According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and health agencies, the plan calls for an additional dose eight months after the second shot of Moderna or Pfizer vaccine. The first doses could be given starting Sept. 20.
Dr. Rochelle Walensky, Director of the CDC, stated that "our plan is to protect Americans, to keep ahead of this virus". The agency cited a raft studies which suggested that vaccines are losing ground as the highly contagious variant spreads.
Health officials stated that people who have received the Johnson & Johnson single-dose vaccine will likely need additional shots. They said that they still need more information.
The Food and Drug Administration will evaluate the safety and effectiveness a third dose and review the overall plan with a CDC advisory panel.
This announcement was made the same day that the Biden administration announced it would require nursing home staffers to be vaccinated in order to continue receiving federal funding. Despite the increased risk of death among seniors, hundreds of thousands of nurses home workers are still not vaccinated.
Officials stated that it was "very clear" that vaccines are not protecting against infection over time. They also noted the worsening situation in Israel which has seen an increase in severe cases among people who have been inoculated. The U.S. must get ahead of this problem to prevent it from becoming more deadly and leading to increased hospitalizations and death among those who have been vaccinated.
Dr. Anthony Fauci is the government's most prominent expert on COVID-19. He stated that it was better to "stay ahead" than chase it.
People in high-priority areas who received the first U.S. vaccines, such as nursing home residents, nurses, and health workers, would be given the first boosters. It is likely that health officials will recommend that the booster use the same vaccine brand that was used initially.
NYU Langone Health Center's Dr. Mark Mulligan welcomed the announcement and stated: "Particular leadership is being able see around the corner, make difficult decisions without all the data. I think that's exactly what they are doing here.
The U.S. plan was strongly opposed by top scientists from the World Health Organization, who pointed out that the poor countries don't get enough vaccine to start their first rounds.
"We are planning to give extra life jackets out to people who already own life jackets while we leave other people to drown with no life jackets," Dr. Michael Ryan, WHO's emergency chief, said.
Dr. Soumya Swminathan, the organization's top scientist said that the evidence doesn't support boosters being needed for everyone. She also warned that leaving billions unvaccinated in the developing world could encourage the development of new variants and lead to "even more dire" situations.
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Murthy stated that "we clearly see our responsibility towards both and that we have to do all we can to protect people at home, while acknowledging the fact that tamping the epidemic around the globe is going to be crucial."
Officials from the White House noted that the United States has given 115 million doses of vaccine to 80 countries. This is more than any other country combined. They stated that the U.S. has sufficient vaccine to give boosters to its citizens.
Israel already offers booster shots for people over 50. European regulators are also looking into this idea.
U.S. health officials suggested a third shot last week for people with weak immune systems such as transplant recipients and cancer patients. It would be a significant expansion of the largest vaccination campaign in American history, which already includes boosters for all Americans. Nearly 200 million Americans have had at least one shot.
Experts have raised concerns that the call for boosters could undermine the public health message and increase opposition to the vaccine by raising doubts among people already skeptical of the effectiveness of the shots.
The reason why vaccines seem to be less effective at stopping infections over time is that there are signs that the body's immune system responds to the shots differently to other inoculations. The vaccines may not be as effective against the delta variant of the virus as they are against the original. Scientists still have to answer this question.
Officials stated that the eight-month period was an assessment of when severe illness vaccine protection might drop, based upon the direction of current data. The surgeon general stated that there is nothing magical about this number.
Sixty-two months after the outbreak began, 620,000 Americans have been killed by the scourge. After President Joe Biden declared America's independence from COVID-19, just weeks later, the emergency rooms in the South and West are overwhelmed again. Cases are increasing at an average of nearly 140,000 per hour, quadrupling in a matter of months.
The CDC announced a series of studies that were conducted during the Delta surge. These studies suggest that vaccines are still highly effective in keeping Americans out the hospital, but that they are losing their ability to prevent infections.
One study examined COVID-19 infection rates in nearly 15,000 long-term care homes and nursing homes. The effectiveness of Moderna and Pfizer vaccines against infection dropped from 74% in March, April, and early May to 53% and 53% respectively in June and July.
All COVID-19 infections were examined, regardless of whether they caused symptoms. Researchers said that more research is needed to determine whether there was an increased incidence of severe infections.
Another study looked at 21 hospitals. The vaccine was effective in preventing COVID-19-related hospitalizations at 86% and 84%, respectively, at 2-12 weeks and 13-24 weeks. This difference was not significant.
Another study in New York found that hospitalization protection remained steady at 95% for the three months studied. However, vaccine effectiveness against new laboratory confirmed infections dropped from 92% in May to 80% in July.
The CDC also released data from the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, which showed that Moderna's vaccine was 76% more effective than Pfizer's.
Scientists have been searching for signs that deaths or hospitalizations are rising, in order to determine if boosters might be necessary.
Some leading scientists believe that the new studies are not sufficient to support a booster. Dr. William Schaffner is an infectious-diseases expert at Vanderbilt University, and liaison to an advisory panel of experts who help the CDC formulate its vaccine recommendations.
