As New York continues to grapple with shortages in the coronavirus vaccine distribution, an emerging body of research suggestions that people who have previously been infected might only need one of the two shots that people need to achieve near-complete protection against COVID-19. This could free up nearly 1.5 million vaccine doses if the federal government approves changes to the current distribution rules. ICAP’s Wafaa El-Sadr, however advises caution in making policy changes before having well-founded research to support this hypothesis.

“It is premature to call for policy change,” said El-Sadr in an email. “These are encouraging, albeit preliminary, data.”