60 mn Americans now eligible for Pfizer booster shots, Biden says

COVID-19 booster
Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

Some 60 million people in the United States are now eligible for a Pfizer booster shot against COVID-19, President Joe Biden said on Friday as a regulatory marathon laying bare divisions within the scientific community on the issue came to a close.

In the end, US health authorities have recommended boosters for three categories of people: those 65 and older, those 18-64 with an underlying medical condition such as diabetes or obesity, and those who are especially exposed to the virus because of their work or where they live.

The at-risk group is large and includes teachers, grocery store employees, health care workers, prisoners and people living in homeless shelters.

A total of 20 million people got their second Pfizer shot long enough ago—at least six months—to qualify now for a , Biden said.

“Go get the booster,” he said in remarks at the White House.

“I’ll be getting my booster shot,” the 78-year-old president added, “as soon as I can.”

Biden said people who have received Moderna or Johnson & Johnson vaccinations could get booster shots once studies have been completed and he expected that all Americans would be eligible “in the near term.”

Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), said Friday that data on Moderna and Johnson & Johnson booster shots would be evaluated “in the coming weeks.”

Some immunocompromised people in the United States have been eligible to receive a third dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine since early August.

Biden had wanted to launch a mass campaign of Pfizer and Moderna booster shots this week for all Americans.

But the move was put on hold by the US health authorities. Moderna did not submit the necessary data in time and experts were divided about what to do regarding Pfizer.

The CDC on Friday overruled its own panel of health experts to back Pfizer booster shots for individuals at high risk of exposure to COVID-19 because of their jobs.

‘The greatest good’

Walensky said the agency had to act on “complex, often imperfect data” for the greater good of public health.

“In a pandemic, even with uncertainty, we must take actions that we anticipate will do the greatest good,” she said.

Speaking at a briefing on Friday, the CDC director said “our healthcare systems are once again at maximum capacity in parts of the country.

“Our teachers are facing uncertainty as they walk into the classroom, and I must do what I can to preserve the health across our nation,” she said.

The CDC backed the expert panel’s recommendation of booster shots for over-65s and some with underlying medical conditions.

The decision came after the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Pfizer booster shots for a broader swathe of the American public.

A day before the CDC recommendation, its expert committee had voted against offering booster shots to workers in the higher risk category, adding to confusion around the campaign.

The hours-long debate left several experts torn, as the scientific community has so far failed to reach consensus on whether a coronavirus vaccine booster shot is necessary at this time.

Some experts have concerns about the lack of data on the efficacy and safety of adding another shot to the Pfizer vaccine regimen.

The original two doses are still proving successful at keeping the vast majority of their recipients out of the hospital with coronavirus, they say.

But data does suggest that the vaccine’s efficacy against infection does significantly decline in older people over time.



© 2021 AFP

Citation: 60 mn Americans now eligible for Pfizer booster shots, Biden says (2021, September 25) retrieved 2 October 2021 from https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-09-mn-americans-eligible-pfizer-booster.html

This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.

Note: This article have been indexed to our site. We do not claim ownership or copyright of any of the content above. To see the article at original source Click Here

Related Posts
Overactive Bladder, Urinary Incontinence Common in Middle-Aged Women thumbnail

Overactive Bladder, Urinary Incontinence Common in Middle-Aged Women

Dec. 22, 2021 (HealthDay News) -- Nearly one in five Japanese women report urinary incontinence related to overactive bladder (OAB) or stress urinary incontinence, according to a study published online Nov. 12 in Menopause.Kazue Nagai, Ph.D., from Gunma University in Japan, and colleagues investigated the prevalence and factors associated with urinary symptoms in women. The…
Read More
Mum's genius 10p oven cleaning hack goes viral thumbnail

Mum’s genius 10p oven cleaning hack goes viral

Oven grease is perhaps one of the peskiest things to get rid of when it comes to cleaning the kitchen, especially if you have a bad habit of getting oil everywhere. Fortunately, one genius mum has shared her extremely cheap oven cleaning hack and it only needs a very common household product. Sharing her trick…
Read More
Roundup: Kiang Wu Hospital extends AI partnership, United Family Healthcare to establish lung specialist centre, and more briefs thumbnail

Roundup: Kiang Wu Hospital extends AI partnership, United Family Healthcare to establish lung specialist centre, and more briefs

Kiang Wu Hospital furthers AI partnership with SenseTime Hong Kong-based AI tech provider SenseTime has entered into a strategic partnership with Kiang Wu Hospital, one of Macau's biggest and oldest hospitals.  This latest collaboration continues from the deployment of SenseTime AI modules last year to further boost the adoption and research of AI in healthcare.…
Read More
Suicide is not an option thumbnail

Suicide is not an option

Abuja, 13 October, 2022 - As of November 2019, Chidinma Ebele, 22 years old (not his real name), was on top of his game, starting a new job as a research assistant at a non-governmental organization in Abuja.    He had plans outlined for 2020 until the COVID-19 pandemic struck, and things went downhill for
Read More
Thousands of Yersinia cases are potentially missed in England annually thumbnail

Thousands of Yersinia cases are potentially missed in England annually

Researchers have estimated that around 7,500 Yersinia enterocolitica infections may go undiagnosed in England annually. Findings suggest a considerable number of yersiniosis cases are not recorded. The apparently low amount is probably due to a lack of laboratory testing, said experts. Scientists examined data on Yersinia cases in England between 1975 and 2020 to describe trends over time and
Read More
Index Of News
Consider making some contribution to keep us going. We are donation based team who works to bring the best content to the readers. Every donation matters.
Donate Now

Subscription Form

Liking our Index Of News so far? Would you like to subscribe to receive news updates daily?

Total
0
Share