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“People who have been vaccinated are doing really well in terms of hospitalization,” said Michel Nussenzweig, an immunologist at Rockefeller University in New York. Omicron has made it clear that preventing all infections is a lost cause.

If vaccines have prevented the transmission and spread of the virus, regular supplements may make sense. “But what’s the point with the Omicron?” Dr. said Nussenzweig. “The endgame keeps people out of the hospital.”

Last fall, the nation’s top pandemic advisor, Dr. Anthony S. Fauci has repeatedly spoken of the importance of preventing symptomatic infections. But lately, he says what really matters is the hospitalizations.

To prevent infections, booster shots should be perfectly timed according to the circulation of a variant in the population. For example, many people who took a third dose in the early fall were vulnerable to Omicron as their immune boost was already diminished.

Generally, people are told to get a flu shot just before the virus begins to circulate in winter. Dr. If the coronavirus settles into a flu-like seasonal pattern, as it seems possible, “you can imagine a scenario where we give boosters every year before winter,” Hensley said.

Lessons from flu season also show that frequent vaccinations are less likely to help. Giving the flu vaccine twice a year “has a diminishing return, and so it may not make sense to get the vaccine so often,” said epidemiologist Ben Cowling of the University of Hong Kong. “Reactions are getting better and better for the first doses people take, but then there’s a turning point.”

“I think it would be difficult to get high uptake with more frequent vaccinations,” he added.

Some experts have expressed concern about taking boosters too often. some people do it on their own – it can even be harmful. In theory, there are two ways it can backfire.