No evidence so far on the need for a booster dose for vaccines in the US, says NIH director

(CNN) – There is currently no evidence on the need for booster doses for covid-19 vaccines, says the director of the US National Institutes of Health.

Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), said Monday on ABC’s Good Morning America that there is currently no evidence that the United States needs to move forward with the booster shots, although it is something that is being studied almost daily.

“Well, we’re certainly looking at it almost daily,” Collins said when asked if the need for booster shots is unavoidable in America. “As you have heard, the FDA is monitoring this and data is being gathered from both the US and what we have learned from places like Israel and the UK.”

An “ongoing debate”

“I would say that right now there is no evidence that we have to go ahead with reinforcements in the United States, but that is an ongoing debate,” he said. “Let me make it clear, however, that in reality the existing vaccines approved in the US, Pfizer, Moderna, J&J, are highly effective against the delta variant. There is no reason to rush at this time to take one. decision to reinforce it, but we are going to monitor it day by day. “

When asked what the harm was in moving forward, Collins said they just want to do what is going to be most useful to people and also acknowledge that there is a shortage of vaccines around the world and that countries are still desperate to have access to them.

“If the United States, with its large population, decides that we need another pile of vaccines for our country, that means that they are not going to be able to go anywhere else,” he said. “We will if necessary to protect Americans. But at this point, the data does not convince us that this is the time to move on.”

Better way to protect children is to get more people vaccinated

Collins also pointed out on the same show that the best way to protect children against COVID-19 is by getting more eligible people vaccinated.

“Well, it is very true that delta seems capable of not only giving serious illnesses to the elderly, but also to adolescents and even children,” Collins said when asked about the fact that children get more seriously ill. “Another reason, I think, why we really have to get as far as we can with increasing vaccination rates.”

He said he was encouraged by the increase in vaccinations in the past two weeks, especially in places like Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana and Florida, which are being hit hard by the delta.

According to data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), an average of 432,399 people are getting vaccinated each day, an increase of 24% over last week, in which there were only about 100,000 new vaccinations a day.

“We have to push it forward,” he said. “If they are really concerned about children, then let’s get the people who can be vaccinated have a higher vaccination rate, we have a long way to go in some of those communities to get to the point where people are protected.”