COVID Booster Shots Are Now Available to All Adults in the United States

COVID-19 booster shots are now available to all adults in the United States, boosting the government’s campaign to shore up protection and stay ahead of rising coronavirus outbreaks that could worsen during the holidays.

After at least ten states had started giving boosters to all adults, Pfizer and Moderna announced the FDA’s decision. The most recent action clarifies who is eligible, allowing anybody 18 and older to choose either company’s booster six months after their last dosage, regardless of which vaccine they received first.

However, the CDC must agree to expand Pfizer and Moderna boosters to even healthy young adults. Its scientific advisers were scheduled to meet later in the day on Friday to discuss the proposal.

If the CDC approves, tens of millions more Americans might get three doses before the new year. Anyone who received the Johnson & Johnson one-dose immunization is eligible for a booster.

All three COVID-19 vaccines currently in use in the United States continue to provide excellent protection against serious illness, including hospitalization and death, but protection against infection can decline with time.

Previously, the government had only approved boosters of Pfizer and BioNTech’s vaccine, as well as the comparable Moderna vaccine, for vulnerable groups such as the elderly and persons with chronic illnesses.

Pfizer, on the other hand, petitioned the FDA last week to extend that decision to everyone, citing new findings from a 10,000-person study. Finally, the FDA determined that there was enough data from studies and real-world booster use to support both Pfizer and Moderna’s expansions.

FDA vaccine chief Dr. Peter Marks said, “Streamlining the eligibility criteria and making booster doses available to all individuals 18 years of age and older will also help to eliminate confusion about who may receive a booster dose and ensure booster doses are available to all who may need one.”

The decision to expand comes as the number of new COVID-19 cases has progressively increased over the last two weeks, particularly in places where the colder weather has driven people indoors.

Some states did not wait for federal officials to act after being alarmed by these troubling patterns. In the last week, Utah and Massachusetts became the latest states to announce that boosters will be available to all adults.

The Biden administration’s original goal was to have boosters for everyone. However, based on the vaccinations’ sustained effectiveness in most age groups, a panel of FDA experts voted unanimously against that suggestion in September. Instead, they advocated for an additional Pfizer dose for the most vulnerable.

The FDA allowed Moderna boosters — using half the dose that participants received with the first two shots — for the same susceptible populations last month, backed by its advisory panel.

However, there has been significant dissatisfaction within the White House and among the president’s allies that the lengthy and public regulatory process contributed to misinformation and uncertainty about the boosters, perhaps putting the country in jeopardy as the holiday season approaches.

Administration officials, including Dr. Anthony Fauci, continued to make the case for more widespread use of boosters, pointing out that even minor infections in children can result in “long COVID” and other problems.

“I don’t know of any other vaccine where we only worry about keeping people out of the hospital,” said Fauci at a briefing Wednesday.

However, the administration promised that scientists would make the final choice. The FDA did not engage its advisers this time because scientific difficulties underlying Pfizer’s and Moderna’s boosters “do not raise questions that would benefit from additional discussion,” according to the FDA.

Regulators decided that the overall benefits of increased protection outweighed the dangers of uncommon adverse effects from Moderna’s or Pfizer’s vaccines, such as a type of heart inflammation that affects predominantly young males.

Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech suggested that broader boosters could aid in the control of infections during a crucial time.

BioNTech CEO Ugur Sahin told reporters, “We have absolutely no chance in the current situation to control the pandemic without providing boosters to everyone.”

Even when the extra-contagious delta variation was increasing, the companies tested 10,000 people of all ages and discovered that a booster restored protection against symptomatic infections to roughly 95%. It’s too early to tell whether the high degree of protection will stay longer after a third shot than it did after the second, but Sahin said the companies will keep an eye on it.

To back up this claim, the U.K. revealed real-world data demonstrating a similar increase in protection once boosters were made available to middle-aged and older persons. Israel has credited widespread vaccinations with aiding in the country’s fight against a new wave of the virus.

More than 195 million Americans have received two doses of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccinations or a single dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. A boost has already been given to over 30 million people.

Prior to the extension, those who had the Pfizer or Moderna immunizations were eligible for a third dose if they were elderly or at high risk of COVID-19 because of health issues, their jobs, or their living conditions. Because a single J&J shot hasn’t been shown to be as successful as two-dose competitors, any J&J recipient can get a booster at least two months later.

However, because many vaccine facilities do not check eligibility, those who do not satisfy the criteria can get an additional dose.

The FDA previously determined that those who need a booster immunization can have a different brand than the one they got the first time.

Some experts are concerned that the focus on booster doses would obstruct efforts to reach the 60 million Americans who are eligible for immunizations but have yet to receive them. There is also growing worry that wealthy countries are providing extensive booster shots whereas impoverished countries have only been able to vaccinate a small percentage of their population.

Dr. David Dowdy of Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health said, “In terms of the No. 1 priority for reducing transmission in this country and throughout the world, this remains getting people their first vaccine series.”