Here’s when to expect a 4th COVID-19 bivalent booster vaccine

Here’s when to expect a 4th COVID-19 bivalent booster vaccine

These new booster vaccines will also aim to rebuild immunity to the original coronavirus strain that people gained earlier on in the pandemic, explains Bernadette Boden-Albala, MPH, DrPH, the director [and founding dean] of the University of California, Irvine‘s program in public health. “A ‘bivalent’ booster simply means that it will target two different antigens, meaning it will respond to the original coronavirus strain as well as the Omicron variant,” Boden-Albala tells Good Housekeeping. “[Healthcare officials] are finding that the original vaccine hasn’t been as responsive to newer variants as we hoped, hence we need these bivalent boosters.”