Why we may need a booster for COVID-19 vaccines
Pfizer is prepared to administer them, and the CDC is saying they are not needed at the moment, find out why booster shots may become necessary.
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All Americans who received the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines, regardless of age, will need COVID-19 booster shots eight months after getting the second shot, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said Wednesday.
Officials say they are prepared to offer booster shots as early as Sept. 20 pending FDA approval. Boosters also will likely be needed for people who received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, and a plan for those shots will come after public health and medical experts get more data in the next few weeks, according to a HHS statement.
The initial doses will go to those who were fully inoculated earliest in the vaccine rollout, including health care providers, nursing home residents and other seniors.
The news comes amid anxieties about the Pfizer vaccine’s waning immunity and the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of booster vaccines for immunocompromised people. It also comes as the delta variant rages across the country.
The variant accounts for more than 98.8% of American cases, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Tuesday.
The report, which compiles data up to Aug. 14, was released as the U.S. hit 37 million cases since the start of the pandemic, according to Johns Hopkins University data. August has been the third-worst month for coronavirus cases in 2021, behind only January and February.
Meanwhile, every state has reached a partial vaccination rate of at least 50% among those eligible, ages 12 and up, with some states exceeding 80%, said White House COVID-19 Data Director Cyrus Shahpar.
But the US needs “high vaccination coverage everywhere to be fully protected,” he said on Twitter.
Also in the news:
►More than two weeks after hundreds of thousands of people gathered for the outdoor music festival Lollapalooza, Chicago officials are touting the event as a success with just over 200 resulting infections.
►Indigenous people have been the most likely group to be hospitalized and die of the virus, according to the CDC, and a new study shows many states don’t report specific tribal data in death records or do so inconsistently.
►In the latest political volley in Arizona over COVID-19 mask mandates, Gov. Doug Ducey is creating two grant programs that would provide funds to families and school districts that reject mask mandates.
►New Zealand’s first coronavirus outbreak in six months has grown to seven people. The announcement Wednesday came a day after Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern imposed a strict lockdown after the first case was reported. The lockdown is for at least three days for the country and at least a week for the cities of Auckland and Coromandel.
►Air, train and bus travelers will need to mask up the rest of the year and into mid-January. The Biden administration is expected to extend the requirement yet again, through Jan. 18, 2022, according to multiple reports.
📈 Today’s numbers: The U.S. has had more than 37 million confirmed COVID-19 cases and 623,500 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University data. The global totals: More than 208.9 million cases and 4.38 million deaths. More than 168.8 million Americans — 50.9% of the population — have been fully vaccinated, according to the CDC.
📘 What we’re reading: As more and more unvaccinated people lose loved ones to COVID-19, a chorus of regrets has started to resonate. Experts say those voices could persuade fence-sitters to get vaccinated – a crucial step toward ending the pandemic. Read more here.
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Protection provided by COVID-19 vaccines declines over time, but protection against the most severe effects of the disease, including hospitalization and death, remains strong, according to three studies published Wednesday by the CDC.
The research, released as three articles in the agency’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, show the vaccines’ effectiveness against the delta variant is also “generally decreased,” CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said Wednesday. The drop in effectiveness varies depending on the cohort, but the data consistently demonstrates a reduction.
A study of 10 million New Yorkers found effectiveness decreased from 92% in May to about 80% in late July, Walensky said. Data from Mayo Clinic Health System facilities showed the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine’s effectiveness declined from 76% to 42% and Moderna’s declined from 86% to 76%, she added. Plus, reports from thousands of nursing homes showed effectiveness dropped from 75% in March to 53% in on Aug. 1 among the most vulnerable populations during the months when delta was the dominant strain, she said.
But an analysis of patients at 21 hospitals in 18 states found “sustained high protection from severe COVID-19 requiring hospitalization” through July.
Top U.S. infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci said Wednesday the data indicates that antibody levels decline over time regardless of the variant, but a booster dose increases antibody levels tenfold. Higher levels of antibodies correspond with higher levels of vaccine efficacy and may be needed to protect against the delta variant.
“All of this support the use of a third booster mRNA immunization,” Fauci said.
Members of the Florida Board of Education determined two school districts have violated state law and could be punished for ignoring bans on mask mandates.
Members voted unanimously Tuesday for Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran to enforce an executive order by Gov. Ron DeSantis and a state rule by the Florida Department of Health that requires school districts to allow parents to opt out of mask mandates. School districts in Alachua and Broward counties could face possible loss of funding, removal of local officials and further action from the state Legislature.
Superintendents from both counties said during the teleconference meeting that their districts were complying with state law and attempting to provide safe learning environments for students. In both districts, students can be exempted from wearing a mask with a doctor’s written recommendation. The state rules say students should be able to go maskless with the permission of a parent or legal guardian.
Despite the threats, the school board in Alachua voted Tuesday night to extend its mask mandate for students for eight more weeks.
A small Texas school district added masks to its dress code for students and employees to circumvent the governor’s executive order banning mask mandates in public schools.
The board of the Paris Independent School District voted during an emergency meeting Tuesday to change the dress code before its nearly 4,000 students return to class this week. The dress code will be reconsidered at each monthly board meeting, the Paris News reported.
“The Board believes the dress code can be used to mitigate communicable health issues, and therefore has amended the PISD dress code to protect our students and employees,” board members said in a statement.
As the legal battle over masks in schools continues in the state, at least four school districts have closed campuses because of COVID-19 outbreaks.
Pope Francis and six Catholic cardinals and archbishops made a public service announcement released Wednesday in which they urged people to get a COVID-19 vaccine. “Thanks to God’s grace and the work of many, we now have vaccines to protect us from COVID-19,” the Pope said in the video, seated at a desk in the Vatican and wearing a white cassock and skull cap.
“Getting vaccinated is a simple yet profound way to care for one another, especially the most vulnerable,” he said. “I pray to God that each of us can make his or her own small gesture of love.” Read the full story.
– Elizabeth Weise
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who has banned mask and vaccine requirements, has contracted the coronavirus. Abbott’s office said the Republican governor, who is fully vaccinated and gets tested daily, had a positive result Tuesday and is getting treated with monoclonal antibodies. That’s the same treatment that helped former President Donald Trump prevail in his battle with COVID-19 in October.
Abbott’s stance regarding virus mitigation measures has drawn the ire of parent and activist groups, and one of the latter, Marked by COVID, released a statement Tuesday that said:
“Our Governor has been working to keep masks out of schools harder than he has worked to keep guns out of schools. In his relentless and cruel pursuit of controlling mandates in the name of bodily autonomy he himself contracted COVID and is using every resource available to HIM, but refuses to allow local governments to use their own resources to help save lives.”
Monday, Abbott spoke at an event in Collin County, and photos on social media show him mingling with the mostly unmasked crowd to shake hands and pose for pictures. His office said Abbott, 63, is “in good health, and currently experiencing no symptoms.”
A top Mississippi health official said about 20,000 students are currently quarantined for COVID-19 exposure in the state — 4.5% of the public school population, according to the state’s latest enrollment figures.
“These disruptions… are going to continue for a while,” Mississippi State Epidemiologist Dr. Paul Byers said to members of the Mississippi Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics.
The school outbreaks have resulted in many school officials rethinking their policies after beginning the academic year without restrictions such as mask mandates. Around 600 schools have now implemented universal masking for indoor settings, Byers said.
Cases and hospitalizations among children are on the rise, with the highly contagious delta variant of the coronavirus making up about 90% of new infections among kids, according to experts. Children under 12 are currently ineligible for the COVID-19 vaccine, making schools a potentially dangerous environment. Read more here.
Contributing: The Associated Press