Individuals who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 “do not need a booster shot at this time,” federal health authorities said Thursday evening.
The announcement comes as the aggressive COVID-19 delta variant spread, following news that broke earlier Thursday that Pfizer, the manufacturer of the first vaccine to be authorized for emergency use in the United States, plans to apply for authorization for a booster shot.
“People who are fully vaccinated are protected from severe disease and death, including from the variants currently circulating in the country such as Delta,” the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a joint statement.
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“Americans who have been fully vaccinated do not need a booster shot at this time. FDA, CDC, and [the National Institutes of Health] are engaged in a science-based, rigorous process to consider whether or when a booster might be necessary,” the agencies added. “We are prepared for booster doses if and when the science demonstrates that they are needed.”
Dr. Mikael Dolsten, president of worldwide research, development, and medical at Pfizer, claimed that data from Pfizer’s booster dose study showed that a third shot increased recipients’ antibody levels 5-to-10 fold, and the Pfizer vaccine “neutralizes the delta variant very well,” the Associated Press reported.
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The FDA has authorized three coronavirus vaccines for emergency use, two of which, the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, require a two-dose regimen. The third, made by Johnson & Johnson, is a single dose.
