US Health Officials Endorse FDA Expert Panel’s Decision On COVID-19 Booster Shot: Dr Fauci Disagrees

Is the booster dose of the COVID-19 vaccine needed for everyone? The FDA does not think so but Dr Anthony Fauci begs to differ.

It is believed that a booster dose of the COVID-19 vaccine will offer better immunity against the viral disease. Many experts say that just two doses of the vaccine may not offer long term protection since the effects wear off over time. A booster dose is therefore necessary. Though a booster dose rollout plan was being put in place in the United States, it hasn't yet been recommended by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA). An expert advisory panel of the FDA had recently said that COVID-19 booster shots should be limited to people above 65 years and those who are at high risk. It has rejected the broader use of the third dose among people aged 16 and above. This means that younger adults may not get the booster dose of the vaccine. US health officials have also endorsed this decision of the FDA. According to recommendations, only those people who received their second vaccine dose six or eight months earlier will be eligible for the booster shot.

Booster shot must be administered 6 months after second dose

The FDA is expected to take a final decision this week. An advisory committee of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is also supposed to meet and decide on how a third shot should be used. But, as of now, the FDA says that the booster dose should be administered at least six months after the second.

Third shot offers maximum protection

However, infectious disease expert, Dr Anthony Fauci, says that booster shots of COVID-19 vaccines are necessary for people to enjoy maximum protection against the viral disease. In fact, a 52-page presentation to the FDA prior to its recommendation by vaccine manufacturer Pfizer included data from a recent Israeli study, which revealed that a third dose of the vaccine can offer protection from both infections and severe illness in adults aged 60 years and above shortly after the injection. Another vaccine manufacturer, Moderna, has also claimed that protection from its mRNA vaccine lasts only for about six months. Dr Fauci believes that the "proper regimen, at least for an mRNA vaccine like Pfizer's, is the two original doses, the prime, followed in three to four weeks by a boost, followed several months later by a third shot."

What the Pfizer study says

Published in the New England Journal of Medicine, the Pfizer study says that the protective effects of the booster dose is evident after about 12 days post the shot. The researchers saw a eleven-fold decrease in rate of infection and almost twenty-fold decrease of severe disease in those who received a booster dose as compared to those who received only two doses.

Countries that have rolled out the booster shots

While the debate goes on in the US, many other countries have already started administering the third dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. Despite many experts, and even the World Health Organisation, saying that it may not really be needed, countries including Israel, the UAE, Russia, France, Germany and Italy have already rolled out the booster dose. A recent review in The Lancet also argued that vaccine efficacy against severe Covid is so high, even for the Delta variant, that booster doses are not appropriate for everyone at this stage in the pandemic. Even AstraZeneca endorses this view.

(With inputs from IANS)