Covid cases in America have hit one of the lowest points of the pandemic so far, but as fears of the “stealth” variant of BA.2 mount in some parts of the country, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is expected to approve a fourth Dose of vaccine for older Americans.
CNN reports that the FDA plans to approve a second booster dose of both the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines, each of which would be the fourth dose of the company’s vaccination schedule. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is then expected to make a recommendation for all Americans age 50 and older to get the vaccine.
Once the jab was approved, any American would be eligible to receive it if they wanted to, but the government will only recommend it to older age groups for now. A similar process played out with the first booster shot, where it was initially only recommended for older age groups before the Omicron variant was launched in late 2021.
Whether or not Americans are ready for another booster shot, however, remains to be seen. The nationwide rollout of booster shots has slumped in recent weeks, with cases plummeting and many looking beyond COVID-19 in hopes the Omicron wave will be the last of the pandemic.
The FDA and CDC plan to soon recommend and then approve COVID-19 vaccine booster shots for Americans age 50 and older, reports CNN. Pictured: A man in Los Angeles, California, receives an injection of a COVID-19 vaccine
Covid cases have stabilized after a winter of dramatic increases in cases followed by falls. The nation is currently recording an average of 31,604 cases per day as of Monday morning, about the same total as the previous week.
However, some specific areas of America are showing worrying increases. In Kentucky, cases are up 110 percent in the past two weeks, the first state to record a doubling in that period since early February. Cases have also emerged in New York and eight other states in the past two weeks.
These cases are not resulting in deaths as quickly as before during this surge. America’s high vaccination rate, mixed with the relatively mild nature of the dominant Omicron variant, has managed to shield Americans from the worst outcome.
America is seeing an average of 850 daily Covid deaths as of Monday morning, down 20 percent over the past week and a number that could trend lower.
As the death toll falls and interest and fears about the pandemic wane across the country, some experts worry it may be difficult to convince Americans to get an extra shot.
Also, not all experts consider the injection necessary.
dr Anna Durbin is an international public health expert at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, and has criticized Pfizer, Moderna and the White House’s insistence on rolling out COVID-19 booster shots before they are needed. She told ABC last week that she doesn’t think many Americans would benefit from additional recordings.
“In my opinion, very few, if any, people require a fourth dose,” she said.
In August, when the White House unveiled plans to roll out the first COVID-19 booster shots, Durbin was also a critic, telling there was little scientific support for the decision.
A very small number of Americans are already eligible for fourth COVID-19 shots. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) advises people with compromised immune systems to get the supplemental shot now, despite the lack of Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval.
Only about one in 30 Americans is immunocompromised and currently eligible for this fourth vaccine.
“In general, it’s too early to recommend a fourth dose, except for people with compromised immune systems,” said Dr. Paul Goepfert, a professor of medicine at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, told ABC.
The next shot is rolled out earlier than expected for fear of BA’s “Stealth” variant, a line of Omicron.
The “Stealth” variant, nicknamed for its ability to avoid detection by some sequencing methods, is thought to be the most contagious version of Covid yet – but is just as mild as Omciron’s BA.1 version, which adopted the world last year.
According to the latest data released last week by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), BA.2 accounts for 35 percent of active Covid cases in the US, with BA.1 still dominating.
However, BA.2’s share of Covid infections in America is growing, with the variant accounting for just 23 percent of cases in the previous week.
Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel said last week that he expects the US to soon suffer a BA.2-driven surge and that his company’s vaccine is needed to control it.
“Several countries around the world are already doing some of the 4th dose testing in people at high risk,” Bancel told CNBC Squawk box. “There is currently a large wave of the BA.2 variant in Europe, as many public health experts have said should start very soon in the US.”
However, a growing list of experts says just the opposite.
“I wouldn’t be at all surprised if we see some upward trend,” said Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert and someone who has often been one of the more cautious voices during the pandemic, at a Washington Post event this week.
“I don’t really see that there would be a bigger increase unless something changes dramatically.”
While the stealth variant hasn’t had a major impact on the number of cases yet, data from overseas – referenced by Bancel – gives cause for concern.
In some countries that have seen declining cases for months, such as the UK, France and Denmark, infection rates suddenly started rising last week. Cases appear to have stabilized in these countries and growth has halted for now.
Internationally, the World Health Organization (WHO) reports that there were over 12 million Covid cases worldwide last week, a seven percent increase from the previous week.
However, deaths fell 23 percent to below 33,000 – another sign of the falling mortality rate from the virus.
The rise in cases was entirely concentrated in the Western Pacific region, where daily infections rose 23 percent last week. In Europe, infections stabilized after a slight increase of two percent in the past week.
Despite declining case numbers and the failure of BA.2 to trigger a major surge in the US, as in many other countries, the fourth shot of a COVID-19 vaccine was likely always on the way.
Albert Bourla, CEO of Fauci, Bancel and Pfizer, is among those who say an extra dose has been on the way for months, with Bourla even saying annual vaccinations will be required for the next decade to control the pandemic.
While the shots have been deemed safe and effective by health authorities around the world and likely saved millions of lives over the past year, Pfizer and Moderna’s goals in launching the vaccine aren’t exactly humanitarian.
The companies have each made billions selling vaccines to the US and other nations around the world.
Pfizer, its partner BioNTech, and Moderna estimate sales of COVID-19 vaccines will total $50 billion this year, and those numbers will grow even higher as fourth doses are approved.
Both companies also hope to offer jabs for young children in the near future. Currently, the Moderna shot is only available for adults in the US, while Pfizer is available for people five and older.
On Wednesday, Moderna announced that it has successfully completed phase 2 and phase 3 clinical trials for its COVID-19 vaccine in children ages six months to 17 years.
The syringes, which are a quarter the size of the syringes given to adults, have been shown to be about 40 percent effective in preventing infection from the Omicron variant – similar to the levels of protection it offers adults.
Pfizer has encountered some problems in distributing its vaccine for the youngest age groups. The company has had to switch its Covid vaccination schedule for its youngest children from two to three doses because the smaller doses of three micrograms were almost completely ineffective in children aged three and four.
The New York City-based company also submitted data to regulators for its Covid vaccination in children under five, although the approval process was paused earlier this year.