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WASHINGTON (AP) – Pfizer announced plans to meet with senior U.S. health officials on Monday to discuss the drugmaker’s request for federal approval of a third dose of its COVID-19 vaccine, as the medical adviser Chief Executive Officer Joe Biden has acknowledged that “it’s very conceivable, maybe likely” that booster shots will be needed.
The company said it was scheduled to hold a meeting with the Food and Drug Administration and other officials on Monday, days after Pfizer said booster shots would be needed within 12 months.
Dr Pfizer Mikael Dolsten told The Associated Press Last week, the first data from the company’s booster study suggests that people’s antibody levels jump five to ten times after a third dose, compared to their second dose months earlier – evidence that , he said, support the need for a recall.
Sunday, Dr Anthony Fauci did not rule out the possibility, but said it was too early for the government to recommend another move. He said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the FDA did the right thing last week by pushing back Pfizer’s claim with their statement that they did not consider the booster shots necessary “at this time. “.
Fauci said clinical studies and laboratory data have not yet fully confirmed the need for a booster of the current two-shot Pfizer and Moderna vaccines or the Johnson & Johnson one-shot regimen.
“Right now, given the data and information we have, we don’t need to give people a third chance,” he said. “That doesn’t mean we stop there. … Studies are currently underway as we talk about the feasibility of whether and when we should stimulate people. “
He said it was entirely possible in the coming months “as the data evolves” for the government to request a recall based on factors such as age and underlying medical conditions. “It’s definitely totally conceivable, maybe at some point we’ll need a boost,” Fauci said.
The meeting scheduled for Monday between Pfizer and U.S. health officials was first reported by The Washington Post.
Currently, only about 48% of the US population is fully vaccinated. Some parts of the country have much lower vaccination rates, and in these places the delta variant is booming. Last week, CDC director Dr Rochelle Walensky said this leads to “two truths” – highly immune swathes of America are returning to normal as hospitalizations increase in other places.
Fauci said it was inexplicable that some Americans were so resistant to getting a vaccine as scientific data shows how effective it is in preventing COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations, and it has been dismayed at efforts to prevent making vaccinations more accessible, such as Biden’s suggestion of door-to-door.
Gov. Asa Hutchinson, R-Ark., Agreed on Sunday that there is resistance to vaccines in southern and rural states like his because “you have this more conservative approach, skepticism of government.” .
Describing his efforts to step up vaccinations in his state, which is experiencing an increase in infections, Hutchinson said that “no one wants an agent to knock on a door,” but “we want those who don’t have access otherwise make sure they know it. “
The local component of the federal immunization campaign has been in place since April, when vaccine supply began to exceed demand. It was described and funded by Congress in the $ 1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill passed in March and is carried out largely by local officials and private sector workers and volunteers.
Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., Called opposition to the vaccination efforts of some GOP lawmakers “absolute madness.” He said Republican House Leader Kevin McCarthy of California and other party members were to denounce “those outright clown politicians who play on your vaccine fears for their own selfish gain.”
Fauci has appeared on CNN’s “State of the Union,” ABC’s “This Week,” and CBS’s “Face the Nation”; Hutchinson spoke on ABC and Kinzinger was on CNN.
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