Vaccine Booster Shots Coming Soon
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Public health officials announced plans for vaccine booster shots for recipients of the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines. Plus, other Covid-19 updates.
Federal public health officials announced their plans for vaccine booster shots, pending approval from the Food and Drug Administration. For recipients of the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines, “we are prepared to offer booster shots for all Americans beginning the week of Sept. 20 and starting 8 months after an individual’s second dose,” said the statement. Those who were fully vaccinated earliest will likely be eligible first.
“We also anticipate booster shots will likely be needed for people who received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine,” said the officials. “Administration of the J&J vaccine did not begin in the U.S. until March 2021, and we expect more data on J&J in the next few weeks.”
Here are some of the other recent headlines you might have missed:
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s advisory committee on immunization practices will meet Aug. 24 to discuss booster shots, according to a notice published in the Federal Register. In order to formally vote on any recommendations about booster shots, the vaccine would need full FDA approval.
President Biden on Wednesday afternoon announced long-term care workers who serve Medicare and Medicaid enrollees will be required to get vaccinated. The Health and Human Services Department will develop regulations to establish this. “Some states have already taken similar steps to protect nursing home residents, and this action will ensure consistent and equitable standards across the country,” said a White House press release. “These new regulations would apply to over 15,000 nursing home facilities, which employ approximately 1.3 million workers and serve approximately 1.6 million nursing home residents.”
Biden also announced he will be issuing a memo to direct the Education Department to use all means necessary to safely reopen schools this fall. This involves the Education Secretary “using all of his oversight authorities and legal actions, if appropriate, against governors who are trying to block and intimidate local school officials and educators,” said Biden during his remarks. He also noted that his administration extended the timeline for the 100% federal reimbursement for states’ emergency response costs as well as mobilizations of the National Guard to support coronavirus relief efforts.
The Washington Post reported on Wednesday about how data problems at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention hindered the federal government’s response to the delta variant. “The CDC’s fumbles on the delta variant, following a year when its missteps were often attributed to Trump administration meddling, tell a more complicated story,” said the report. “Critics lament that the most up-to-date data about the delta variant has come from other countries … And they say the CDC’s inability to share real-time information led top administration officials, including the president himself, to offer overly rosy assessments of the vaccines’ effectiveness against delta that may have lulled Americans into a false sense of security.”
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