Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said Sunday said fully vaccinated population wont need booster COVID-19 vaccine Shots. So far, in the United States, more than half of the population has received at least one dose, and 47 percent of people are fully vaccinated.
As of July 9, the U.S. had administered more than 332 million shots of the authorized vaccines and had distributed more than 385 million doses. The CDC has also approved Pfizer’s vaccine for emergency use in adolescents ages 12 to 15, which is seen as key to helping the country reach herd immunity.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told on Sunday that the US government is not yet telling Americans who are fully vaccinated that they need a booster dose of the Covid-19 vaccine, based on the current data, despite Pfizer saying it might be time for a third shot.
Appearing on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Fauci told CNN’s Jake Tapper that the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the US Food and Drug Administration is saying right now, “given the data and the information we have, we do not need to give people a third shot, a boost, superimposed upon the two doses you get with the mRNA (Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna vaccine) and the one dose you get with (Johnson & Johnson).”
Fauci said that there are ongoing studies evaluating if and when the US will recommend booster shots.
“There’s a lot of work going on to examine this in real time to see if we might need a boost. But right now, given the data that the CDC and the FDA has, they don’t feel that we need to tell people right now you need to be boosted,” Fauci said.
U.S. regulators announced on July 8 that fully vaccinated people do not need a booster shot at this time. In a joint statement, the FDA and CDC emphasized that the vaccines that have been approved in the U.S. are highly effective, including against the Delta variant that is now the dominant strain in the country.
The agencies released the statement shortly after Pfizer and BioNTech announced that they plan to seek FDA authorization for a booster shot for their COVID-19 vaccine. The companies suggested that fully vaccinated people might need the third dose within six to 12 months to protect against the Delta variant.
A new study released this week also showed that people who have received two doses of the Pfizer or AstraZeneca vaccines remain protected against the Delta and Beta variants. However, among those who have only received one shot, the vaccine is ineffective against those variants. This highlights the need for full vaccination.
Further contradicting Pfizer’s claims, an earlier study also showed that the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines produce a “robust and prolonged” immune response that may last for years or even a lifetime. The findings suggest that people who are immunized with the vaccines may not need booster shots.
Pfizer and Biotech also announced that they are developing an updated version of the vaccine that specifically targets the Delta variant. They anticipate clinical trials will begin in August.
Fauci further said that the CDC and FDA will make their formal recommendations “based on data that’s evidence that proves we need to go in this direction.”
“Before you get that data, there will always be people, well-meaning people and well-meaning companies will say, ‘You know, the way we look at the situation it looks like you might need a booster so let’s go ahead and give a booster.’ But that’s not a formal recommendation,” Fauci said.
