United States to begin third dose of COVID-19 vaccine on September 20

Top US government infectious disease expert says he believes COVID-19 vaccine booster delivery could begin Sept. 20 for Americans who received Pfizer doses, while Moderna could end up being rolled out a few weeks later.

Dr Anthony Fauci said on CBS’s “Face the Nation” Sunday that The Biden administration’s plan remains to begin third doses the week of September 20, pending approval from the Food and Drug Administration. The Biden administration expected the booster vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna to go into service at that time, but warned that it was “conceivable” that Moderna would be “a few weeks late”, while that the company provides more data to the FDA on the effectiveness of the booster.

On August 18, President Joe Biden touted the boosters as protection against the more transmissible delta variant of the virus, and said Americans should consider receiving a booster eight months after their second vaccination.

The plan, what only applies to Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, provides that all Americans receive a booster dose eight months after receiving the second injection. Biden administration officials also said they hoped a booster vaccine for people who have received Johnson & Johnsonbut they’re still reviewing the data and will announce plans in the coming weeks.

So far, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has cleared the third dose of Pfizer and Moderna for people with weakened immune systemsbecause they did not respond like the general population to vaccines, which is estimated at 3% of the country’s population.

Over the summer, a wave of new cases emerged in the United States, driven by the more contagious delta variant. The increase in cases has raised concerns about the economic recovery and prompted the White House to step up efforts to persuade the unvaccinated to get vaccinated.

Ready for another pandemic

The White House announced last Friday an ambitious plan valued at $ 65.3 billion, which aims to prepare the United States for a new pandemic with the same dedication with which NASA’s Apollo program sent a man to the moon.

El plan propone quantiosas inversiones in advances medicos y tecnológicos para que to EE.UU. no the pillen por sorpresa attacks con armas biológicas, accidents in laboratorios o una nueva pandemia, that will occur in the near decaded period there will be only the actual one, según the White house.

“We strongly believe that this mission is of great importance and should be handled with the same seriousness, commitment and responsibility as President John F. Kennedy’s Apollo program,” said Dr Eric Lander, Director from the United States Office of Politics. reporters Government Science and technology.

Lander also compared the new plan to the Human Genome Project, which he himself led and which between 1990 and 2003 managed to map all human genes.

The project is based on five pillars. The first is to transform the “medical defenses” of the country so that there is no authorized vaccine against any new virus until 100 days after its detection. In addition, the White House wants to invest in the development of diagnostic tests and treatments against a wide range of pathogens.

The second pillar is to create mechanisms within hospitals and other centers to detect viruses that can cause a pandemic and quickly alert the world

Third, the White House is proposing to modernize the U.S. healthcare system and address shortcomings that have been exposed during the COVID-19 pandemic, including the lack of medical personnel in some areas and social and racial inequalities. In this regard, it also proposes the creation of international systems to coordinate the investigation of new pathogens and the distribution of vaccines.

The fourth key point of the plan is to increase the capacity of the United States to produce masks and other personal protective equipment, as well as improve the construction of buildings to allow ventilation and adopt new regulations that can prevent accidents in the laboratories.

Finally, for all the goals to materialize, the White House wants to create a “strong and unified mission control” which coordinates the activities of the various government agencies.

According to Lander, this central control will demonstrate that the pandemic plan is as important as the Apollo program, which Kennedy announced in 1961 to send a man to the moon, which happened in 1969. The project will cost 65.3 billion dollars for 10 years and the government has already asked Congress to approve $ 15,000 million this year.

The covid-19 pandemic has claimed the lives of 4.5 million people worldwide, while the United States has recorded 643,000 deaths, according to an independent count from Johns Hopkins University.

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