WASHINGTON, Sept. 24 (BNA): The US COVID-19 vaccination campaign was about to enter a major new phase as government advisers recommended booster doses of the Pfizer vaccine to millions of elderly and at-risk Americans – despite doubts that the extra shots would do. Much to slow the epidemic.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advisers said boosters should be offered to people 65 and older, residents of nursing homes and those ages 50 to 64 with underlying risky health problems.
The extra dose will be given once at least six months have passed since the last dose of Pfizer, according to the Associated Press.
Determining who might get one was more difficult. While there is little evidence that young people are at risk of compromised immunity, the panel offered the option of a booster to those ages 18 to 49 who had chronic health problems and wanted one.
Advisers refused to go any further and open up reinforcements to health care workers on the front lines who are otherwise healthy and who are not at risk of severe illness but who wish to avoid even mild infections.
All three COVID-19 vaccines used in the United States still significantly protect against severe illness, hospitalization, and death, even amid the spread of the highly contagious delta variant. But only about 182 million Americans, or only 55% of the population, have been vaccinated.
The booster plan marks an important shift in the country’s vaccination campaign. Britain and Israel have already given a third round of shots after strong objections from the World Health Organization that poor countries do not have enough for their initial doses.
The Director of the Center for Disease Control, Dr. Rochelle Walinsky, meeting Thursday by stressing that vaccinating the unvaccinated remains the paramount goal “here in America and around the world.”
Walensky acknowledged that the data about who really needs a booster right away “isn’t perfect.” “However, they are collectively a picture of us, and they are what we have at this moment to decide on the next phase of this pandemic,” she said.
The CDC stressed that its recommendations will be changed if new evidence shows that more people need the booster.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advisors expressed concern about the millions of Americans who received Moderna or Johnson & Johnson shots early in the vaccine launch. The government still hasn’t considered boosters for those brands and doesn’t have data on whether it’s safe or effective to mix, match, and give these people a dose of Pfizer.
“I don’t understand how we can say later this afternoon to people 65 and older, ‘You are at risk of severe illness and death, but only half of you can protect yourselves now,'” Dr Sarah Long said, from Drexel University. .
About 26 million Americans got their last dose of Pfizer at least six months ago, about half of whom are 65 or older. It is not clear how many others will meet the CDC’s promotion qualifications.
CDC data shows that vaccines still provide strong protection against serious diseases for all ages, but there is a slight decline among the elderly. Immunity to mild infections appears to wane months after people are initially immunized.
For most people, if you’re not in a recommended group to get a booster dose, “it’s really because we think you’re well protected,” said Dr. Matthew Daly of Kaiser Permanente Colorado.
Public health experts who were not involved in Thursday’s decision said it is unlikely that people seeking third doses at a pharmacy or other location will require proof that they qualify.
Even with the introduction of boosters, a person who only got the first two doses would still be considered fully immune, according to Dr. Kathleen Dowling of the CDC. This is an important question for people in parts of the country where you need to show proof of vaccination to eat at a restaurant or enter other workplaces.
The CDC concluded that among people who benefit from a booster, there are few risks. Serious side effects from the first two doses of Pfizer are extremely rare, including heart inflammation that sometimes occurs in younger men. Data from Israel, which has given nearly 3 million people – most of them 60 years or older – a third dose of Pfizer, revealed no red flags.
The United States has already allowed third doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines for some people with weakened immune systems, such as cancer patients and transplant recipients. Other Americans, healthy or not, were able to get boosters, in some cases just by asking.
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