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Hoge acknowledged that recently vaccinated Americans may be frustrated that additional shots could be needed in the future.

“Well, I’m sympathetic to the disappointment,” Hoge said. “Our current expectation is that we're going to need a booster probably annually for the near term, and then maybe in the future we'll be able to do it much less frequently.”

Pfizer is also testing booster vaccinations and monitoring the need to develop a specific booster shot against a newly emerged variant first identified in India.

“We want to make sure to have a vaccine available before the variant will raise levels of infections that are dangerous for the society,” Dr. Albert Bourla, chairman and CEO of Pfizer, said.

\"PHOTO:
Christopher Aluka Berry/Reuters
PHOTO: A supply of Pfizer's vaccine against coronavirus disease (COVID-19) seen after it is authorized in Georgia for ages over 12 years, at Dekalb Pediatric Center in Decatur, Ga., May 11, 2021.
>

Booster shots being studied by manufacturers include existing vaccine formulations, new strain-matched compounds or a combination of both. Multivalent vaccines contain multiple strain-matched compounds and could potentially expand protection against several new variants with a single booster shot.

Scientists say the mRNA technology behind the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines lends itself to rapid modifications of the vaccine. The vaccine developed by Johnson & Johnson could also be updated quickly.

“We should be able to produce it in less than 100 days,\" Bourla told ABC News. \"And this is our goal right now, so that we can always stay ahead of the [virus].”

\"PHOTO:
Chandan Khanna/AFP via Getty Images, FILE
PHOTO: A lab technician sorts blood samples inside a lab for a COVID-19 vaccine study at the Research Centers of America in Hollywood, Fla., Aug. 13, 2020.
>

With a major portion of the country and world still unvaccinated, some specialists caution that the most effective approach to ending the pandemic may not necessarily be through booster shots. The World Health Organization says existing vaccines remain effective at preventing severe illness and death even for newer variants.

And recent data has shown that the more people are vaccinated with existing vaccines, the sooner the pandemic will end.

“We have a global need for vaccine doses now, and the best way to reduce transmission and reduce the number of variants is to vaccinate as many people as possible,” Durbin said.

Deepak Ramanathan, M.D., is a chief resident in orthopaedic surgery in Cleveland and a contributor to the ABC News Medical Unit.

ABC News' Sony Salzman contributed to this report.

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