The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday endorsed booster shots for all Americans over the age of 18 to protect them against the coronaviruses.
President Biden promised in August that the extra doses would be made available to all adults. The shots are available at many places.
The C.D.C. said that Americans over the age of 50 should get booster shots of the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccines. The agency decided that all adults over the age of 18 may get booster doses.
The recipients of the one-dose vaccine were given a booster at least two months after the initial shot.
Booster shots for all Americans over the age of 18 were approved by the FDA on Friday. The C.D.C. sets the guidelines for the medical profession.
The expansion of eligibility was endorsed by the agency's director early in the evening after a panel of scientific advisers approved it.
Many experts worried that a push for boosters could cause a shortage of vaccine in poor countries, and that extra doses were not needed by most adults to prevent serious illness and death.
In the United States, the rate of infections is rising again. Austria will impose a coronaviruses vaccine mandate in February, the first such mandate in a Western democracy, after recording more than 14,000 new infections on Thursday.
In the United States, health officials see booster shots as a way of gaining the upper hand in the Pandemic and shoring up defenses against a tenacious enemy. France requires booster shots for people over the age of 65 who want to get a health pass.
The top Covid adviser to the Biden administration said at a conference on Tuesday that other countries are doing a booster campaign for everyone. If we do it in earnest, I think we can have good control of this by the spring.
Over the past two weeks, infections have increased by 33 percent in the United States. As Americans prepare to spend the holidays with family and friends, gatherings likely to accelerate the trend, the C.D.C.'s decision landed just as.
Older adults and people with certain health conditions may benefit from the shots. Many experts, including some who advise federal agencies, are skeptical that boosters alone can turn the tide.
The experts said that the extra shots are unlikely to benefit adults under the age of 65 who are protected from severe illness and hospitalization by the initial immunization.
Dr. Sara Oliver told the scientific advisers meeting on Friday that overall protection for severe disease and hospitalization is high.
The first dose of a coronaviruses vaccine has not been given to tens of millions of Americans. In the United States, deep pockets of vaccine-resistant adults are likely to prolong the epidemic, however well protected their neighbors may be.
Many Americans seem unmoved by the push for boosters. The C.D.C. added depression and other mental illnesses to the list of conditions that qualify people for an extra vaccine dose.
Only 18 percent of those over the age of 18 have chosen to get one. Those may not be the people who need the most protection.
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The Pfizer-BioNTech Covid vaccine is produced in Puurs, Belgium.
The most effective strategy for the administration would be to rush booster doses to residents of nursing homes and long-term care facilities. The adults are most likely to benefit.
According to data compiled by the Kaiser Family Foundation, white people are more likely to get booster shots than other groups.
Several experts at the scientific panel meeting noted that eligibility criteria may be confusing to many Americans and that they may be taxing health care providers.
Americans who have opted for boosters tend to be of higher socio-economic status and more highly educated, and have more access to medical care, according to Dr. Gounder. I think you're going to have limited public health impact because you're not necessarily at risk of severe disease, hospitalization or death.
Ian Sams, a spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services, said that the Biden administration intends to provide booster shots in long-term care facilities and nursing homes and work with community health centers to reach people with limited access to health care.
There is a chance that more people will choose to get boosters. Boosters of the Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines were authorized four weeks ago, despite the availability of extra shots of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
More Americans will be eligible as they pass the six-month mark since their initial immunizations.
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People wait in line at a vaccine clinic.
Although federal officials have decided to double down on booster shots as the best hope for ending the Pandemic, the scientific questions about their efficacy are not settled.
Dr. Fauci and other officials believe that the vaccine protection is waning in all age groups.
Israeli health officials are seeing a drop in immunity against infections, hospitalizations and death, according to Dr. Fauci. He said that the trend is starting to involve all age groups.
The vaccines are highly effective against severe illness in adults under the age of 65, according to other experts. The arrival of the Delta variant may result in the waning of protection against infections, as people take fewer precautions.
Booster shots are still helpful if they help curb the transmission of the virus. Federal health officials said case numbers in Israel dropped after the booster campaign.
In the United States, infections began falling in September for reasons not fully understood, according to Dr. Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. He said that they were having a decrease before booster doses started.
A booster shot can prevent people from becoming infectious. The protective effect of vaccinations seems to decline over the following weeks, despite some studies suggesting that they are half as likely as unvaccinated people to transmit the Delta variant.
Virginia Pitzer, an epidemiologist at the Yale School of Public Health, said that the administration should focus on getting the primary shots to the unvaccinated. Unvaccinated people are the ones who drive a lot of the transmission in most places.
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A medical worker tended to a Covid patient at the Sheba Medical Center in October.
Most experts agree that people with weak immune systems benefit from booster shots. In the weeks since boosters were authorized, only a small percentage of older people have received extra vaccine.
A lot of people would benefit from a third or booster dose if they hadn't had their first one.
She said that some of it was fatigue and not understanding the new guidance. It is hard to understand who is recommended for a booster dose.
In Mississippi, Judy Spencer, 76, said she was in good health and did not plan to get a booster, as she had already received two doses of the Moderna vaccine. She said she was glad she took the shot, but she was done with it.
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The Unidos En Salud community vaccination and testing site in San Francisco gave out boosters and shots for children.
The picture for adults under the age of 65 is not clear, and some experts don't like the idea of extra shots because they don't know if the benefit will outweigh the risks. Men and boys under 30 are at slightly increased risk of developing rare and mild heart problems linked to the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines.
The low rate of boosters could be a result of the administration's confusing messaging. The C.D.C. specified groups of people who should get boosters because of their age, occupations or underlying medical risks.
The governor of Connecticut said at a news conference that C.D.C. speaks Latin. I don't know who is eligible or who is not.
The dean of the Brown University School of Public Health said it was frustrating to watch the national conversation on boosters.
