CDC backs Covid-19 booster shots for all adults in US

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has endorsed Covid-19 booster shots for all adults over 18 years of age, amid concerns about a surge in cases ahead of the winter.

It follows a unanimous vote at the vaccines committee of the health agency on Friday and paves the way for a nationwide rollout of the booster programme after months of wrangling over the policy.

The Biden administration is prioritising the rollout of booster jabs to all adults in a bid to tame a worrying rise in Covid-19 cases in recent weeks and ahead of the holiday season. Nationally, cases of Covid-19 have increased by 28 per cent in the past two weeks, fuelled largely by sharp rises in the Midwest and north-east, according to the CDC.

It initially promised to begin administering boosters widely in September, but concerns among scientists over whether it was needed or desirable, given low vaccination rates in the developing world, delayed authorisation for the general population.

US regulators had previously recommended Moderna and Pfizer’s messenger RNA (mRNA) booster shots for people with underlying health conditions or whose job or living conditions put them at high risk of exposure to the virus. It had already approved a booster of Johnson & Johnson’s one-shot vaccine two months after the initial dose.

Approximately 16 per cent of fully vaccinated individuals have already received a booster dose, according to CDC data. The vast majority of those who initially received Pfizer or Moderna doses opted for the same vaccine for their booster, while over two-thirds of those who initially received a J&J vaccine were more likely to get a Pfizer or Moderna booster.

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Public health experts have become increasingly concerned that waning immunity to Covid-19 six to eight months after the initial vaccination is leading to a rise in breakthrough infections.

Critics have also warned the constantly shifting eligibility criteria for booster shots risks confusing people in the US, where vaccine hesitancy is a big issue with just 60 per cent of the population fully inoculated.

Earlier on Friday the US Food and Drug Administration recommended that all adults should have access to a booster shot.

Peter Marks, director of the FDA Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, said available scientific data support the rollout of single dose booster shots for adults.

“Streamlining the eligibility criteria and making booster doses available to all individuals 18 years of age and older will also help to eliminate confusion about who may receive a booster dose and ensure booster doses are available to all who may need one,” he said.

In advance of the authorisation of boosters, President Joe Biden this week announced a public-private partnership aimed at expanding vaccine manufacturing capacity in the US by 1bn doses by the second half of 2022. Some doses could be dispatched abroad to boost vaccination rates while the increased capacity would ward against future pandemics, said officials.

The initiative follows scathing criticism of booster programmes rolled out by rich nations by the World Health Organization, which has called for vaccine doses to instead be funnelled to the developing world where vaccination rates are low.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO director-general, described the rollout of booster programmes in rich countries last week as “a scandal that must stop”.