Vaccine Booster Shots to be Available to All Americans on Sept. 20

     Pfizer and Moderna booster shots, which are now available for immunocompromised Americans, are expected to become available on Sept. 20 for all Americans who had their second shots at least eight months ago.

     Immunocompromised Americans who received two doses of the Pfizer shot and who are older than 12 can get their boosters, while immunocompromised Americans who got the Moderna shot must be older than 18.

     This morning, Ted Long, MD, the executive director of the NYC COVID-19 Test & Trace Corps, said that the city is currently ordering additional vaccines to provide boosters to New Yorkers.

     Just as they were in the earliest phase of the vaccine rollout in December 2020, the first Americans to receive the boosters will likely include health care workers and nursing home residents.

     As the rollout of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine did not begin until March, scientists are still evaluating the long-term immunity the shot provides.

     Currently available data reveal that the protection that the COVID vaccines provide wanes over time, and "could diminish in the months ahead, especially among those who are higher risk or were vaccinated during the earlier phases of the vaccination rollout," said a joint statement put out by the nation’s top health agencies, which said that their aim is to maximize Americans’ protection against COVID.

     "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," the statement said, which was put out by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky, MD, MPH, FDA Acting Commissioner Janet Woodcock, MD, U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, MD, NIH Director Dr. Francis Collins, and Anthony Fauci, MD, President Biden's chief medical advisor.

     "For that reason, we conclude that a booster shot will be needed to maximize vaccine-induced protection and prolong its durability," the statement continued. "We have developed a plan to begin offering these booster shots this fall subject to FDA conducting an independent evaluation and determination of the safety and effectiveness of a third dose of the Pfizer and Moderna mRNA vaccines and CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) issuing booster dose recommendations based on a thorough review of the evidence."

(Photo By: Mike Groll/Office of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo)