49. To Boost or Not To Boost w/ Dan Barouch

Follow the Science

That’s a hard question, with a sudden change in CDC recommendations that everyone over 18 get one and not much explanation. Scientists have started to change their minds about boosters as they’ve seen more breakthrough cases. Another rationale was protection against the new variant – omicron - but it’s not clear how well our vaccines will work against omicron if it becomes dominant.

My guest is Dan Barouch, who is director of the Center for Virology and Vaccine Research at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and a researcher at Harvard Med School. A few years before the pandemic he designed a new kind of vaccine that became the J&J shot. He also led the team that adapted this vaccine to Covid-19 and did the pre-clinical studies that prepared it for human trials.

“Follow the Science" is produced, written, and hosted by Faye Flam, with funding by the Society for Professional Journalists. Today’s episode was edited by Seth Gliksman with music by Kyle Imperatore. If you’d like to hear more "Follow the Science," please like, follow, and subscribe!