WASHINGTON – Covid-19 booster shots will be made available to all American adults from next month, said United States (US) President Joe Biden, as his administration warned that the vaccines are showing a declining effectiveness against the infection.
The move comes as scientists and health experts grapple with how to beat back the surging Delta variant, and follows extensive debate over whether a third jab of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines will be appropriate.
Biden stressed this is “no time to let our guard down”, urging every over-18s American to get a booster eight months after becoming fully vaccinated.
“This will boost your immune response, it will increase your protection against Covid-19, and is the best way to protect ourselves from new variants that could arise,” he said in an address from the White House.
“It will make you safer, and for longer – and it will help us end the pandemic faster.”
According to the plan, which is still pending a final evaluation by the Food and Drug Administration, the boosters will become available beginning the week of September 20.
Top health authorities had earlier described how “waning immunity” after receiving the shots and the strength of the surging Delta variant are necessitating a booster for most Americans.
“We are concerned that this pattern of decline… will continue in the months ahead, which may lead to reduced protection against severe disease, hospitalisation and death,” said US surgeon general Vivek Murthy in a video press conference.
Murthy and other White House Covid-19 response team members said while the vaccines remain remarkably effective, the best way to shore up protection is via boosters.
They said they also anticipate third jabs will be eventually needed for people who received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, which rolled out in March. – AFP, August 19, 2021
