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Dr.Anthony Fauci, a leading infectious disease specialist, responds to the accusations of Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) as he testifies before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Work and Pensions on the Hill of U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC, July 20, 2021.
J. Scott Applewhite | Swimming pool | Reuters
Dr Anthony Fauci defended the Food and Drug Administration panel’s decision to reject the offer of a third booster of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine to the general population of the United States.
“I don’t think they were wrong,” the White House’s chief medical adviser told CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday.
Fauci added that he would support a third dose if future data showed it was effective. As the FDA continues to gather new information on recalls, convincing unvaccinated Americans to get vaccinated remains the priority.
Fauci’s comments come after the FDA advisory committee voted against giving third injections of Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine to all Americans on Friday, although they recommended booster doses for people 65 and over. years and older and those with underlying conditions.
The FDA panel’s decision has added to the confusion over the booster shots, after President Joe Biden said last month that the boosters would be available to all Americans starting the week of September 20.
“I understand why there might be some confusion because I think people didn’t understand the difference of planning something and actually what element of that, what proportion you’re actually going to deploy, and that’s exactly what s ‘is over,’ he said. NBC’s “Meet the Press”.
He then told ABC’s “This Week” that the administration had set the Sept. 20 deadline as a placeholder, based on input from the FDA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“The plan was that we had to be ready to do it as soon as a decision was made,” he said. “And when you have a plan, you put a date on it and say, ‘We want to be able to prepare to deploy the week of September 20th. “
Recent data from Israel suggests that although the vaccine’s effectiveness wanes over time, a third injection of Pfizer six months after a second dose could restore protection against infection to 95%.
As of September 18, more than 181 million Americans have been fully immunized. More than 670,000 people have died from Covid-19 across the country.
Data on boosters from Moderna and Johnson & Johnson is expected in the coming weeks, Fauci said. He also said “This week” that there will “definitely” be a vaccine for children this fall.
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