How long does COVID-19 vaccine protect against infection?

DORAL, Fla. – As the COVID-19 vaccine rollout continues, questions are being raised about just how long the immunity against the virus could last.

At this point, there isn’t a firm answer.

“Some experts are thinking the immunity should last a year,” said Jorge Jordan, a nurse practitioner with Kidz Medical. “[There] is also doubt that this is a lifetime vaccine-like measles, so at some time the CDC will have to determine when we get our booster shots, once a year, once every other year, that has not been determined yet.”

Jordan also addressed confusion about how the shot should be administered.

He said that rather than pinching the skin across the upper arm, the area should be smoothed and tightened before the injection, which he said should be rapid and direct into the deltoid muscle.

Also, researchers in the United Kingdom are now testing the efficacy of mixing vaccines in the fight against the coronavirus.

Volunteers for the human clinical trials will be given an initial dose of one brand of vaccine, followed by a second dose of a different brand to see if mixing and matching could boost the body’s immune response, especially against variants of the virus.

Immunologists say mixing various versions of vaccines has been done before, most recently in a cancer-related study, which showed a stronger immune response.


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