The Biden administration will recommend that most Americans receive a coronavirus vaccine booster shot eight months after their initial vaccination, the New York Times reported on Monday.
Health-care providers could be allowed to offer booster shots around mid-September, two administration officials told the Times. Nursing-home residents and health-care workers, the first groups to be offered initial vaccinations in late 2020 and early 2021, probably will be the first to receive booster shots.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention already recommends that immunocompromised Americans receive a booster shot.
Countries including Germany and the U.K. have plans to administer booster shots to their citizens in September.
Israel, which almost exclusively uses the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, has already begun administering boosters to residents over 50 years old. Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla confirmed on July 28 that Israeli data showed a decline in the vaccine’s efficacy over time, adding that he is “very confident” that administering boosters would solve the issue.
“We have seen also data from Israel that there is a waning of immunity and that starts impacting what used to be what was 100% against hospitalization. Now, after the six month period, is becoming low 90s and mid-to-high 80s,” Bourla told CNBC. “The good news is that we are very, very confident that a third dose, a booster, will take up the immune response to levels that will be enough to protect against the delta variant.”
Source: National Review
