The United States started a campaign to offer Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine booster shots to millions of older Americans after CDC approval
On Friday, the United States started a campaign to offer Pfizer coronavirus vaccine booster shots to millions of Americans even as national health officials stressed the actual issue remains to get initial doses to the unvaccinated. In addition, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Dr. Rochelle Walensky, warned that the U.S. would not boost the way out of the pandemic.
She noted that the huge majority of new coronavirus cases, hospitalizations, and deaths are among those who still have not received shots. Moreover, all three COVID-19 vaccines in the United States offer strong protection against serious infectious, hospitalization, and death despite the more contagious delta variant steering the cases to soar. However, immunity against minor infection appears to decline months after initial full vaccination.
US booster shots start, even as millions remain unprotected
President Joe Biden speaks about the COVID-19 response and vaccinations in the State Dining Room of the White House, Friday, Sept. 24, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)President Joe Biden speaks about t… pic.twitter.com/ewS8aJiclX
Americans concerned for another Pfizer shot lost no time getting ready after the CDC director ruled late Thursday on who is eligible for the booster dose: Americans sixty-five and older and others vulnerable people to illness because of fundamental health issues or where they work and live – once they are half-year past their last shot. After that, health officials should clarify confusion over who should receive a booster shot and why. But, for now, Walensky called the booster campaign “a first step.”
Will Americans be eligible for a booster that takes Johnson & Johnson or Moderna?
The booster campaign applies to Americans originally vaccinated with doses made by BioNTech and Pfizer. Decisions on additional shots for people who received Johnson & Johnson or Moderna vaccines are still to come. However, Joe Biden, the President of the United States, said after receiving a vaccination shot, you are in good shape, and the government is taking all possible steps to keep it that way, which is where the extra shot comes in.
Biden urged those people now eligible for booster dose to get the additional shot. The president also announced to get a booster dose of coronavirus vaccine and praised the decision of CDC to back Pfizer booster shots. Exactly who should get a vaccine booster shot was a combative decision as Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advisers spent two days focusing on the evidence.
If you got the Pfizer vaccine in January, February, or March — and you are over 65, have a medical condition, or work in a frontline job — you can go get your booster.
They will be available in 80,000 locations, including at over 40,000 pharmacies nationwide. pic.twitter.com/XT5oiTCedV
Walensky endorsed most of their choices: Americans sixty-five and older, nursing home residents, and those ages fifty to sixty-four who have chronic health problems like diabetes, transplant recipients, and cancer patients should offer one once they are six months past their last Pfizer vaccine dose. Those people eighteen and older with health problems can decide for themselves if they want a booster.
Concerns of CDC Advisers About Booster Shots
However, some of the advisers of the CDC are concerned that offering vaccine boosters so widely could go wrong without better evidence that it really will make a difference beyond the vulnerable amid medical conditions. The United States’ top infectious disease specialist, Dr. Anthony Fauci, warned against seeking a Pfizer third shot before the recommended six-month mark.
The US Launched Pfizer Booster Vaccination Shots for Older Americans Source: Web
The Biden government already approved third doses of the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines for some specific people with vulnerable immune systems, like transplant recipients and cancer patients. Other American residents, healthy or not, managed to get booster shots, in some cases simply by asking. Around one hundred and eighty-two million Americans received full vaccination doses or only fifty-five percent of the total population. Three-quarters of those Americans twelve and older – the ages eligible for coronavirus vaccination – have had the first shot.
