Will I need a coronavirus booster shot?

NEW YORK - New York State Senator Brad Hoylman received a Pfizer booster this week.

"I want to put my money or my arm, where my mouth is," Hoylman says.  "I'm somebody who's had the vaccine for nearly a year now and the need for a booster is based on clinical data that scientists are collecting from people like me who participated in the early vaccine trial."

Hoylman was invited to participate in a trial through the NYU Vaccine Center.  

The pro-vaccine legislator was fully vaccinated last August and did not receive a third dose but said he was given a slightly different formula of the Pfizer vaccine that he received earlier this year.

"I could have had saline solution injected in my arm because 50% of us get the real thing and 50% of us get a placebo," Hoylman says.  "I did have soreness in my arm and some achiness the next morning and a headache kind of like I did when I got the first shot, like so many of us experience."

Meanwhile, Moderna reports its vaccine is 93% effective against COVID-19 for six months after the second shot, but the effectiveness decreases after that window.

"If you have some percentage drop, but you are still getting strong protection," says Dr. David Hicks with the Jefferson County Health Department. "Is that significant for you to tell people to get a booster?"

For those who were vaccinated in the spring, experts say the current data doesn’t necessarily support the need for the general population to receive boosters in the fall.

According to Dr. John Wherry with the Penn Institue for Immunology, vaccine efficacy remains, "nearly 90 percent 6 months later."

"Having a little bit of drop-off in the antibody protection from the vaccine after six months doesn't necessarily mean you have to get a shot every six months, adds Hicks. "If you have some percentage drop, what if it drops to 85%? That is still phenomenal. What if it drops to 75%? That is still phenomenal."

Keep in mind, boosters are not yet available to the public. It remains unclear if and when the CDC will recommend a booster, not to mention whether or not mixing vaccines from different companies will be an option.