West Virginia will be the first state to give fourth doses of the Covid-19 vaccine, following in the footsteps of countries like Israel that have started giving second booster shots.
The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine will be used as a fourth shot in Israel on December 31, 2021.
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Justice said during the press conference that the state will send a letter to the CDC asking for permission to give fourth doses to people over 50 years old and with underlying conditions.
The governor said that the fourth shot would help stop hospitals from being overrun and that it would save a lot of lives.
Israel, which has started rolling out fourth doses, was cited by Justice as the state's inspiration for the request.
Dr. Clay Marsh, the state's coronaviruses czar, said the state is hoping for a rapid decision from the CDC and Food and Drug Administration to authorize fourth doses in West Virginia in order to assess the impact on a state with a large vulnerable population.
If the CDC rejects West Virginia's request, Justice suggested the state could join forces with others that also want fourth doses.
A request for comment from the CDC has not been responded to.
Many of the state's vulnerable population received booster doses early in their roll out. Either we sit back and let our people die, or we try and overrun our hospitals.
The number is big.
35.9%. The percentage of West Virginians that have received a booster dose is stated by the state's health department.
Critics.
The New York Times reported that some scientists think the fourth shot could cause a negative effect on the immune system by overloading it. Professor Dror Mevorach, director of the coronaviruses ward at Jerusalem's Hadassah Medical Center, told the Times in December that there should be a fourth dose with no scientific basis.
The key background.
The U.K. Health Security Agency has found that initial booster shots give between 70% and 75% protection against mild Covid-19 symptoms from omicron. The Health Security Agency found that the boosters become less effective at preventing infections within 10 weeks. The effectiveness of the Pfizer vaccine goes from 70% to 35% after a booster shot, though those who received two Pfizer doses and then Moderna still had 75% protection after nine weeks. Israel began giving fourth doses to vulnerable populations at the end of December and will start giving shots to everyone over the age of 60 in the coming months.
We don't know what we don't know.
The effectiveness of fourth doses may be promising. Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said Tuesday that a study found that the extra booster dose increased the amount of antibodies that protect against Covid-19 five-fold a week after the shot.
The fourth dose of the vaccine boosted the Israeli study by five-fold.
Some experts say that Israel is considering a fourth vaccine dose.
British data shows that booster protection fades against Omicron infections. The New York Times.
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