Many public health experts were opposed to the Biden administration's campaign to roll out booster shots for the coronaviruses vaccine to all American adults. The researchers said there was no evidence to support extra doses.
The Omicron variant has changed things.
Scientists don't know if the virus is easier to spread or less vulnerable to the body's immune response. The variant is likely to evade the protection from vaccines.
Booster shots raise the body's defenses against infections and may help offset the advantages Omicron has gained through evolution.
The shots may be the best defense against the new variant according to many experts who were against boosters. The extra doses may buy time for vaccine makers to develop a specific Omicron-specific vaccine.
Dr. Gounder said that she would give the booster if she knew about the potential for immune evasion.
The administration is not waiting for a scientific consensus. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Monday that all American adults should get booster shots.
The first confirmed Omicron infections in the United States were reported in San Francisco on Wednesday by a traveler who returned from South Africa. The individual had been fully vaccined but had not received a booster, and had some mild symptoms that were said to be improving.
The Omicron variant has been found in at least 20 countries and the World Health Organization warns that the risk is very high. Air travel to and from southern Africa has been stopped by many countries after news of the variant's spread in South Africa.
Omicron has more than 50 genetic changes, and more than 30 of them on the spike of the virus. The body's immune defenses are trained to attack these spikes.
Experts like Dr. Gounder had argued that the vaccines still protected most people from severe illness and death despite the fact that the Delta variant of the vaccine seemed to be waning. They said that booster doses should only be given to adults older than 65 and those with weak immune systems.
Boosters would not be justified if Delta were the only threat. Omicron may be a more formidable opponent.
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President Biden is getting a booster shot. The president was an early supporter of a booster's-for-all strategy.
John Moore, a virologist at New York's Weill Cornell Medicine, said that additional doses are appropriate if it is highly resistant to antibodies.
I would like to see more data, but it won't hurt anyone.
Some experts were coming around to boosters for all adults even before Omicron arrived, as cases in the United States inched upward again in recent weeks.
It is impacting procedures at multiple hospitals in Massachusetts and elsewhere. We need to end this.
She said that now is a good time to get vaccine for people who are not yet protected.
There was a lack of research regarding the safety of booster shots for young adults. It was not clear if the benefits of the vaccine outweigh the risks in young men.
She said that the data now available has alleviated her concerns, so she has urged her college-age sons to get booster doses.
She said she changed. It is a good idea to get booster doses for people who qualify.
Efforts to deliver limited supplies of the coronaviruses vaccines to poor countries may eventually be complicated by greater support for boosters among scientists. The World Health Organization said for months that the clamor for extra doses in rich countries was robbing poorer nations of the first doses they desperately need.
The W.H.O. has not changed its position on boosters despite being designated a high risk.
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There are travel restrictions. As more Omicron cases emerge around the world, countries are responding in different ways. Australia delayed reopening its borders for two weeks because it barred all foreign travelers. The C.D.C wants to increase screening of international fliers.
There are a lot of regulations. The scattershot approach to coronaviruses containment was exemplified by the two flights from South Africa. At least 14 people had Omicron when they tested positive for the virus.
There is a new type of treatment. An expert panel voted to recommend that the F.D.A. authorize a Covid pill from Merck for high-risk adults, the first in a new class of antiviral drugs that could work against a wide range of variant, including Omicron. The pill could be available by the end of the year.
There is vaccine hesitancy in Africa. The next stage of the battle against Covid-19 is getting more people inoculated in poorer nations, after the detection of the Omicron variant in Africa. The new hurdle is overcoming local skepticism or hostility.
The director of the W.H.O. said there was no evidence that boosting the population would provide any greater protection against hospitalization or death.
He and other scientists have said that the spread of the coronaviruses through unvaccinated populations is likely to lead to variant Omicron.
Some experts are not in favor of booster shots.
The director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children's Hospital said that the push for extra doses is predicated on the idea that the immune system is the only factor that can prevent illness and death.
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A booster shot was received at a drive-through in Alaska.
He said he would be more concerned if people were hospitalized in droves because of the Omicron variant. He said that the vaccines prevent severe illness.
He said that it has been true for the first three versions and it is likely to be true here. We are going to be increasing until the day we die if you set the goal as protection against mild illness.
Even if Omicron is resistant to vaccines, an extra shot of the original vaccines may not be the best solution, according to Dr. Offit.
It is possible that waiting may not be an option.
If Omicron sidesteps the vaccines, manufacturers are going to make new versions. Booster shots of current vaccines may be needed to keep the variant in check, as the process will take at least a few months.
The rise in quantity alone could compensate for the fact that the shots are not as effective at fending off Omicron as they were before.
She said that having the higher numbers would allow you to overcome the lower affinity.
If necessary, multiple booster doses would need to be carefully timed, because stimulating immunity too frequently can backfire. The immune cells may stop responding to the vaccine.
He said that nobody should be sitting on dogma here. In a low-information environment, the consequences are potentially quite serious.
