CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky and colleagues will soon review data for the new bivalent booster shot for COVID; she says it relates to very small changes in the mRNA sequence and that “shouldn’t impact safety at all…if we wait for those data to emerge in human data…not just mice data but human data…we would be using what I would consider to be a potentially outdated vaccine…it’s best to use a vaccine that’s tailored to the variant we have right now.”
Still, Dr. Walensky urges anyone who’s eligible to get the current booster right now while the U.S. government reviews the bivalent research. She points out that most of the cases of severe disease and death from COVID are unvaccinated or under-vaccinated people. “We have now given over 600 million doses of this vaccine in this country so we have an extraordinary safety profile, probably unlike any we’ve seen with any vaccine in history.”
Listen in to this important conversation with hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Android | Podchaser | TuneIn | RSS | More
Originally broadcast November 13, 2025 What if health care for moms and babies came with…
Originally broadcast November 6, 2025 Intimate partner violence affects more women in the United States…
Food insecurity could soon worsen for millions of families and result in devastating health outcomes.…
Originally broadcast June 5, 2024. A recent report from the Centers for Disease Control and…
Veterans Day, which is less than a month away, is a time to honor and…
Originally broadcast October 9, 2025 $44 billion in drugs that help Americans are purchased through…