United States health officials announced every American, regardless of age, should get booster shots for the COVID-19 vaccine. However, there is a catch. The recommendation is likely to say to wait eight months after receiving your second dose of the vaccine before rolling up your sleeve for your booster shot.
This means health care workers, nursing home residents and other older Americans could soon be eligible for the booster shot. These groups got their first dose shortly after the vaccine received emergency use authorization last December.
Earlier this week, Dr. Francis Collins, the director of the National Institutes of Health, said the U.S. could decide in the next couple weeks whether to offer coronavirus booster shots to Americans this fall. Doses won’t be available until the Food and Drug Administration gives full approval of the vaccine. FDA officials are expected to rule on full approval for the Pfizer vaccine in the coming weeks.
Federal health officials have been reviewing case numbers in the U.S. as well as the situation in other countries such as Israel.
Israel has been offering boosters to people older than 50 who were already vaccinated more than five months ago in an effort to control its own surge in cases from the delta variant.
Back in the states, more than 198 million Americans have received at least one dose of a vaccine, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. More than 168 million are fully vaccinated.
For months, officials had said data still indicated people remain highly protected from COVID-19, including the delta variant, after receiving both doses of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines, or one dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. However, U.S. health officials said they are now preparing for the possibility boosters may be needed sooner rather than later.
“There is a concern that the vaccine may start to wane in its effectiveness,” Dr. Collins said. “And delta is a nasty one for us to try to deal with. The combination of those two means we may need boosters, maybe beginning first with health care providers, as well as people in nursing homes, and then gradually moving forward.”