Third dose vaccine, divergent opinions in the US

There are many diverging rumors about the need for a third dose of Covid vaccine for certain categories of people in the United States, writes The New York Times. The recommendations of the agencies involved – even those adopted unanimously – mask significant dissent and malaise among their scientific advisors. Several scientists advisor to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration, explained that the data shows that, except for adults over the age of 65, the vast majority of Americans are already well protected against severe forms of the disease and not. They need a booster.Some experts have reported feeling compelled to make difficult choices, based on still sporadic research, in the midst of a health emergency. But some said they felt compelled to vote in favor of the third dose because of the way federal agencies put the question before them. “These are not evidence-based recommendations,” summarized Sarah Long, expert. in pediatric infectious disease at Drexel College of Medicine in Philadelphia and on the Advisory Committee of the CDC. There are limited data on the safety and efficacy of the third dose. Those in support of the booster with Moderna and J&J are “of very low quality”, explained Kathleen Dooling, scientist of the CDC. The official position of the FDA and the CDC is that for which the elderly, the frail and those who are particularly exposed for work to the virus, it may require a third dose of one of the three vaccines approved in the US (the last category was included in the recommendations of the CDC despite the opinion of the experts to the contrary). “I don’t think there is evidence that every person in these categories needs a booster to date,” said Matthew Daley, a Kaiser Permanente Colorado researcher and member of the CDC advisory board. scientists did not want to exclude the other products. “The thing that worries me is that we don’t know if boosters are needed,” said Cody Meissner, a pediatrician at Tufts University School of Medicine and an advisor to the FDA.