Health Officials Advise White House to Scale Back Booster Plan for Now
Last edited Fri Sep 3, 2021, 02:12 PM - Edit history (1)
Source: New York Times
WASHINGTON — Top federal health officials have told the White House to scale back a plan to offer coronavirus booster shots to the general public later this month, saying that regulators need more time to collect and review all the necessary data, according to people familiar with the discussion. Dr. Janet Woodcock, the acting commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, and Dr. Rochelle P. Walensky, who heads the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, warned the White House on Thursday that their agencies may be able to determine in the coming weeks whether to recommend boosters only for recipients of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine — and possibly just some of them to start.
The two health leaders made their argument in a meeting with Jeffrey D. Zients, the White House pandemic coordinator. Several people who heard about the session said it was unclear how Mr. Zients responded. But he has insisted for months that the White House will always follow the advice of government scientists, wherever it leads. Asked about the meeting, a White House spokesman on Friday said, “We always said we would follow the science, and this is all part of a process that is now underway,” adding that the administration was awaiting a “full review and approval” of booster shots by the F.D.A. as well as a recommendation from the C.D.C.
“When that approval and recommendation are made,” the spokesman, Chris Meagher, said, “we will be ready to implement the plan our nation’s top doctors developed so that we are staying ahead of this virus.” Less than three weeks ago, Mr. Biden said that contingent on F.D.A. approval, the government planned to start offering boosters the week of Sept. 20 to adults who had received their second shot of the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccine at least eight months ago. That would include many health care workers and nursing home residents, as well as some people older than 65, who were generally the first to be vaccinated.
Administration officials have said that recipients of the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine would probably be offered an additional shot soon as well. Mr. Biden cast the strategy as another tool that the nation needed to battle the highly contagious Delta variant, which has driven up infection rates, swamped hospitals with Covid-19 patients and is now leading to an average of more than 1,500 deaths a day. “The plan is for every adult to get a booster shot eight months after you got your second shot,” he said on Aug. 18, adding, “It will make you safer, and for longer. And it will help us end the pandemic faster.”
Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/03/us/coronavirus-booster-shots.html
ETA - here is WaPo's take with a little more info and nuance -
By Tyler Pager and Laurie McGinley
Today at 1:00 p.m. EDT
Top federal health officials have warned the White House that the Biden administration’s plan to begin offering booster shots to most Americans later this month may have to be limited initially, with third shots made available only to people who had received the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, according to people familiar with the matter.
Janet Woodcock, acting commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, and Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told White House coronavirus coordinator Jeff Zients on Thursday that their agencies may not be able to approve a more expansive coronavirus booster plan that they, along with other top doctors across the administration, endorsed last month.Woodcock and Walensky told Zients they may be able to approve and recommend booster shots only for people who received the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
The people familiar with the discussion spoke on the condition of the anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly. The New York Times first reported the warnings. Last month, President Biden announced his administration would begin offering booster shots for all Americans beginning the week of Sept. 20 pending approval from the FDA. Americans were told they should plan to get a third shot eight months after they received their second dose of Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccine.
Biden said people who received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine would probably need a booster shot as well, but officials would need more time to analyze data. Now, Woodcock and Walensky, who have faced criticism for endorsing a plan before FDA approval, have warned that their agencies may need more time to make a determination about recommending boosters for people who received the Moderna vaccine. The FDA has only partial data on Moderna and Johnson & Johnson boosters.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2021/09/03/booster-shot-delay-pfizer-first/
If anything, the vast majority of shots given out, not only due to the sheer available quantity that had been manufactured, but also due to Pfizer having been approved for their EUA, and not long after for final recommended use - both a bit earlier than Moderna, and months before Janssen's (J&J's), I don't have an issue with doing Pfizer's first (and I got Moderna). The booster is already approved for immuno-compromised individuals.
= new reply since forum marked as read
...in Florida. We were at 9 months and are over 65.
No questions, and they filled out our CDC cards.
