Joe Biden says he and first lady plan to get Covid booster | Joe Biden

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Joe Biden said he and First Lady Jill Biden plan to get a booster shot and he’s comfortable doing so while millions around the world are still not immune — because America “has given more to the rest of the world than the rest of the world combined.”

He added that the United States will also provide an additional half a billion rounds of ammunition around the world during the first half of next year. Critics say it remains a drop in the ocean in the context of what is needed.

Biden made the remarks during an interview with ABC News that aired Thursday, a day after the US administration announced that Americans who received the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine eight months ago could start getting booster shots by next month. But it is an advertisement that has not been well received by all health experts.

Initial doses of the vaccine are still highly effective against severe disease from Covid-19. The vast majority of hospitalizations and deaths in the United States in recent weeks have been among the unvaccinated.

But US health officials said plans to distribute Covid-19 booster shots to all Americans would boost their protection amid the increasing delta variable and early signs that vaccines’ effectiveness in preventing infection — not severe disease — could be waning.

“Our plan is to protect the American people, and to stay ahead of this virus,” said CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walinsky.

Health officials said that people who received a single dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine will likely need additional doses. But they said they were waiting for more data.

Officials said that before any booster program begins, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and an advisory committee for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will need to evaluate the safety and efficacy of an additional dose.

The World Health Organization has condemned the announcement of the booster injections, claiming that giving a third dose to all Americans is unethical while millions around the world have yet to be vaccinated.

David Dowdy, a professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, shared a CDC study co-authored by David R Holtgrave of Suny, and noted that the “waning effect” of a vaccine that many are concerned about may be influenced by behavior.

Referring to the study tables, noting that the dwarfing effect was not recorded for those 65 and older, Dr. Daoudi wrote, ‘Before jumping on the ‘immunity diminished’ bandwagon, see age breakdown bracket 18 and 49.

In a follow-up tweet, he said that people in this age group can be more vulnerable to exposure because they interact with each other more.

Others expressed concern about inequality in vaccines.

“The modest decline in protection against moderately symptomatic infections does not justify the #reinforcements policy for all vaccinated people starting in September,” Bogoma Kapisin Tetanji, a fellow at Emory University School of Medicine, tweeted on Wednesday.

She went on to encourage the prioritization of the first doses of the unvaccinated over the booster doses.

Muge Cevik, an expert in infectious diseases and medical virology at the University of St Andrews, added in response that it’s possible everyone will get Covid at some point – and some may get it multiple times, but the booster shot is still unnecessary.

“Two doses reduce the risk of worst outcomes well. I understand boosting for the elderly and the immunocompromised, but boosters are not justified for everyone,” she wrote.

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