Facing the second-biggest wave of COVID-19 infections and waning popularity, President Biden has promised to launch an initiative to begin providing vaccine boosters starting September 20.
But the plan hinges upon FDA and CDC support, and some officials at the agencies remain unconvinced that boosters are immediately necessary.
Two departing senior FDA vaccine officials recently co-wrote an article published in The Lancet arguing that insufficient evidence exists to justify the case for boosters. “Even if boosting were eventually shown to decrease the medium-term risk of serious disease, current vaccine supplies could save more lives if used in previously unvaccinated populations than if used as boosters in vaccinated populations,” the paper argues. In addition, while the public could ultimately benefit from boosting, administering boosters before they are required could lead to an uptick in adverse events, according to The Lancet article.
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