The short answer: Probably not right now.
Context: Dr. Eddie Stenehjem, an Intermountain Healthcare infectious diseases physician, helped author a new multistate study that found the effectiveness of a third dose of the COVID-19 vaccine decreases significantly after four months. However, the study still found that booster shots provide 78% protection against hospitalization after four months.
“Here in Utah, I think we’re in a position where we should wait on a fourth dose,” Stenehjem told the Deseret News on Tuesday.
Why no fourth shot yet?:
- The 78% protection against hospitalization after four months is “still quite, quite good," Stenehjem said.
- COVID-19 transmission is going down in Utah.
Of course, Stenehjem said the recommendation could change later in the year, such as in the fall when people receive their annual flu shots, or if another variant starts increasing case counts in the United States again.
The exception: If you're immunocompromised, it takes three shots to be considered fully vaccinated, so a fourth shot acts as a booster, said Dr. Hannah Imlay, a University of Utah Health associate professor of infectious diseases who treats the immunocompromised.
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