booster dose

noun

plural booster doses

: a supplementary dose of a therapeutic agent designed to increase the effectiveness of one or more previously administered doses

I take 162 mg a day, as well as a booster dose of 325 mg (one regular aspirin) once every two weeks instead of my usual dose.

—Andrew Weil

especially : booster shot

Kansas providers are beginning to make plans for distributing thousands of COVID-19 booster doses, with the federal government indicating residents will begin getting those shots starting next month.

—Andrew Bahl

Examples of booster dose in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

For that reason, doctors generally don’t recommend extra booster doses. —Aria Bendix, NBC News, 1 Mar. 2025

However, its effectiveness can vary depending on the variant, the type of vaccine, and whether a person has received booster doses. —Thomas G. Moukawsher, Newsweek, 30 Jan. 2025

While a nasal vaccine for Covid has yet to be approved for full use in the US, researchers at Washington University in St. Louis developed a Covid nasal vaccine that was employed for emergency use in unvaccinated people and as a booster dose in India two years ago. —Sam Delgado, Vox, 7 Dec. 2018

Kirsten Lyke, an infectious disease doctor and vaccine researcher at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, led a safety study on mixing and matching brands of initial Covid vaccines and booster doses. —Keren Landman, Vox, 7 Dec. 2018

Word History

First Known Use

1940, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for booster dose

• adios
• adipose
• amylose
• bellicose
• cellulose
• centavos
• comatose
• diagnose
• grandiose
• granulose
• levulose
• overdose

Medical Definition

booster dose

noun

: a supplementary dose of a therapeutic agent designed to increase the effectiveness of one or more previously administered doses

When possible, the drug [prednisone] was administered every other day, with booster doses during hemolytic crises.

—Russell E. Ware et al., The New England Journal of Medicine

especially : booster shot

… vaccines may have to receive a booster dose every five years after the original series.

—Marsha F. Goldsmith, The Journal of the American Medical Association