Dr. Anthony Fauci has said that advice to Americans to receive a booster vaccine eight months after completing the COVID vaccine is “flexible” and added that he believes that “school vaccination warrants that force children to getting the vaccines ”is a“ good idea ”.
“We’re still planning for eight months. That was the calculation we made. This release will begin the week of Sept. 20,” Fauci told NBC’s Chuck Todd on Sunday.
“But, as we’ve said all along, Chuck, in the original statement, that’s the plan we have, but we’re open to the data as they come in.
“We won’t change it, but we’re very open to new data as it comes in. We’ll be very flexible about it.”
The news comes as COVID-19 cases and deaths continue to rise, with 38,341,339 cases recorded in total as of Wednesday. Meanwhile, the Centers for Disease Control reports a seven-day average of 142,006 cases this week, up nearly three percent from last week, where the average stood at 138,087 cases.
The current 7-day average is 107.2 percent higher compared to the peak of 68,522 cases observed on July 20, 2020.
Meanwhile, the current nine-day seven-day average, 864, has risen 11% compared to last week’s 779-day average. To date, there have been a total of 637,000 deaths nationwide caused by the virus since the outbreak of the pandemic in March 2020, according to the CDC.
Fauci added that the coronavirus booster shot is still pending formal approval by the Food and Drug Administration, as well as the advisory committee of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
While Fauci argues that the eight-month calendar remains the goal, he left room for possible delays, as health officials monitor the data on a daily basis.
Fauci said it was a “good idea” for schools to force children to receive their COVID-19 shots amid discussions about launching amplifier shooting, adding that doing so would be difficult for the first time.
Both have given advice that booster shots (one-third for people who received the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine and one-second for patients who had the only Johnson & Josnson vaccine) be given eight months after completion. .
Many Americans, including those vulnerable to COVID who were vaccinated earlier this year, have already begun receiving their promoters.
Fauci, who explains his current flexibility on the date range, added: “The data has been collected and we should have enough data by, I would say, late September, mid to late September, early of October, so that these data can be will be presented to the FDA to examine the risk-benefit relationship of safety and effectiveness, ”added Fauci.
In any case, the deadline to receive the third reinforcement shot could come earlier than expected, as President Joe Biden says after a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett on Friday.
The two discussed the possibility of decreasing the chronology between the second and third vaccine, according to The Hill.
“We are still eight months away. We will not change it, but we are very open to new data as they come in. We will be very flexible about it,” Fauci said on Sunday.
A medical worker in a school hall administers a dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine to a Leibniz-Montessori high school student in the midst of a coronavirus disease pandemic
Fauci added that the reinforcement shot is still pending approval by the Food and Drug Administration, as well as the advisory committee of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The question is: should it be less than eight months? Do they have to spend only five months? And that’s being discussed, ”Biden said.
Meanwhile, Fauci said it was a “good idea” for schools to force children to receive their vaccines against COVID-19 amid discussions about launching the booster shot, though he added that doing so would be difficult. it would be the first time.
The White House chief medical adviser cited the growing prevalence of the highly contagious delta variant, as well as the fact that students already need a variety of booster shots for school, as reasons to vaccinate even more. children against coronavirus.
“I think ordering vaccines for kids to show up at school is a good idea,” Fauci said Sunday in an interview with CNN State of the Union.
‘We’ve been doing this for decades and decades, requiring polio, measles, mumps, rubella, hepatitis. So this would not be a new thing that requires vaccinations so that children can come to school. “
Fauci, who has become a target of criticism from Republican Party members over the past year, told CNN he said the criticism is “just a reflection of the politicization of what should be an issue. purely public health and that is really unfortunate. “
Tsar COVID spoke while new research published in The Lancet Infectious Disease magazine showed that the COVID strain in the Indian Delta could double the risk of hospitalization among those who have not been vaccinated.
These results emerged from a study of UK hospital patients admitted with the virus, whose genomes were sequenced to find out which variant of COVID they had.