US expected to back booster shots
Faced with research showing the waning strength of COVID-19 vaccines and the spreading of the Delta variant across the US, the Biden administration reportedly will recommend that people should get a booster shot eight months after they received their second dose for added protection.
Booster shots will begin as early as mid-to-late September after an application from Pfizer-BioNTech for the additional shot is cleared by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), according to reports in major US media outlets. Officials envision giving people the same vaccine they originally received.
Global access to vaccines is also important to stem the pandemic and prevent the emergence of new variants. Booster shots could crimp already tight global vaccine supplies. Last week, US health officials recommended boosters for some people with weakened immune systems, such as cancer patients and organ transplant recipients.
On Aug 4, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) called for a moratorium on administering booster shots to help ensure that doses are available in countries where few people have received their first shots.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called for the moratorium on boosters until at least the end of September to enable at least 10 percent of the population of every country to be vaccinated, he told a news conference.
Pfizer is furthest along in the regulatory approval process, so the initial booster shots could go to Americans who received that vaccine.
Moderna, which also produces a two-dose vaccine, has said it plans to ask regulators next month to authorize its booster shots.
Johnson & Johnson is expected to release data about the efficacy of two doses of its single-shot vaccine later this month.
The booster announcement by the White House had been tentatively planned for Wednesday, but it wasn't clear whether that would change, according to The Washington Post. The White House has declined to comment on the news reports.
The reports said that the first boosters are likely to go to nursing home residents, healthcare workers and emergency workers. People who received the earliest doses of Pfizer's vaccine were mainly healthcare workers and nursing home residents and are approaching the eight-month mark when they received their first dose.
Research shows that the authorized vaccines offer effective protection against symptomatic COVID-19 for at least six months. But the protection diminishes over time. The move for booster shots comes amid concern about Pfizer's vaccine's waning immunity.
Israel, which exclusively administered the Pfizer vaccine, just released data showing that for people vaccinated in January or February who are 65 years and older, the Pfizer vaccine was less than 55 percent effective against severe disease and hospitalization. The decline in effectiveness, which has been showing up in Israeli data for several weeks, has prompted that nation to begin administering a booster shot to people age 50 and above.
Data released last week from the Mayo Clinic found that the effectiveness of the Pfizer vaccine had fallen to 42 percent in July. The vaccine remained highly effective against severe cases that could result in hospitalization and death. More than 198 million people in the US have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, or 70 percent of those who are eligible, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Although vaccinations have been increasing, millions of Americans remain firmly opposed. The media reports Tuesday said that for months Biden administration officials had worried that conversations about boosters would undermine confidence in vaccines and dissuade people from getting immunized.
But health officials have decided to back a booster shot amid studies showing the waning effectiveness of the vaccines and the surge in coronavirus cases.
