, Columnist
Covid Boosters, Like Flu Shots, Need a Yearly Schedule
The FDA’s Peter Marks describes the next generation of vaccines and the roadmap for deploying them.
Peter Marks.
Photographer: Jim Lo Scalzo-Pool/Getty ImagesThis article is for subscribers only.
The world is waiting for a new generation of Covid-19 vaccines that last longer and can actually prevent infections. The existing shots have averted millions of deaths and hospitalizations, but the public’s willingness to get vaccinated seems to shrink with each new round of boosters. A new approach is needed to withstand the waves of variants.
I asked Peter Marks, the director of the Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, to explain what’s ahead with the next vaccines. Here is an edited transcript of our conversation: