There Are No Credible Data To Support Coronavirus Booster Shots For General Population, Review Says

The New York Times (9/13, Mandavilli) reports, “None of the data on coronavirus vaccines so far provides credible evidence in support of boosters for the general population, according to a review published on Monday” in The Lancet “by an international group of scientists, including some at the Food and Drug Administration and the World Health Organization.” In the new review, “experts said that whatever advantage boosters provide would not outweigh the benefit of using those doses to protect the billions of people who remain unvaccinated worldwide. Boosters may be useful in some people with weak immune systems, they said, but are not yet needed for the general population.” In addition, the experts warned that prematurely promoting boosters and any reports of side effects caused by booster shots could undermine confidence in the initial vaccine series.
Bloomberg (9/13, Kresge) reports review authors “based their assessment on a wide range of real-world observational studies as well as data from clinical trials.”
STAT (9/13, Joseph), the AP (9/13, Neergaard, Perrone), TIME (9/13, Park), and HealthDay (9/13, Reinberg) also report on the review.