"Global health advocates are pushing back on the Biden administration's anticipated plans to start offering Americans a booster dose of coronavirus vaccine, arguing it will only deepen global inequalities.
Advocates argue that the evidence on boosters is not strong enough to justify widescale use, and the U.S. needs to focus its attention on sending more doses abroad in order to stop the pandemic from worsening.
"Low income countries still don't have enough vaccines to give a single dose to even their most vulnerable people," said Jenny Ottenhoff, senior policy director of global health and education at the ONE Campaign.
"This is just one more step that our government is taking that will widen the gap between the haves and the have nots. And this is not just some moral stain on wealthy nations; it's really prolonging the pandemic for the entire world," she added.
Biden officials are set to formally announce as early as Wednesday a plan to provide booster doses of Pfizer and Moderna vaccines to ensure lasting protection for Americans amid the highly contagious delta variant.
The move would represent a rapid shift in policy for the administration, which for months has been trying to tamp down a push for booster doses.
Just over 50 percent of Americans are fully vaccinated against the coronavirus, and while the pace of vaccinations has been increasing in recent weeks, millions are not vaccinated and have no interest in rolling up their sleeves.
Officials have tried to walk a fine line: They want to make sure the U.S. is prepared for any future COVID-19 complications, while also making sure to prioritize reaching the remaining unvaccinated.
The White House has also promised to be a world leader in donating the vaccine abroad, including purchasing and donating 500 million doses of the one manufactured by Pfizer-BioNtech.
Federal officials have said 200 million of those doses will be delivered by the end of this year, and the remaining 300 million will be delivered in the first half of 2022.
On Tuesday, the White House announced the first recipients: about 188,000 doses of the 500 million would be sent to Rwanda, along with an additional 300,000 doses from the existing U.S. supply.
President Biden and administration officials have also touted the fact that the U.S. has donated far more doses than the other wealthy nations combined.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki on Tuesday said it was a “false choice” that the U.S. would be unable to provide boosters domestically while also donating doses abroad.
"The U.S. is far and away the biggest contributor to the global supply. We will continue to be the arsenal for vaccines around the world. We also have enough supply and have long planned for enough supply should a booster be needed for the eligible population," Psaki said.
Ottenhoff said she thinks Psaki is right, and that the U.S. has the doses to spare.
"I think more than most countries, the United States is in a good position to do this," Ottenhoff said."
Metmike: The logistics of delivering vaccines to many of the locations in the poor countries is the biggest stumbling block to low vaccination numbers.
We could have a zillion extra doses in the US and some of those people wouldn't get the vaccine a year from now.
Maybe we should think of it as the 30% of Americans refusing to get vaccinated, giving up their 2 shots to the vaccine smart/educated Americans that want a booster shot.......their 3rd shot (-:
Like I said, I'll be one of the first in line to get my booster shot in October!
Booster shots will only be offered to Americans fully vaccinated with Moderna, Pfizer shots
The United States will begin widely distributing COVID-19 booster shots next month and will recommend them for most Americans who received the vaccine, according to several top federal health officials.
A joint statement from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Rochelle Walensky, National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci, Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, and acting Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Janet Woodcock said people will need boosters starting eight months after they received their second dose of the Moderna or Pfizer vaccine.
The single-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine will likely need boosters as well, they said, although more data is needed before making a formal recommendation. The J&J shot uses a more traditional adenovirus mechanism, whereas the Pfizer and Moderna shots use mRNA technology.
“The available data make very clear that protection against SARS-CoV-2 infection begins to decrease over time following the initial doses of vaccination, and in association with the dominance of the Delta variant, we are starting to see evidence of reduced protection against mild and moderate disease,” said the joint statement, referring to the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus that causes COVID-19.
Federal agencies, as a result, are now preparing to offer the booster doses starting on Sept. 20, they said, adding that individuals who were fully vaccinated will likely be eligible for the third shot, according to the statement. That includes some healthcare workers, nursing home residents, and other senior citizens.
“Based on our latest assessment, the current protection against severe disease, hospitalization, and death could diminish in the months ahead, especially among those who are at higher risk or were vaccinated during the earlier phases of the vaccination rollout,” said their joint statement. “For that reason, we conclude that a booster shot will be needed to maximize vaccine-induced protection and prolong its durability.”
Their announcement came after the White House COVID-19 press briefing on Wednesday, where health officials provided more information about the booster shots.
In the press briefing, Walensky said that the CDC analyzed data that suggested booster shots provided more protection against “severe disease, hospitalization, and death.” Walensky noted that a study found that Pfizer’s vaccine effectiveness against infection dropped over several months, with effectiveness dropping to about 53 percent in July. She said vaccines can protect against severe illness but acknowledged there is “increased risk” for death and severe illness “among those who were vaccinated early.”
Murthy and COVID-19 coordinator Jeff Zeints said during the news conference that the plan to distribute booster shots is contingent on whether the FDA and CDC approve them for most Americans before Sept. 20. The CDC last week recommended booster doses for immunocompromised individuals.
The move to recommend booster shots is sure to spark criticism from the World Health Organisation (WHO), which recently called on wealthy nations like the United States to hold off on recommending third doses in lieu of providing vaccines to poorer nations with lower vaccination rates.
In July, WHO director Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus rebuked Pfizer and Moderna for focusing on developing and selling booster shots, arguing in a statement: “We’re making conscious choices right now not to protect those in most need.”
There has also been criticism that Pfizer and Moderna are pushing U.S. officials to quickly recommend boosters to make a profit. Both firms are predicted to reap billions and billions of dollars in revenue from the COVID-19 shots in the coming years.
The federal officials on Wednesday appeared to preempt WHO criticism, with Murthy suggesting it’s a false dichotomy to suggest that the United States cannot produce booster shots and distribute vaccine doses to poorer nations. “We clearly see our responsibility to both,” he said.
Earlier this year, more than a dozen influential scientists told Reuters that recommending booster shots so soon may imperil the public’s confidence in the vaccine. Some scientists, including a former CDC director, also expressed concern about statements made by Pfizer executives that COVID-19 booster shots will be needed every 12 months.
“It’s completely inappropriate to say that we’re likely to need an annual booster, because we have no idea what the likelihood of that is,” Dr. Tom Frieden, former director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, who now leads the global public health initiative Resolve to Save Lives, told the news agency, referring to the claim that Pfizer shots will be needed every 12 months."
metmike: I'll be scheduling a booster for myself and my mother in law in October or November.