U.S. plans to begin administering COVID-19 booster shots in September - source

[August 17, 2021]    (Reuters) -The Biden administration plans to begin administering COVID-19 booster shots to Americans as early as mid or late September, pending authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, a source familiar with the discussions told Reuters late on Monday.

A large vaccination site is shown as people with preexisting health conditions are granted access to a vaccination during the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Inglewood, California, U.S., March 15, 2021. REUTERS/Mike Blake

Health officials in U.S. President Joe Biden's administration gathered round the view that most people should get a booster shot eight months after they completed their initial vaccination, the source said.

According https://nyti.ms/3spoZiU to the New York Times, which earlier reported the development, officials are planning to announce the administration's decision as early as this week, with the first boosters likely to go to nursing home residents and health care workers, followed by other older people.

Last week, U.S regulators authorized a third dose of COVID-19 vaccines by Pfizer Inc and its German partner BioNTech SE and Moderna Inc for people with compromised immune systems who are likely to have weaker protection from the two-dose regimens.

The administration's goal is to let those who received the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccines know that they will need additional protection against the Delta variant of the coronavirus, NYT said.

The newspaper added that officials also expect recipients of the vaccine from Johnson & Johnson, which was authorized as a one-dose regimen, will also require an additional dose.

(Reporting by Steve Holland in Washington and Bhargav Acharya in Bengaluru; Editing by Christian Schmollinger)

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