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 The Food and Drug Administration last week granted full approval to
the vaccine that was previously available under the agency's
emergency use authorization (EUA), which had allowed the shots to be
rolled out rapidly to Americans.
Health officials hope the formal approval and CDC recommendation
will spur more Americans to get vaccinated. With full FDA approval,
some companies and states have begun mandating COVID-19 vaccination.
Vaccination rates remain low in many parts of the United States,
contributing to a big surge in hospitalizations due to the highly
contagious Delta variant of the coronavirus.
Some panel members said increasing vaccinations before the fall
season was critical to getting children back to schools safely.
"Everyone who has anything to do with a child that is not old enough
to be vaccinated yet should be vaccinated for the benefit of their
children," said Dr. Helen Keipp Talbot, an infectious disease
specialist who was part of the panel.
Regulators have authorized a third dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech and
Moderna vaccines for those with weak immune systems, and the U.S.
government has said it plans to make booster doses available to more
Americans in September.
The CDC advisers are considering an approach to boosters that would
focus on preventing severe disease among those most at risk -
residents in long-term care facilities, other older adults and
healthcare workers - much like the original vaccine rollout.
CDC staff presented available data on the need for boosters and
said, at this point it may be difficult to determine whether
immunity from prior vaccination is waning over time or if the
vaccines are just less able to prevent infection by the
highly-transmissible Delta variant.
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 Several panel members expressed
concern about the White House announcement of a
booster policy starting in September, even
before the vaccine advisory panel had seen the
evidence or determined that such a campaign was
needed. Members of the vaccine
advisory working group, which is shaping the agency's approach to
boosters, stressed that the top U.S. priority remains getting shots
to the unvaccinated.
Another meeting will be scheduled in mid-September to discuss
boosters.
At Monday's meeting, the CDC reiterated that the benefits of the
Pfizer vaccine outweigh potential risks associated with the shots.
New Zealand on Monday reported its first death linked to Pfizer's
COVID-19 vaccine after a woman suffered myocarditis, a type of
inflammation of the heart muscle that is a known rare side effect of
the vaccine. Health officials there said other factors could have
contributed to her death.
There have been no reported deaths among young U.S. adults who
developed myocarditis after getting the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, CDC
said.
(Reporting by Manas Mishra in Bengaluru; Editing by Paul Simao and
Bill Berkrot)
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