The (third) booster shot of COVID-19 vaccine will become available next month for eligible Americans across the United States, according to a statement from the US Department of Health and Human Services and other health officials.
Surgeon General Vivek Murthy announced that the US will start offering COVID booster shots the week of September 20 to fully-vaccinated Americans 18 and older. Murthy said recent data show that “protection against mild and moderate disease” decreases over time after full vaccination.
Those who have already completed their first and second shots of the Moderna or Pfizer BioNTech vaccine at least eight months ago will be eligible to receive the third shot.
Researchers and global health care professionals say the effective protection of the COVID-19 vaccine begins to wane at around five months.
Health officials say a third – booster – dose of the vaccine is needed to protect against the super contagious COVID-19 Delta variant.
Those who are first in line to receive the third dose are those whose inoculations took place earliest: health care providers, nursing home residents and other members of the senior citizen population.
More than 98.8 percent of the US cases of COVID-19 at this point are due to infection with the Delta variant, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The CDC had already recommended a third shot be administered to people with severely weakened immune systems. The FDA also approved a third dose for that sector: the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices voted unanimously to offer a third shot to the 2.7 percent of Americans with the weakest immune systems.
“This official CDC recommendation – which follows FDA’s decision to amend the emergency use authorizations of the vaccines – is an important step in ensuring everyone, including those most vulnerable to COVID-19, can get as much protection as possible from COVID-19 vaccination,” CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said last Friday in a statement.