When the FDA last month signed off on a second round of COVID-19 boosters, some experts debated whether they were needed. Now, a top Biden administration official is throwing his support behind a fourth mRNA dose—for some.
Dr. Ashish K. Jha, the new White House COVID-19 response coordinator, over the weekend recommended people 60 and older get the additional dose. Speaking on "Fox News Sunday," Dr. Jha cited “pretty compelling” new data from Israel indicating that a second booster significantly reduced infections and deaths among older people there, according to a New York Times report.
“When people got that second booster shot four months after their first booster, what we saw was a substantial reduction, not just in infections, but in deaths,” he said. “So I think people over 60 should be getting it.”
The Food and Drug Administration granted emergency use authorizations for both Pfizer and Moderna’s second booster shots in people over 65 years of age on March 29. The FDA nod was an effort to strengthen dwindling immunity against severe disease as BA.2, the more contiguous omicron subvariant which has emerged as the dominant strain in the United States.
At the time, vaccine experts weren’t sold on the need for another round of boosters. Dr. Jha’s comments serves as the Biden administration's first official endorsement of the second round.
Meanwhile, a second booster round for Americans between the ages of 50 and 59 is a “much closer call,” Dr. Jha said in a separate appearance on “This Week with George Stephanopoulos.”
“The good news is our vaccines are holding up really well against BA.2, against all of the Omicron variants, especially if you’ve been boosted,” Dr. Jha said. “The key is you’ve got to have the initial two shots, and you’ve got to have a booster.”