On August 18, 2021, the Biden Administration announced with top US health officials a recommendation that Americans receive a COVID-19 booster shot eight months after their second dose was administered. The Administration is not recommending a booster for the one-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine pending additional data.
The statement began, “The COVID-19 vaccines authorized in the United States continue to be remarkably effective in reducing risk of severe disease, hospitalization, and death, even against the widely circulating Delta variant.” In light of the resurgence of COVID-19 infections in the United States, the Biden Administration stated that the US would begin efforts to deliver a booster shot to mitigate against the decreasing effect of the vaccines as time passes. The administration of a third round of COVID-19 vaccines could begin as early as September 20, 2021.
This recommendation comes less than one week after the FDA authorized COVID-19 booster shots for immunocompromised adults in the United States. And it comes two weeks after the World Health Organization urged a worldwide moratorium on booster shots until lower income countries could administer more of the first rounds of the COVID-19 vaccines.
Norton Rose Fulbright lawyers will continue to provide relevant updates for healthcare providers on the Health Law Pulse during the COVID-19 public health crisis.