U.S. Food and Drug Administration (Food and Drug Administration) The COVID-19 booster injection has been approved for immune-compromised people to protect the most vulnerable Americans from the disease, as the Delta variant is spreading nationwide.
The FDA said in a statement on Thursday, Emergency use authorization Both Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine and Moderna COVID-19 vaccine have been approved for additional doses for “certain immune-compromised individuals.”
The FDA stated that the additional jabs are specifically targeted at “solid organ transplant recipients or people who have been diagnosed with diseases that are considered to have the same low level of immune function.”
It said that those with weakened immune systems are less able to fight infections and other diseases, including COVID-19, “in a manner similar to those receiving solid organ transplants.”
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The agency did not further elaborate on its definition of possible injection recipients, but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) A broad description of people with weakened immune functions.
This includes people who take certain immunosuppressive drugs, people with HIV/AIDS, people with certain types of cancer, and people with genetic diseases that affect the immune system.
People with weakened immune function make up about 2.7% of the adult population in the United States, or about 7 million people. According to the CDC, they account for approximately 44% of hospitalized COVID breakthrough cases, and in these cases, fully vaccinated people will become infected.
“The FDA determined that this small and vulnerable group may benefit from a third dose of Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccine,” said FDA Acting Commissioner Janet Woodcock.
Although booster Designed to help people who do not have an ideal immune response to their initial vaccine, the FDA emphasizes that it has not authorized the third Shooting for the general populationAccording to Woodcock, those “fully vaccinated people are fully protected.”
In its statement, the FDA also recommends that people who have been infected with or are exposed to COVID-19 and are immunocompromised should discuss monoclonal antibody treatment options with their healthcare providers.
CDC’s independent advisory committee will meet on Friday and may approve a third injection New York Times The report may be effective immediately with the introduction of additional doses.
The United States is the latest country to provide a third dose of vaccine to people with weakened immune systems. Israel begins to provide booster jabs The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine was launched in July for adults over 60 and severely immunocompromised.
In September, Germany and France will also launch a third dose of vaccine for the elderly and vulnerable groups.
The picture below is made up of Statistician Shows how rare COVID infection is among the fully vaccinated population.
Statistician
