Pfizer and Moderna vaccines: a third widespread dose at the end of September in the United States – The HuffPost

ROBYN BECK via AFP

CORONAVIRUS – Chilly a few days ago, the American health institutions finally decided in favor of a tthird dose Pfizer and Moderna vaccines against Covid-19.

“We are ready to offer doses of reminder for all Americans from the week of September 20, from eight months after the second dose ”, declared the main public health authorities of the country, in a joint press release, published this Wednesday, August 18.

“The available data clearly show that the protection against infection with SARS-CoV-2 begins to decline over time”, justified the major US public health institutions. “Added to the dominance of the Delta variant, we are starting to see evidence of reduced protection against mild and moderate cases of the disease,” they add, determined to “maximize vaccine-induced protection and prolong its durability. ”.

Among the signatories of this document: Anthony Fauci, the Covid-19 advisor of the White House or the Center for the prevention and fight against diseases (CDC). The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the only institution that can in practice authorize the administration of a third dose, also initialed the press release.

Priority to the most fragile

The first people to be able to benefit from this booster dose will be “residents of retirement homes”, “other elderly people” and “many health professionals”, who were the first categories of the population to be vaccinated in the past. United States, in December 2020.

A booster dose will also “probably be necessary” for people who have received a single injection of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, health officials say.

But vaccinations with this serum did not start in the United States “until March 2021”, and data concerning them are expected “in the coming weeks”. People vaccinated with Johnson & Johnson are in the minority in the United States (nearly 14 million).

But faced with the growing craze for a booster dose in developed countries, the WHO is rebelling. “It is unacceptable that some countries offer a recall when so many people are not protected. No one is safe until everyone is safe ”, expressed himself on Twitter Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the general manager of the organization, a few hours before the American announcement.

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