America needs a booster. I think I haven’t seen any data that says that’s true. But I think for some high-risk people, boosters make a lot of sense.”

Last month, Israel announced it would offer a booster shot to people over age 60 who had been vaccinated.

Not a whole lot of data on how it has worked, so far.

We know 420,000 Israelis have gotten a booster shot.

The Internal Health Ministry there says 14 people were infected with COVID about a week after receiving the booster shot.

Keep in mind, it does take about two weeks for a shot to provide you with its full immunity.

And by the way, the W-H-O is actually calling for a moratorium on boosters.

It’s concerned about the supply of vaccines.

It wants countries to hold off on boosters until ten percent of every country is vaccinated.

If you have a Good Question, send it to us.

We’ll try to get you an answer.

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