Johns Hopkins leaders discuss COVID-19 vaccines and where we are today
BALTIMORE -- It has been more than two years since the first COVID-19 vaccine was administered in the United States.
Since that December 2020, doctors have created vaccinations to combat the virus.
Public health experts at Johns Hopkins said that in the past three years, about 75 percent of the world's population received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.
Recently, demand for the vaccines has been lower than expected.
Health experts at Johns Hopkins said on Tuesday that remarkable progress has been made since the start of the pandemic.
However, COVID variants continue to emerge as immunity decreases over time.
"We know that vaccine protection wanes over time and particularly rapidly for mild and moderate disease and certainly for infection," said Dr. William Moss, Professor of Epidemiology and Immunology.
Dr. Moss said, by now, most people have what's called hybrid immunity from the vaccine and having COVID, but it doesn't last forever.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says nearly 19 percent of the U.S. population still haven't received a COVID vaccine and only 16 percent are up to date with boosters.
Jeremy Saunders told WJZ he's part of that 16 percent.
He said travel plans motivated him to get the latest booster shot.
"I just got one before I came here because that seemed like the move," Saunders said.
As immunity wanes over time, like Dr. Moss said, so does the level of urgency from the public to get the latest vaccine, especially as hospitalizations continue to drop.
Dr. Moss also talked about vaccines still in development, calling this an exciting age of vaccinology.
"Those include the nasal vaccines," Dr. Moss said. "These will induce immunity in the mucosa of the nasopharynx, the site of initial viral replication. It may prevent infection and reduce transmission, so these are something to watch for."
What booster shots will look like in the future is still uncertain, but experts say it is possible the Food and Drug Administration will recommend administering COVID-19 vaccines potentially once a year.