Health Officials to Recommend COVID-19 Boosters After 8 Months

Are U.S. health officials setting the stage for an annual COVID-19 vaccine booster shot?

Fox 23 reports that the Biden Administration is putting together a plan to offer COVID-19 booster shots to Americans eight months after they receive their second shot of the vaccine, with some people receiving the booster as early as mid-September.

Inside sources say the booster rollout won’t begin until an application filed by Pfizer-BioNTech for the additional booster is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

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It’s likely that health care workers and nursing home residents will be the first to receive the booster once it is approved, followed by older people who were among the first to receive the vaccine following the initial rollout.

The decision comes as the highly contagious Delta variant spreads throughout the United States. As of Monday (August 16), there were 13,673 new cases of COVID-19 reported in Texas, bringing the total number of cases to 3.34 million.

A lot has changed over the course of the last month. In early July, the CDC and FDA released a joint statement saying those who have been fully vaccinated wouldn’t need a booster shot:

Americans who have been fully vaccinated do not need a booster shot at this time. FDA, CDC, and NIH are engaged in a science-based, rigorous process to consider whether or when a booster might be necessary. This process takes into account laboratory data, clinical trial data, and cohort data – which can include data from specific pharmaceutical companies, but does not rely on those data exclusively.

No shock there. As we’ve learned since COVID-19 hit our shores last year, the government’s recommendations tend to change quickly during the pandemic.