Some Americans could need COVID-19 vaccine booster -Fauci
Send a link to a friend
[July 26, 2021]
By Linda So
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Top infectious
disease official Anthony Fauci said on Sunday that Americans who are
immune compromised may end up needing COVID-19 vaccine booster shots as
the United States deals with increasing cases from the Delta variant of
the coronavirus.
"Those who are transplant patients, cancer chemotherapy, auto-immune
diseases, that are on immunosuppressant regimens, those are the kind of
individuals that if there's going to be a third booster, which might
likely happen, would be among first the vulnerable," Fauci said during a
CNN interview.
He added health officials are also considering whether to revise mask
guidance for vaccinated Americans saying it was "under active
consideration."
Citing studies that show there might be waning immunity in vaccinated
people, Fauci said U.S. health officials are reviewing data to determine
when boosters might be needed.
“It’s a dynamic situation. It’s a work in progress, it evolves like in
so many other areas of the pandemic,” said Fauci, the director of the
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. “You’ve got to
look at the data.”
Last week, Israel's health ministry reported a decrease in the
effectiveness of the Pfizer vaccine in preventing infections and
symptomatic illness. But it added that the two-dose COVID-19 vaccine
developed by Pfizer with partner BioNTech still remained highly
effective in preventing severe illness.
The decline in efficacy coincided with the spread of the Delta variant,
now the dominant strain in Israel.
Israel is administering third doses of the vaccine to immunocompromised
people, including those who have had heart, lung, kidney or liver
transplants and cancer patients receiving chemotherapy.
The Delta variant, which was first found in India, is driving up
infections in the United States.
[to top of second column]
|
People wear masks around Times Square, as cases of the infectious
coronavirus Delta variant continue to rise in New York City, New
York, U.S., July 23, 2021. REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz
The sharpest increases in COVID-19 cases are in
places with lower vaccination rates. Florida, Texas and Missouri
account for 40% of all new cases nationwide, with around one in five
of all new U.S. cases occurring in Florida, White House adviser
Jeffrey Zients said last week.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Sunday
reported an uptick in the number of vaccine doses administered in
the past 24 hours -- 778,996, the highest number given in a 24-hour
period since the United States reported giving 1.16 million doses on
July 3.
However, that number is far below the peak of 4.63 million doses
reported on April 10 and, despite the rise, the pace of vaccinations
is still generally declining, CDC data shows.
Since vaccines became widely available in the spring, President Joe
Biden's White House has been conducting an aggressive campaign to
get shots in arms that has been met with skepticism in some states
and communities.
White House Chief of Staff Ronald Klain on Sunday hailed the CDC
numbers as a sign vaccinations were picking back up.
Pfizer and BioNTech said on Friday that the United States had
purchased 200 million more doses of their vaccine to help with
pediatric vaccination as well as possible booster shots.
(Reporting by Linda So; Additional reporting by Maria Caspani in New
York; Editing by Tim Ahmann, Grant McCool and Sonya Hepinstall)
[© 2021 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2021 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content. |