WASHINGTON (AP) — Pfizer says it plans to meet with top U.S. health officials Monday to discuss the drugmaker’s request for federal authorization of a third dose of its COVID-19 vaccine as President Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser acknowledged that “it is entirely conceivable, maybe likely” that booster shots will be needed.
The company said it was scheduled to have the meeting with the Food and Drug Administration and other officials Monday, days after Pfizer asserted that booster shots would be needed within 12 months.
Pfizer’s Dr. Mikael Dolsten told The Associated Press last week that early data from the company’s booster study suggests people’s antibody levels jump five- to 10-fold after a third dose, compared to their second dose months earlier — evidence it believes supports the need for a booster.
On Sunday, Dr. Anthony Fauci didn’t rule out the possibility but said it was too soon for the government to recommend another shot. He said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the FDA did the right thing last week by pushing back against Pfizer’s assertion with their statement that they did not view booster shots as necessary “at this time.”
Fauci said clinical studies and laboratory data have yet to fully bear out the need for a booster to the current two-shot Pfizer and Moderna vaccines or the one-shot Johnson & Johnson regimen.
“Right now, given the data and the information we have, we do not need to give people a third shot,” he said. “That doesn’t mean we stop there. … There are studies being done now ongoing as we speak about looking at the feasibility about if and when we should be boosting people.”
He said it was quite possible in the coming months “as data evolves” that the government may urge a booster based on such factors as age and underlying medical conditions. “Certainly it is entirely conceivable, maybe likely at some time, we will need a boost,” Fauci said.
Monday’s planned meeting between Pfizer and U.S. health officials was first reported by The Washington Post.
Currently only about 48% of the U.S. population is fully vaccinated. Some parts of the country have far lower immunization rates, and in those places the delta variant is surging. Last week, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the CDC director, said that’s leading to “two truths” — highly immunized swaths of America are getting back to normal while hospitalizations are rising in other places.
Fauci said it was inexplicable that some Americans are so resistant to getting a vaccine when scientific data show how effective it is in staving off COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations, and he was dismayed by efforts to block making vaccinations more accessible, such as Biden’s suggestion of door-to-door outreach.
"It's horrifying … it's almost frightening" — Dr. Fauci on CPAC attendees cheering against Covid vaccinations pic.twitter.com/QUplEFb1s7
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 11, 2021
Gov. Asa Hutchinson, R-Ark., agreed Sunday that there is a vaccine resistance in Southern and rural states like his because “you have that more conservative approach, skepticism about government.”
Describing his efforts to boost vaccinations in his state, which is seeing rising infections, Hutchinson said “no one wants an agent knocking on a door,” but “we do want those that do not have access otherwise to make sure they know about it.”
The grassroots component of the federal vaccination campaign has been in operation since April, when supplies of shots began outpacing demand. It was outlined and funded by Congress in the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill passed in March and overwhelmingly is carried out by local officials and private sector workers and volunteers.
Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., blasted opposition to vaccination efforts from some GOP lawmakers as “absolute insanity.” He said House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy of California and others in the party need to speak out against “these absolute clown politicians playing on your vaccine fears for their own selfish gain.”
Fauci appeared on CNN’s “State of the Union,” ABC’s “This Week” and CBS’ “Face the Nation”; Hutchinson spoke on ABC, and Kinzinger was on CNN.
Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
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why another shot?
first two did not kill enough people for the demoncrat party i guess.
Na.. They just want us DEPENDENT ON THEM to survive/stay open..
Hey Dr. Fauci, people including my sister had severe reactions to the vaccine, one of my friends, friends died from the vaccine, so it is “inexplicable” why you want to force vaccines on people. Secondly, Dr. Fauci, I do not care what you say, as you funded the covid virus in the Wuhan lab.
Dr. Fauci it is time you retire, get yourself a rocking chair and retire to Wuhan , China please. Your advise is no longer wanted by the USA citizens because all of it is B.S.
HE shouldn’t retire, he’ll get a PENSION for the rest of his life on OUR DIME.. I’d rather he get PINK SLIPPED!
“as data evolves”. We have been chastised to “follow the science” and abide by mandated lockdowns, social distancing, mask wearing, and sheltering in place only to find out that the “experts” didn’t have any science, so it became a political football to control people. A panicdemic of grand proportions.
“Fauci said it was inexplicable that some Americans are so resistant to getting a vaccine when scientific data show how effective it is in staving off COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations, and he was dismayed by efforts to block making vaccinations more accessible, such as Biden’s suggestion of door-to-door outreach.” The vaccine picture hasn’t been all rosy—some people have died from getting the vaccine—that is a risk some of us aren’t willing to take.
“Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., blasted opposition to vaccination efforts from some GOP lawmakers as “absolute insanity.” He said House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy of California and others in the party need to speak out against “these absolute clown politicians playing on your vaccine fears for their own selfish gain.” And that is what it all boils down to—fearmongering—by the Media and all of government over a virus that has a 98-99% recovery rate. And it is clear that they do not want to relinquish the control element.
A scam-demic of grand proportions!
“Currently only about 48% of the U.S. population is fully vaccinated. Some parts of the country have far lower immunization rates, and in those places the delta variant is surging.”
The numbers have been manipulated from the very beginning of this fiasco. The facts have been hidden and the cure has caused many deaths.
Why do they expect us to believe anything they say is true?
NOT just that, but since WE HAVE FLAT OUT seen them willfully admit numbers were manipulated, HOW IS IT WE CANNOT SUE THE HELL OUT OF THE media, for flat out lying to us!