Coronavirus: World
US to roll out vaccine booster jabs next month amid spike in cases
These will be offered 8 months after 2nd shot to bolster protection against Delta variant
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A woman getting a dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine at a pharmacy in Schwenksville, Pennsylvania, last Saturday. Under a plan expected to be announced yesterday, some five million people in the United States - everyone who got two doses of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine by the end of January - would be eligible for boosters by late next month.
PHOTO: REUTERS
WASHINGTON • The administration of United States President Joe Biden has decided that most Americans should get a coronavirus booster vaccination eight months after receiving their second shot, and could begin offering the third shots as early as the third week of September, according to administration officials familiar with the discussions.
Officials were planning to announce the decision yesterday at the White House.
Their goal is to let Americans who received the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccines know that they will need additional protection against the Delta variant, which is causing caseloads to surge across much of the country.
But the new policy will depend on the Food and Drug Administration authorising additional shots. The first boosters would probably go to nursing home residents, healthcare workers and emergency workers, who were the first to be vaccinated last winter.
They would likely be followed by other older people, then by the general population.
Officials envision giving people the same vaccine they originally received. Some five million people in the US - everyone who got two doses of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine by the end of January - would be eligible for boosters by late next month, under the plan.
In all, more than 90 million people in the country have been fully vaccinated with Pfizer's product, and more than 64 million with Moderna's.
But about 40 per cent of the population have still not gotten even a first dose, a problem the administration will need to stay focused on, even as it turns to providing boosters.
Administration officials were expected to make the case yesterday that even if the booster plan shifts based on new data, it is prudent to have a strategy in place now.
The US reported more than 1,000 Covid-19 deaths on Tuesday, equating to around 42 fatalities an hour, according to a Reuters tally, as the Delta variant continued to ravage parts of the country with low vaccination rates.
Coronavirus-related deaths have spiked in the country over the past month and are averaging 769 per day, the highest since mid-April, according to the Reuters tally.
The Reuters tally from state data on Tuesday showed 1,017 deaths, taking the US' death toll from the pandemic to just under 623,000 people - the highest number of deaths officially reported by any country in the world.
The last time the US recorded more than 1,000 deaths on a daily basis was in March. It has reported more than 100,000 new cases a day on average for the past twelve days, a six-month high, according to the Reuters tally.
In interviews on Tuesday, hospital officials and doctors generally supported the push for booster shots. Unlike the vaccination campaign that began last winter, they said, this time there will be enough doses to go around, which should make things move more smoothly.
"I think we're running out of second chances," said Dr Matthew Harris, medical director of the coronavirus vaccination programme at Northwell Health, New York's largest hospital system.
Mr Biden's administration confirmed on Tuesday evening that it planned to extend requirements for travellers to wear masks on airplanes, trains and buses and at airports and train stations until mid-January next year.
The sometimes controversial requirement for people to cover their faces on public transport had been set to expire on Sept 13. The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) said on Tuesday in an e-mail statement that it intends to extend that rule until Jan 18.
"The purpose of TSA's mask directive is to minimise the spread of Covid-19 on public transportation," the agency said.
Covid-19 infections, driven by the Delta variant, have grown to levels not seen since last winter, which has prompted the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention to call for greater mask usage and other measures to stem the surge. The TSA had extended an earlier mask mandate last April.
NYTIMES, REUTERS
