Leading infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci is responding to Senator Rand Paul’s (R-KY) accusations when he testified before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, USA. , July 20, 2021.
J. Scott Applewhite | Reuters
The U.S. will likely begin distributing Pfizer Covid-19 booster shots widely during the week of Sept. 20, but the launch of the Moderna vaccine could be delayed, Dr. Anthony Fauci, White House medical adviser.
The Biden administration has announced plans to offer third doses to people who received the Pfizer and Moderna shots, pending approval from public health officials. The US recommends an additional shot eight months after the second dose.
Only the Pfizer vaccine booster can get timely approval from the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for the implementation of the week of Sept. 20, according to Fauci, at CBS’s “Face the Nation.” People receiving shots from Moderna may have to stop longer while the company waits for regulators to sign a third dose.
“It looks like Pfizer has its data, it would probably meet the deadline,” the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases told CBS. “We hope Moderna will be able to do that as well, so we can do it simultaneously.”
“But if not, we will do it sequentially,” he continued. “So the end result is, most likely, that at least part of the plan will be implemented, but ultimately it will be everything.”
Sunday later, Fauci told CNN that for people who received two doses of the Modern vaccine, “it’s better to wait” for a third dose of Modern than to receive a dose of Pfizer. He noted that the US plans to publish data in the coming weeks on the mix of vaccines from different manufacturers.
The Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine is the most widely administered in the United States. More than 95 million people have received the full two-shot regime, according to CDC data.
Approximately 66 million people have been completely vaccinated with the Modern shot. Meanwhile, nearly 14 million people have received the shot of a single dose from Johnson & Johnson. Regulators have not announced plans for a J&J boost.
When ordering the third dose from Pfizer and Moderna, U.S. health officials cited data from the CDC that found infection protection decreased several months after the second shot. More than 1.3 million people have received an additional shot after the U.S. authorized certain immunocompromised individuals, according to the CDC.
On Sunday, White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain told CNN’s “State of the Union” that the administration will be “willing” as long as regulators approve them for wider use.
An FDA advisory panel will review Pfizer’s request for reinforcement on Sept. 17, just three days before the shootings are supposed to begin.
The Biden administration’s strengthening plan has provoked criticism in the United States and around the world. The World Health Organization has urged rich countries with higher vaccination rates to maintain additional vaccines until poorer countries can administer the first doses of vaccine in doses.
As the virus spreads around the world, the possibility of new, and potentially more dangerous, variants increases.
The White House has defended its reinforcement plan, citing U.S. vaccine dose donations to other countries. Last month, Fauci told CNBC that the U.S. gave 120 million doses to 80 countries.
“We’re doing both,” he said about vaccinating Americans and people around the world.
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