The US government plans to recommend a third dose of the Covid-19 vaccine to Americans from early September, according to information obtained by Reuters news agency and the New York Times.
Joe Biden’s management is expected to indicate that people receive the new injection eight months after completing the two-dose vaccination. The measure, which could be announced later this week, will initially target those who have taken the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines.
A new application for those who have taken the Janssen vaccine, a single dose, is under consideration, but a decision on this may take longer.
The first people to be vaccinated again will be the elderly living in retirement homes and health workers. Then, the other elderly people, in a staggered way by age group.
The measure depends on approval from the FDA, the agency that oversees drugs in the country. Last week, the application of the third dose of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines was approved, but only for people with weakened immune systems.
According to the New York Times, the decision to give the third dose is based on studies in Israel, which have shown that the protection offered by the Pfizer vaccine to the elderly weakens over time. A survey found that people over 65 who took the second dose in January now have around 55% protection against severe cases of the disease, up from 90% just after the application of both doses.
Some studies have shown that a few months after the second dose of any vaccine, the amount of antibodies tends to drop. Despite this, people who are immune are still less likely to have severe cases of Covid. In the United States, 99% of deaths have occurred in people who have not been vaccinated.
The debate over the third dose in the United States comes amid another peak in Covid cases in August. The average number of daily cases is 140,000, a number that has not been reached since February. At the worst time of the crisis in the country, in January, there were more than 250,000 cases per day. The total number of deaths is at a lower level. The current average is 704 deaths per day, double that of three weeks ago, but still far from the 3,000 at the height of the crisis.
Schools and universities are back to school and the weather starts to cool from September, two factors that could facilitate the spread of the Covid.
In the United States, there are many vaccines available. Of the 415.9 million doses delivered, only 357 million have been applied to date. Vaccination in the country is free and available at drugstores, supermarkets and temporary outlets, but it has progressed more slowly in recent months, amid Americans’ lack of interest in doses.
Vaccination in the country is accessible to everyone from the age of 12. As of Monday (16), 59.8% of the total population had received at least one injection and 50.8% were fully vaccinated.
In an attempt to advance the application of vaccines, the Biden government and some states have exerted pressure and stimuli for public officials to be vaccinated. Some cities, such as New York and San Francisco, have started requiring proof of vaccination to access recreation areas, while other states, such as Florida and Texas, have created laws that prevent establishments from applying for a. proof of vaccination.
The WHO (World Health Organization) is against the use of booster doses as regular immunization is slow in many countries around the world, and has called for additional vaccines to be targeted at the poorest countries. Most African countries did not even vaccinate 5% of the population with the first dose. Haiti, in the Caribbean, only started the coronavirus vaccination campaign last month.
Despite this, Israel has been distributing the third dose to people over 50 since July. Last week, Chile started applying an additional dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine to older people who had already received two doses of Coronavac. And Uruguay has approved a booster dose of the Pfizer vaccine for those who have already received two injections of Coronavac.
Currently, Brazil is conducting studies to evaluate the benefits of a booster dose with vaccines from Pfizer, Oxford / Astrazeneca and Coronavac.