COVID-19 summer surge: Should I get another vaccine booster?

While it seems like a distant memory for many, COVID-19 hasn’t forgotten about us. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) is reporting that there is an uptick in the number of COVID-19 cases across America. The timing of this uptick translates well with what we know about surges: in late summer, there seems to be an uptick in COVID cases. 

But how bad is that uptick and should you get another booster shot to protect yourself? Here’s what you need to know.

Is there actually COVID summer surge? While “surge” invokes different levels of increased activity for different individuals, we know that there has been a notable uptick in COVID cases across America as of late. The CDC’s COVID Data tracker says hospital admissions for COVID-19 were up 12.1% in the most recent week to 8,035. The most recent week encompasses July 16-22. That’s the highest level of COVID hospitalizations since May.
How does the current COVID rate compare to past summers? The good news is that the current level of COVID hospitalizations is well below summer 2021 cases at this same time, which reached almost 50,000. It’s also below summer 2022 cases at this time, which were above 44,000. However, the trend in both 2021 and 2022 from this same time shows cases usually continue to ramp up into August.
Why do cases tend to go up in August? That depends on a number of factors. But a main contributing one could be that August is the last month of summer vacation and so people tend to crowd together a lot at concerts and resorts and airports and tourist destinations. When more people crowd together, it’s easier for COVID to spread more readily.
What states have it the worst right now? The good news is that all states in America currently have a “low” rating when it comes to the number of COVID-19 hospitalizations. All states currently have fewer than 10 hospitalizations per 100,000 residents. But when you look at the rate of increase in COVID hospitalizations from the week prior, some states have it worse than others, including West Virginia (up 63.2%), Indiana (up 50.8%), Louisiana (up 40.8%), Nevada (up 40%), New York (up 33.7%), Tennessee (up 29.2%), Oklahoma (up 23.8%), and Texas (up 21.4%).
Should I get another booster shot? If you haven’t already had your recommended boosters, experts say you should get them. But if you’ve already had them, getting them again may not be as effective as those boosters were in protecting against the older Omicron BA.4/5 variants of COVID, since the most widespread variant now is of the XBB lineage. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced in June that it is coming out with an updated booster shot this fall, but it is not available yet. As for topping up on the existing booster, Dr. David Wohl, professor of medicine at the Institute of Global Health and Infectious Diseases at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, told Time that if you’re older or traveling or in close proximity to others, another booster may make sense, provided your last shot was more than three months ago. “If people are doing square dancing, playing bingo or going on cruises, and it’s been a long time since they were last vaccinated, they should probably top up sooner rather than later,” Wohl said.
When will the new COVID booster be out? According to Pfizer, updated COVID boosters that target the XBB.1.5 sub-variant could be authorized by the end of this month, NBC News reports. If that’s the case, the new booster could be available sometime in September.