CDC panel tackles who needs booster shot of COVID vaccine

Biden Admin to Urge COVID Booster Shots for All, 8 Months After 2nd Shot.The guidance is expected to be announced as soon as this week.According to reporting in 'The New York Times,' .officials with the Biden administration say that COVID vaccine booster shots could be offered as soon as Sept.All three vaccines used in the U.S. will likely need a booster, .including the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine.All additional shots of the vaccines will require approval of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).Those likely to be first authorized for the shots include nursing home residents and health care workers.They will then likely be made available to seniors and other public workers, such law enforcement officers.It is likely to be recommended that those who are vaccinated receive the same vaccine for their booster.Data from Israel shows that vaccine efficacy tapers off over time.It shows a pretty steep decline in effectiveness against infection, but it’s still a bit murky about protection against severe disease, Dr. Peter J. Hotez, Baylor College of Medicine, via 'The New York Times'.The FDA recently authorized booster shots for those with weakened immune systems.The authorization was made despite the call issued by World Health Organization (WHO) for a moratorium on such shots.The WHO recommends halting booster shots until the end of September in order to distribute vaccine to nations with low vaccination rates

An influential panel of advisers to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention convened Wednesday to debate which Americans should get COVID-19 booster shots and when — a question that has proved more contentious than the Biden administration apparently expected.

The meeting came days after a different advisory group — this one serving the Food and Drug Administration — overwhelmingly rejected a sweeping White House plan to dispense third shots to nearly everyone. Instead, that panel endorsed booster doses of the Pfizer vaccine only for senior citizens and those at high risk from the virus.

While the COVID-19 vaccines continue to offer strong protection against severe illness, hospitalization and death, immunity against milder infection seems to be dropping months after vaccination.

Last week's FDA advisory panel decision was only the first hurdle as the government sets its booster policy. The FDA itself still has to decide whether it agrees with its advisers’ recommendation and will authorize Pfizer boosters.

If it does, the CDC then must recommend who should get the extra shots after hearing from its own Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, whose meeting was scheduled to extend into Thursday.

The priority still is to vaccinate the unvaccinated, who the CDC says account for most COVID-19 cases, now soaring to levels not seen since last winter. About 182 million Americans are fully vaccinated, nearly 55% of the total population.

“I want to highlight that in September of 2021 in the United States, deaths from COVID-19 are largely vaccine-preventable with the primary series of any of the three vaccines available,” said Dr. Matthew Daley, a researcher at Kaiser Permanente Colorado and CDC adviser who opened Wednesday's meeting.

Much of the deliberation at the meeting was expected to be about who is considered at high enough risk for an extra dose — for example, whether health care workers who are continually exposed to the virus should qualify for boosters.

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Another question was how many months after the second shot the booster should be given. Scientists have talked about six months or eight months.

Many experts are torn about the need for boosters because they see the COVID-19 vaccines working just as expected. It is normal for virus-fighting antibodies to wane months after vaccination. Even then, the body has back-up defenses against the virus.

Part of the government’s calculation is whether preventing “breakthrough” infections in the fully vaccinated could help tamp down virus transmission, protect young children who aren't yet eligible for vaccination and ease the burden on overwhelmed health care systems.

The government will decide at a later date whether to allow extra doses of Moderna or Johnson & Johnson vaccines.