The United States vaccination drive against coronavirus stood on the edge of a crucial new phase as Biden government advisers Thursday recommended booster shots of Pfizer vaccine for millions of Americans – older and vulnerable to infection. Advisers to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said booster shots should offer to Americans sixty-five and older, nursing home residents, and those people age fifty to sixty-four who have risky basic health problems. Moreover, the additional dose would be administered to people six months after their last Pfizer dose.

US sets the stage for COVID booster shots for millions
In this Jan. 12, 2021, file photo resident of Harmony Court Assisted Living receives the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine in Jackson, Miss. With booster doses of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine now authorized in the U.S., government advi… pic.twitter.com/KXMRuqgs5j

— Biedex Markets (@biedexmarkets) September 23, 2021

There is small evidence that younger Americans are at risk of weakening immunity; the panel suggested a booster for those Americans ages eighteen to forty-nine who have chronic health issues. Furthermore, the health advisers refused to go ahead and open booster doses to otherwise healthy front-line health care staff who are not at risk of severe infection but want to avoid even a minor infection.

Dr. Pablo Sanchez of Ohio State University said that give it to everybody eighteen and older. The United States has a very effective vaccine, and it is like saying it is not working. Still, getting the unvaccinated people their initial dose remains the top priority, and the panel struggled with whether the booster vaccine dose debate was diverting from that goal. All three coronavirus vaccines used in the United States are still highly protective against severe infection, hospitalization, and death, still with the spread of more contagious delta variants.

FDA Supports Pfizer Booster Vaccine Shots for Older and Vulnerable Weak Americans

Only around one hundred and eighty-two million American nationals received full vaccination or, in other words, only fifty-five percent of the population. Yesterday’s decision represented a dramatic decline of the Biden government plan announced last month to distribute booster shots to almost everybody to bolster their protection. Instead, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), just like the CDC panel, backs the Pfizer booster shots on Wednesday for a much narrower slice of the people than the White House proposed.

It is up to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to establish a final United States policy on who will get the third (booster) shot. A decision from the drug agency is expected later Thursday, but it usually follows the recommendations of its advisers. Additionally, the extra dose plan marks an essential shift in the vaccination drive of the country. Israel and the United Kingdom are already giving an extra round of vaccination shots over heavy opposition from the World Health Organization (WHO) that poorer nations do not have enough for their first doses.

Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the director of CDC, stressed at Thursday’s meeting that inoculating the unvaccinated people remain the top priority in American and across the world. She also acknowledged that the statistics on who really needs a booster shot right away are not perfect. In addition, the CDC panel stressed that it would change its recommendations if new evidence and data reveal more people need a booster.

What about those people who initially take Johnson & Johnson or Moderna?

The CDC advisers raised their concern about the millions of people in the country who received Johnson & Johnson or Moderna doses early in the vaccine rollout. However, the Biden administration still has not considered booster shots for those vaccine companies and has no statistics on whether it is effective or safe to mix-and-match and give those people at Pfizer dose. Around twenty-six million American nationals got their second Pfizer dose at least six months ago, and approximately half of them are sixty-five or older.

On the other hand, it is not clear how many more people would meet the booster qualifications of the CDC panel. Additionally, the CDC statistics reveal that the vaccines still offer strong protection against severe infection for people of all ages, but there is a minor drop among the oldest American adults. The immunity against the minor coronavirus infection appears to be weakening some months after the initial immunization of people.

Statistics from Israel, which administered almost three million people, mostly sixty and older, a booster Pfizer shot, has expressed no red signals. In addition, the United States already approved booster shots of the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines for some specific people with people having weakened immune systems, such as transplant recipients and cancer patients. In the end, the CDC concluded that among Americans who stand to benefit from COVID-19 booster dose, there are few risks, and they are following:

• Serious side effects from the initial two Pfizer vaccine doses are exceptionally rare
• Heart inflammation

Read Also: Johnson N Johnson Booster Dose Possibly will be Necessary