There were good reasons to believe that a third dose “will really be durable and, if it is durable, you are likely to have a three-dose regimen like the routine one,” Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, he said Thursday in a briefing.
“At some point down the line, we may have a way of knowing who needs an extra shot and who doesn’t,” Murthy said in a call from the U.S. Covid-19 Community Corps of Health and Human Services.
“At this time we do not have this indicator, which is why we recommend that not only people be vaccinated generally, regardless of whether or not they were infected in the past, but also when getting the vaccine these additional doses for maintain and expand your protection, which we do broadly, ”he said.
Although the doses are not yet available to the public, local health departments across the country have experienced a growing increase in calls from people who want to make appointments, according to the National Association of County and State Health Departments. the city.
Schools and universities take security measures
The risk of Covid-19 spreading to schools and campuses remains critical, and recent research shows how maskless behavior among unvaccinated people can lead to outbreaks.
To prevent similar outbreaks, some universities have established mandates to attend classes in person.
Virginia Tech dropped 134 students for failing to meet the university’s requirement that students be fully vaccinated against Covid-19 and “did not submit vaccination documentation or receive a medical or religious exemption,” according to a statement Monday.
“Communities with high vaccination coverage are experiencing lower pediatric cases and hospitalizations,” said CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky.
Along with vaccinations, the use of masks is also beneficial in slowing the spread of Covid-19, evidence shows.
New York State will require weekly tests of Covid-19 for teachers and other school employees, with an option for vaccinations, and will continue its mask mandate for everyone in a school building, it announced Thursday. Governor Kathy Hochul.
The new Mu variant is under observation
A new variant of the coronavirus designated as Mu by the World Health Organization is being monitored as a “variant of interest,” but federal health officials say they do not immediately consider it dangerous.
On Tuesday, the WHO designated variant B.1.621 as a “variant of interest” because it carries mutations that could help it partially bypass vaccines and treatments such as monoclonal antibodies. The WHO named it Mu under its system to designate important variants using the Greek alphabet.
“This variant has a constellation of mutations that suggests it would evade certain antibodies,” Fauci told Mu Thursday. “Not just monoclonal antibodies, but vaccine and convalescent serum-induced antibodies. But there is not much clinical data to indicate that they are primarily laboratory data, in vitro.
“In order not to minimize it, we take it very seriously. But remember, even when you have variants that slightly decrease the effectiveness of vaccines, vaccines are still quite effective against variants of this type. In short, we are “We take it seriously. But now we do not consider it an immediate threat,” he said.
The Delta variant still accounts for more than 99 percent of Covid-19 cases diagnosed and sequenced in the U.S., Walensky said Thursday, while Mu is rare.
“We’re looking at it closely,” he said.
CNG’s Maggie Fox, Lauren Mascarenhas, Jacqueline Howard, Deidre McPhillips, Naomi Thomas, Elizabeth Stuart, Rob Frehse, Hannah Sarisohn, Sara Weisfeldt, and Leyla Santiago contributed to this report.