After giving the Covid-19 summer booster a lot of thought, I got it today. What the heck. I’m an old guy and the experts all agree that the summer surge is real, including the current leaders of the FDA Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (Vinay Prasad, M.D., M.P.H and Martin A. Makary, M.D., M.P.H.).
I read their article “An Evidence-Based Approach to Covid-19 Vaccination” published in the New England Journal of Medicine on May 20, 2025. It sounds like they’re going to require placebo-controlled trials for new vaccines for almost everybody except those over age 65 and high risk because they’re not recommending it for certain other groups such as healthy children.
I didn’t think it was worth the wait for the upcoming CDC ACIP meeting on June 22, 2025 in order to decide whether or not to get the summer vaccine. It’s the same one I got last fall and the same one the FDA advisory committee decided at this month’s meeting would be appropriate going forward (the JN.1 lineage).
It wasn’t like there was a long wait time to get the vaccine today. There wasn’t a line. I scheduled it but I didn’t have to because I got right in.
It’s true that vaccine uptake has been low. However, I think on balance they’ve been proven to be safe and effective so I’m not sure that placebo-controlled trials are warranted. I guess we’ll just have to agree to disagree.
Reference:
An Evidence-Based Approach to Covid-19 Vaccination
Authors: Vinay Prasad, M.D., M.P.H., and Martin A. Makary, M.D., M.P.H.Author Info & Affiliations
Published May 20, 2025
DOI: 10.1056/NEJMsb2506929
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