Covid-19 Vaccine Booster Shots to Be Offered to Americans Beginning September 20

US health officials and medical experts announced in a joint statement on Wednesday that booster doses of Covid-19 vaccine will be offered this fall, subject to authorization from the US Food and Drug Administration and sign off from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“We are prepared to offer booster shots for all Americans beginning the week of September 20 and starting 8 months after an individual’s second dose,” US health officials, including CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky and FDA Acting Commissioner Dr. Janet Woodcock, said in the statement.

“At that time, the individuals who were fully vaccinated earliest in the vaccination rollout, including many health care providers, nursing home residents, and other seniors, will likely be eligible for a booster. We would also begin efforts to deliver booster shots directly to residents of long-term care facilities at that time, given the distribution of vaccines to this population early in the vaccine rollout and the continued increased risk that COVID-19 poses to them,” the statement said.

The officials write that the authorized Covid-19 vaccines are “remarkably effective in reducing risk of severe disease, hospitalization, and death, even against the widely circulating Delta variant,” but it’s clear that protection against the coronavirus begins to decrease over time. Three separate studies demonstrate how protection against Covid-19 infection that vaccines provide may wane over time, Walensky said during the briefing.

While those initial booster doses will be for the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna vaccines, the officials noted in the statement that they anticipate booster shots will likely be needed for people who initially received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. The CDC also said on Wednesday that the FDA will review data on boosters among adolescents to determine when people younger than 18 will be part of the rollout.

The officials ended the statement by noting that they continue to expand efforts to increase the supply of vaccines globally for other countries, “building further on the more than 600 million doses we have already committed to donate globally.”

The White House’s plan to offer booster shots to vaccinated adults starting September 20 still depends on whether the FDA authorizes boosters and whether the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) recommends those boosters, Murthy said Wednesday.
ACIP is a group of medical and public health experts that develop recommendations on how to use vaccines in the United States.

Excerpted from “Covid-19 vaccine booster shots to be offered to Americans beginning September 20, health officials say” on CNN. Read the full article for additional details.

Source: CNN | Covid-19 vaccine booster shots to be offered to Americans beginning September 20, health officials say, https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/18/health/white-house-covid-boosters/index.html | © 2021 Cable News Network

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