President Joe Biden, fresh off his fiasco in Kabul, Afghanistan, let 80-year-old Dr. Anthony Fauci, Chief of Allergy and Infectious Disease at the National Institutes of Health [NIH], divert attention to the brewing crisis with Covid-19’s Delta variant. Going back and forth for weeks on the necessity of booster shots, new research indicates the Pfizer, Moderna and J&J vaccines are losing antibody immunity, especially six-to-nine months after full vaccinations. Reports that Moderna, that has three-times the mRNA as Pfizer, continues to provide more antibodies, doesn’t mean that vaccine recipients won’t need booster shots sometime soon. “I would not at all be surprised that the adequate, full regimen for vaccination will likely be three doses,” Fauci said today at the White House, leaving little doubt about the direction of the Food and Drug Administration [FDA]. Reports about diminished immunity prompted his statement.
Reports from Israel indicated that booster shots dramatically increase immunity for Pfizer and Moderna recipients. Israel dealt with the highly contagious Delta variant back in June, finding that the third vaccine booster helped curtail the spread of the disease, plus left most infected people with mild cases, not requiring hospitalization. Israel’s findings prompt the FDA to give vaccine makers impetus to create booster shots in the United States. Booster shots help curtail breakthrough infections both in terms of frequency and severity in Israel. Calling the booster shots “dramatic” and “durable,” the third shot reduced the incidence of infections by 84%. Fauci said the booster shots in Israel had “rather substantial and positive impact” with “a greater-than tenfold diminution in the relative risk of both confirmed infection and severe disease,” Fauci said, making the case for boosters in the U.S.
Regardless of the new MU, Columbia-based vaccine-resistant variant, Fauci sees no immediate risk of MU in the United States. He sees booster shots as helping to stop the spread of the Delta variant that’s been filling up ERs and hospitals around the country, especially in the South where vaccination rates have left many unvaccinated people infected with the Delta variant. Biden’s poll numbers continue to plummet by over 10% due Afghanistan and new Covid-19 infections. More Covid-19 infections around the country have given new impetus for a third round of vaccines, something that could happen in the next few months. Whatever differences in immunity or antibodies between the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, Fauci urged third shots or boosters for all three vaccines. FDA officials are debating actively when to start authorizing booster shots for all vaccinated citizens.
World Health Organization officials wants the U.S. to share extra vaccines does with the rest of the world before administering booster shots to U.S. citizens. But whatever happens with vaccines outside the United States, Biden seems determined to get booster shots to every vaccinated citizen. “I would hope that the countries that are boosting their populations similar to what we are understand the importance of global necessity to essentially suppress already donated 130 million does in some 90 countries, a contribution far exceeding any other country,” Fauci said. Fauci wants the WHO to know that the U.S. can supply more vaccines overseas, at the same time, help its own population by giving booster shots to citizens. Only 52.6% or 174,600,017 of U.S. citizens have been fully vaccinated as of Sept. 1. Polls show that Biden’s initial vaccine push has slowed to a crawl.
Fauci knows that changing the public’s mind about vaccines is far more difficult to getting the FDA to buy into the necessity of booster shots. “We can do both. We can protect the American people and contribute to the world,” said Jeff Zients, the White House Covid-19 team coordinator. Whatever the WHO thinks, the U.S. moves full-steam ahead on getting booster shots to its fully vaccinated population. Booster shots are expected to start in earnest Sept. 20, though immuno-compromised individuals are free to get booster shots now. Pfizer and Moderna are currently working on booster shots that deal with the Delta variant, the dominant strain in the United States. Getting more fully vaccinated citizens boosted is a high priority for the Biden White House, trying desperately to slow the spread of the Delta variant. Targeting workers in health care facilities would be a positive step.
Vaccine makers and the FDA must urgently work on getting vaccines tested and approved for children under 12. Pfizer is the only vaccine with emergency approval for 12 year-olds and above. But with so many Delta infections turning up in kids returning to school, it’s a matter of great urgency for school systems around the country to get children fully vaccinated. When polio ravaged the country in the 1940s and 1950s it was the FDA’s highest priority to vaccine all children in the United States. With Delta and new variants on the rise, approvals for children under 12 must be the government’s top priority. Like with polio, Covid-19 vaccines can be easily administered in schools, protecting children, teachers and school personnel. With some schools already closing due to Covid-19 infections, getting children vaccinated should be the Center for Disease Control [CDC] and FDA’s top priority.
