US coronavirus: Vaccine boosters for certain people are on the

On Sep 18, 2021

Advisers to the US Food and Drug Administration on Friday greenlighted recommending emergency use authorization of a booster dose of Pfizer’s vaccine six months after full vaccination for people 65 and older and those at high risk of severe illness from the virus. The US Center for Disease Control and Prevention is meeting next week with its vaccine advisers, and the agency determines the final approval for the shots.

Dr. Paul Offit, who is a member of the FDA Vaccines Advisory Committee, said vaccinating every eligible Americans remained the most important strategy.

“What is going to be the change in the arc of this pandemic by giving a third dose to people who are already vaccinated as compared to giving two doses to people unvaccinated?” Offit told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer on Friday.

It’s been a bleak trajectory in terms of hospitalizations and deaths over the past few months. On Thursday, the seven-day average of Covid-19 deaths hit 1,464, according to the CDC, the highest it’s been since March 1, which was before the widespread availability of the vaccines.

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In West Virginia, where 74 people have died from the virus since Wednesday, the governor is pleading for residents to get vaccinated. The state has fully vaccinated only 40.1% of its population, CDC data shows.

“We’re either going to run into the fire and get vaccinated right now, or we’re going to pile the body bags up until we reach a point in time to where we have enough people that have immunities and enough people that are vaccinated,” Gov. Jim Justice said Friday during a news conference. “The only thing I have in my arsenal that will make this get better is for you to get vaccinated. That’s all I’ve got.”

In Alabama, the increased availability of hospital beds is only because of the double-digit numbers in Covid-19 deaths, State Health Officer Dr. Scott Harris said Friday during a news briefing.

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“I would just say very respectfully and with compassion … there are two ways people leave the hospital, and one of them is not very good,” Harris said.

The state, where 41% of its residents are fully vaccinated, has been seeing “typically 40 or 50 or sometimes 60 deaths a day,” Harris said.

And at least seven pregnant people have died from Covid-19 in Alabama since the pandemic’s onset, Harris said. The state also averaged 23 pregnant people hospitalized with Covid-19 over the past week.

FDA advisers OK booster shot for certain high-risk people

Friday’s highly anticipated meeting to discuss boosters resulted in a recommendation from a group of advisers –vaccine experts, immunologists, pediatricians, infectious disease specialists and public health experts — that people 65 and older along with those at high risk of severe Covid-19 to get a Pfizer booster shot six months after they get their first two shots.

The committee stopped short of recommending a booster shot for 16 and older six months after they are fully vaccinated due to concerns about the safety of a booster dose in younger adults…