People ages 65 and up ought to get one other dose of a COVID-19 vaccine this spring, given the age group’s larger threat of extreme illness and dying from the pandemic virus, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention introduced Wednesday.
Earlier right this moment, an advisory committee for the CDC voted overwhelmingly in favor of recommending the spring booster dose. And late this afternoon, CDC Director Mandy Cohen signed off on the advice, permitting boosting to start.
“Today’s advice permits older adults to obtain an extra dose of this season’s COVID-19 vaccine to offer added safety,” Cohen stated in an announcement. “Most COVID-19 deaths and hospitalizations final yr had been amongst folks 65 years and older. An extra vaccine dose can present added safety that will have decreased over time for these at highest threat.”
The spring booster will likely be an extra shot of the 2023–2024 COVID-19 vaccines made by Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, and Novavax. The booster dose needs to be taken after at the least 4 months have handed since a earlier COVID-19 vaccination. However, as FDA consultant David Kaslow famous in right this moment’s advisory committee assembly, the FDA will seemingly approve a 2024–2025 model of COVID-19 vaccines for this coming fall. Given that, it is best for folks to get their spring booster dose by the top of June, to allow them to be prepared for one more booster earlier than the winter when COVID-19 has typically peaked.
A report printed earlier this month by the CDC discovered that the 2023–2024 COVID-19 vaccine was about 54 % efficient at stopping symptomatic COVID-19 in comparison in opposition to individuals who had not obtained the newest vaccine. However, the CDC estimates that solely about 22 % of adults within the US have gotten a COVID-19 booster this season, and simply over 40 % of individuals ages 65 and up have gotten the shot.
People over age 65 made up 67 % of COVID-19 hospitalizations between October 2023 and January 2024, in accordance with CDC information offered at right this moment’s advisory committee assembly. In early January, COVID-19 hospitalizations hit a seasonal excessive of about 35,000 weekly new admissions per week and practically 2,500 weekly deaths.
The advisors debated how you can phrase their advice for a spring booster and whether or not getting a booster ought to require consulting with a well being care supplier. But, in the end, the committee selected a extra permissive advice, permitting anybody within the age group who needs a booster to have the ability to freely get one, together with at handy areas, akin to native pharmacies.
“Data continues to indicate the significance of vaccination to guard these most in danger for extreme outcomes of COVID-19,” the CDC stated in its announcement of the advice. “An extra dose of the up to date COVID-19 vaccine might restore safety that has waned since a fall vaccine dose, offering elevated safety to adults ages 65 years and older.”
The CDC famous that its earlier suggestions permit people who find themselves immunocompromised to get extra doses of the COVID-19 vaccines.