As of: 23.09.2021 3:13 a.m.
The US approved the first corona booster vaccine. BioNTech and Pfizer’s vaccine can now be used for third party vaccinations in people over 65 and some other groups.
The US has approved a first corona booster vaccine. The US Food and Drug Administration approved BioNTech / Pfizer’s vaccine for people over the age of 65, adults at high risk of developing a serious illness, and those in professions with a high risk of contagion. They can now have a third dose injected six months after the second vaccination.
Among those at high risk of infection, the FDA included “health care workers, teachers and daycare workers, grocery store workers and those in homeless shelters or prisons.”
Dispute about the usefulness of third-party vaccinations
It is still unclear when recipients of the Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines will get a booster. The decision was expected after an FDA panel of experts voted for it last Friday. However, contrary to the plans of the US government, the members of the independent vaccination commission rejected a basic booster vaccination for everyone aged 16 and over. Among other things, they referred to possible side effects in younger people.
US experts do not agree on the question of the usefulness of booster vaccinations. Proponents argue that an additional dose of vaccine increases protection against infection with the coronavirus. This applies in particular in view of the spread of the delta variant and a protective effect of the vaccine which diminishes over time. Opponents of a booster vaccination, on the other hand, say that two doses of the vaccines from BioNTech / Pfizer and Moderna would already offer sufficient protection. They also argue that the focus should be on vaccinating unvaccinated people – in the US, but also in developing countries where there is a shortage of vaccines.
US President Joe Biden had only promised to donate 500 million more vaccine doses to poorer countries on Wednesday. Biontech and Pfizer want to deliver the vaccine doses at preferential prices.