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

Previously, Novavax was only authorized as a first booster dose for people who were unwilling or unable to get an mRNA shot. —Alexander Tin, CBS News, 3 Oct. 2023

The move aligns with Tuesday’s US Food and Drug Administration actions to allow these groups to get additional booster doses ahead of the fall vaccination campaign. —Katherine Dillinger, CNN, 19 Apr. 2023

Half a decade later, Borrell, now the European Union’s top diplomat, may be wondering whether the continent — and, in particular, his nation — is in need of a booster dose. —Ishaan Tharoor, Washington Post, 21 July 2023

But uptake of the most recent bivalent booster dose remains low: just 17 percent of all Americans - and 43 percent of those 65 and older - had received the shots as of May 10, according to the CDC. —Fenit Nirappil, Aara'l Yarber and Sheila Regan, Anchorage Daily News, 25 June 2023

Thus far, no schedule for a booster dose has been approved for mpox to boost immunity as case rates begin to build. —Paul Sisson, San Diego Union-Tribune, 5 June 2023

The move aligns with the FDA’s actions this week to allow these groups to get additional booster doses ahead of its fall vaccination campaign. —Alexandra Meeks, CNN, 20 Apr. 2023

Last month, the FDA approved a second bivalent booster dose for individuals 65 years and older, and those with weakened immune systems. —Kellie Hwang, San Francisco Chronicle, 3 May 2023

And while protection against mild infections is short-lived, booster doses continue to do a good job fighting severe disease and death even as more contagious variants have popped up. —Lauran Neergaard, BostonGlobe.com, 18 Apr. 2023

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Word History

First Known Use

1940, in the meaning defined above

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