The United States will provide booster vaccines.
The U.S. government said on Wednesday that as infections of the delta variant of the coronavirus increase, it plans to widely provide Covid-19 booster shots to all Americans starting September 20.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said in a statement that the White House intends to provide a third booster injection to all Americans who completed their initial vaccination at least eight months ago from that date.
The department stated that the initial booster injection will be mainly used for medical staff, nursing home residents and the elderly, who are the first group of people to be vaccinated at the end of 2020 and early 2021.
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Senior US health officials said in a joint statement that their decision to provide boosters was based on data showing that the protection of the Covid-19 vaccine currently authorized in the United States began to weaken within a few months after the injection.
These officials include President Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser, Anthony Fauci, and the heads of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration, and the National Institutes of Health.
“The available data show very clearly that the protective effect against SARS-CoV-2 infection begins to decrease over time… and in relation to the dominance of the Delta variant, we are beginning to see the effects of mild and moderate disease Evidence of reduced protection,” the official said.
They added: “We have concluded that intensified injections are needed to maximize the protection induced by the vaccine and extend its durability.”
With the prevalence of the much more contagious variant of Delta, the number of daily cases in the United States has soared from less than 10,000 in early July to more than 150,000 in August.
