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By Chris Prentice
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The data needed to determine the timeliness of booster injections of Moderna Inc and Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines will only be a few weeks away, President Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci.
Health officials said they expected boosters to eventually be recommended for a large portion of the population, but urged Americans not to seek booster doses until approved. of the FDA.
“We recommend that people wait until you fall into the category where it is recommended,” he told CNN.
A Food and Drug Administration advisory group recommended a third injection on Friday https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-covid-19-booster-debate-moves-fda-vaccine-advisory-committee- 2021-09-17 of the two-dose Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine for people 65 years of age and older or at high risk of severe COVID-19, but declined to approve boosters for the general population.
While the FDA is not bound by the panel’s recommendation, it will take it into account when deciding whether or not to recommend a third round of injections.
“This is not the end of the story,” Fauci told CNN’s “State of the Union” program. “They’re going to keep watching this, literally in real time,” Fauci added.
People who have received the two-dose Moderna vaccine or the single-dose J&J vaccine are still awaiting advice on possible booster shots.
“The actual data that we’ll get (on) that third hit for Moderna and second hit for J&J is literally a few weeks away,” Fauci told NBC’s ‘Meet the Press’ program.
“We are currently working on it to pass the data to the FDA so that they can review it and make a decision on boosters for these people,” Fauci added.
More data could also show a broader need for booster doses in the general U.S. population, Fauci said.
The United States leads the world in the total number of reported COVID-19 cases and deaths. Nearly 676,000 people have died during the pandemic in the United States, according to figures compiled by Reuters https://graphics.reuters.com/world-coronavirus-tracker-and-maps/countries-and-territories/united-states . The increase in cases and deaths in the United States in recent months has been most acute in areas with lower vaccination rates, even as federal health officials urge those vaccinated to get vaccinated.
Biden announced in August https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2021/08/18/remarks-by-president-biden-on-fighting-the-covid-19-pandemic-2 The government’s intention to roll out booster shots for people 16 years of age and older, pending expert approval from the FDA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The FDA’s decision-making process does not overturn the White House’s stance in favor of boosters, Fauci said, saying the plan was still subordinate to the FDA regulatory process.
Dr Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health in the United States, told the “Fox News Sunday” show that he expects it “to become clear in the coming weeks that the Administration of boosters may need to be expanded, “citing existing data. from the United States and Israel indicating a decrease in vaccine effectiveness over time.
Officials also reported that the schedule for authorizing vaccines for children aged 5 to 11 is in the coming weeks.
“For children ages 5 to 11, the data is supposed to arrive at the end of this month, and the FDA will be working 24/7 to go through it,” Collins said. “So we all hope it can happen in weeks, not months.”
(Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch, David Lawder and Chris Prentice; Editing by Will Dunham and Lisa Shumaker)
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