Posted on Aug 7, 2021
Coronavirus booster shots for the immunocompromised expected to be authorized soon
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Federal health officials are racing to ensure that millions of Americans with weakened immune systems can get additional shots of coronavirus vaccines to protect them against the highly contagious delta variant.
The actions could mean the extra shots would be authorized in days or weeks, according to federal officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the plan has not been announced.
The stepped-up activity reflects increased urgency by the Biden administration to shield some of the nation’s most vulnerable adults as coronavirus cases rise sharply. That has increased as some other countries take steps to provide shots to people who are immunocompromised or older and as some Americans pursue the shots on their own.
In the next week or two, the Food and Drug Administration is expected to review data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention supporting the use of additional vaccine doses for the immunocompromised. If officials are persuaded, they will amend the emergency use authorizations for the vaccines to permit the extra inoculations. Advisers to the CDC and the agency, in turn, will urge people with certain medical conditions to talk to their doctors or pharmacists about getting the shots.
Immunocompromised patients represent about 7 million adults in the United States, including those who have received organ transplants, patients on cancer treatments and those with rheumatologic conditions and HIV, according to the CDC. They are more likely to become seriously ill from COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, and might more frequently spread the virus to others, experts say.
Israel is already offering a third dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine to severely immunocompromised adults. Germany said it also would start offering boosters to the elderly, the immunocompromised and those who got the AstraZeneca or Johnson & Johnson shots, because studies suggest they may be less effective than other vaccines.
The actions could mean the extra shots would be authorized in days or weeks, according to federal officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the plan has not been announced.
The stepped-up activity reflects increased urgency by the Biden administration to shield some of the nation’s most vulnerable adults as coronavirus cases rise sharply. That has increased as some other countries take steps to provide shots to people who are immunocompromised or older and as some Americans pursue the shots on their own.
In the next week or two, the Food and Drug Administration is expected to review data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention supporting the use of additional vaccine doses for the immunocompromised. If officials are persuaded, they will amend the emergency use authorizations for the vaccines to permit the extra inoculations. Advisers to the CDC and the agency, in turn, will urge people with certain medical conditions to talk to their doctors or pharmacists about getting the shots.
Immunocompromised patients represent about 7 million adults in the United States, including those who have received organ transplants, patients on cancer treatments and those with rheumatologic conditions and HIV, according to the CDC. They are more likely to become seriously ill from COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, and might more frequently spread the virus to others, experts say.
Israel is already offering a third dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine to severely immunocompromised adults. Germany said it also would start offering boosters to the elderly, the immunocompromised and those who got the AstraZeneca or Johnson & Johnson shots, because studies suggest they may be less effective than other vaccines.
Coronavirus booster shots for the immunocompromised expected to be authorized soon
Posted from stripes.com
Coronavirus COVID19
Medical
Edited >1 y ago
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 4
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The new media is full of reports to scare people to death about this virus. My wife is even questioning if she should get it. I told her to stop watching the news Lt Col Charlie Brown . I think the pharmaceutical industry is behind all this. They are the ones making the big bucks off of it.
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SMSgt Lawrence McCarter
I've told My Wife also not to watch the news so often, not only for the misinformation but depression. I would agree with You also on the grubbing for money from the Pharmaceutical industry, They have already made millions with full government sponsorship !
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Build the wall, shut the gate to all the illegals coming across the southern border, and for Gods sake stop transporting the illegals into all the cities of the US, that will stop the crisis and the peaks in the Virus
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