Biden wants the third dose of the vaccine for over 65, frail and exposed categories

by time news

The third phase of vaccinations has started in the United States.

The country wants to eliminate the Covid-19 hearths caused by the Delta variant.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has approved the administration of the third dose of the vaccine with Pfizer-BioNTech to over 65s, to patients with diseases over the age of 18 and to workers highly exposed to the virus.

Everyone should receive it at least six months after the second vaccination. On this issue, President Joe Biden has urged tens of millions of Americans, including these categories, to get vaccinated.

Biden hoped that the regulatory agencies would allow the third dose to the entire population but the American scientific community has reconfirmed that they have no solid evidence that makes it necessary.

“Today – Biden said – I want to tell Americans that if you received the Pfizer vaccine in January, February, March of this year and you are over 65, get the booster dose. If you have a disease such as diabetes or are a health worker, or frontline teacher, get the third booster dose. “

Despite the new vaccination plan “it is clear to the entire government that the priority remains to vaccinate the unvaccinated in the United States and around the world” confirmed Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the CDC.

The CDC’s Advisory Committee on Vaccinations voted against the inclusion of employees who are highly exposed to contracting the virus as a result of their work.

However, Dr Walensky ignored, having the right as a “last word”, the advice of the expert group and included them in her recommendations.

The drug regulatory agency (FDA) on Wednesday gave the green light to the booster dose. In fact, there are still more than 70 million Americans who haven’t even had a dose.

The average number of Covid deaths in the past week has surpassed 2,000 in the United States for the first time since March, according to Johns Hopkins University.

A third of the deaths were recorded in Texas and Florida, conservative states that sparked a political war against the use of masks.

About 22 million Americans received the second dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine more than six months ago. Half of them are over 65.

Regulatory agencies recommend always using the same vaccine. But the President said he was confident that the decision will soon also be made for Moderna and Johnson & Johnson. The World Health Organization (WHO) opposed this decision. More generally, the WHO would not want richer countries to go in the direction of the third dose especially when poor countries have not even started with the first since they do not have vaccines.

To partially end this controversy, the Biden Administration announced on Tuesday that it will donate an additional 500 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNtech vaccine to countries with fewer resources, bringing donations to more than 1.1 billion planned doses by 2022.

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