Biden urges those eligible for a Pfizer booster to get one soon.
Source: New York Times
President Biden said Friday that coronavirus booster shots for millions of Americans who received the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine will begin immediately and urged those eligible for a third shot to get one quickly to fortify their protection to the dangerous Delta variant that swept through the country this summer. Mr. Biden spoke just hours after the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention officially endorsed a Pfizer booster for older adults, many people with underlying health conditions, and frontline workers like teachers and nurses whose jobs put them at higher risk of contracting the disease.
People in those categories can get a booster if they received their second dose of the vaccine more than six months ago, Mr. Biden said. My message today is this: If youve got the Pfizer vaccine, you got the Pfizer vaccine in January, February, March of this year, and youre over 65 years of age, go get the booster, he said. Or, if youre in a have a medical condition like diabetes, or youre a frontline worker like a health care worker or a teacher, you can get a free booster. Early Friday morning, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the C.D.C. director, overruled a recommendation by her agencys panel of scientific advisers that had refused to endorse booster shots of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid vaccine for frontline workers.
Dr. Walenskys highly unusual move aligned C.D.C. policy with the Food and Drug Administrations endorsements over her own agencys advisers. The C.D.C.s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices on Thursday recommended the boosters for a wide range of Americans, including tens of millions of older adults, and younger people at high risk for the disease. But they excluded health care workers, teachers and others whose jobs put them at risk. That put their recommendations at odds with the F.D.A.s authorization of booster shots for all adults with a high occupational risk. Dr. Walenskys decision bolstered Mr. Bidens campaign to give a broad segment of Americans access to boosters.
The White House had come under criticism for getting ahead of the regulatory process. The C.D.C. panel was not asked to judge whether people who received the Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines should receive the additional doses, which have not been authorized by the F.D.A. The advisers also wrestled with the practicalities of endorsing a booster shot for only Pfizer-BioNTech recipients, when close to half of vaccinated Americans have received Moderna or Johnson & Johnson vaccines. Modernas booster authorization may arrive in a few days to weeks. The company has applied to the F.D.A. for authorization of a booster shot carrying half the dosage given in the first two shots, which has complicated the agencys deliberations.
Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/24/us/politics/biden-pfizer-booster-shot.html
mitch96
(13,872 posts)Ocelot II
(115,615 posts)I got yesterday. The pharmacist at Walgreens said there wouldn't be any conflict between the two vaccines and that I can just walk in and show them my vaccination card, no appointment needed.
Backseat Driver
(4,381 posts)Last edited Fri Sep 24, 2021, 07:04 PM - Edit history (1)
Where are you located - you need not answer if you choose.
Oops, meant to address this to OcelotII. But now, just several hours later, I've got my 3rd Pfizer at a different local pharmacy - YAY!
Ocelot II
(115,615 posts)and I plan to get the booster - also Pfizer, since that's the only one available now - within the next few days, since it's been more than six months since the last of the first ones. The pharmacist at a Walgreens in Minneapolis said I could just walk in, no appointment needed, which I will do.
William Seger
(10,775 posts)Backseat Driver
(4,381 posts)Last edited Fri Sep 24, 2021, 06:56 PM - Edit history (1)
I visited the national website of my CoVid-19 Pfizer vaccine provider for shots we received in February out of county in my state. The site said I did not have an account (visions of BS card records go through my head) - I made a new account and chose a local location and called there instead to get general info on availability of type of vaccine available and appointment set up. That location was not giving Pfizer shots and referred me to a different local location who was able to pull up my vaccine records of being fully-vaccinated through their system, but said I would not be able to receive the booster because I was already fully vaccinated, and no booster shot would be given even if I just walked in as being eligible for one which is no different than the other two I'd already received and for which I am or will be eligible this coming week, this fall, EVER? In fact, they said they would not be a provider of third shots at all, CVS, really? Unpaid Medicare claims? New separate contract? County .gov site was equally unhelpful re availability, eligibility, providers of Pfizer, etc...the site's information was not up-to-date anyhow about kids or the 65+ folks, including the latest BS from the weasel-gnome red Governor.
It's enough to make folks go hunting for a booster with another tool! But I digress...
BumRushDaShow
(128,531 posts)then the guidance needs to be propagated out to all those providers. And in this case, some may have planned on the FDA's recommendation and didn't expect (as I didn't expect) that the CDC would expand the eligibility guidance a bit.
I just know the nightmare I had to go through just to get the first 2 shots. Philly gets its own allocation of vaccines directly from CDC versus from the state's stock, and early on, it ended up almost 1/2 of the shots being done were to non-city residents. They finally started requiring residency checks.
Backseat Driver
(4,381 posts)Needed only vax card and fill out the form and sign re pertinent history and symptoms...
BumRushDaShow
(128,531 posts)There are the extra lines on that card to add the additional dose(s).
I am a Moderna recipient and at least the OP article confirmed that Moderna was applying for theirs as a true (technical) "booster" using a "1/2 dose" shot instead of a full concentration "3rd dose". So whenever that is ready for an approval, then I'll go ahead and get it. My 6 months would be in October.
moriah
(8,311 posts)(The deleted reply was deleted cuz I hadn't read far down enough to see you were able to get it -- must make coffee).
I feel lucky that my pharmacy was an early signup as a Pfizer distributor, and even tho they aren't a chain they make a lot of efforts to take care of the local population in walking distance (like the 4 at least apartment complexes all around it.) They texted me Friday night to schedule mine, and I'm still a month out from my six months.
If you were over your six months for your second when I was in my state's 1C distribution, I knew you had to fit the rubric for a first dose being a "should" vs a "may" recommendation. (I'm still a "may" cuz of my age, but my doc upgraded it to a "should" cuz of my lungs.)
Response to Backseat Driver (Reply #4)
moriah This message was self-deleted by its author.
riversedge
(70,095 posts)staying my distance.
yellowdogintexas
(22,235 posts)Right up the street at CVS, and next door to the Indian market so I can also stock up on a couple of things I can only get there.
Hubs has to wait because he got Moderna.
Corgigal
(9,291 posts)at my local CVS. Might use it as an excuse to take a nap. Perfect day.