The Food and Drug Administration approved booster injections of Pfizer-COVID-19 BioNTech’s vaccination for 16- and 17-year-olds at least six months after their initial doses on Thursday.
The third dose is the same as the first two. Booster doses are already recommended for persons over the age of 18 who have previously received the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccinations at least six months ago, or the Johnson & Johnson injection at least two months ago. The United States government has pre-purchased enough dosages to deliver free boosters to everybody who qualifies.
“The booster immunisation significantly enhances protection against COVID-19 in all age groups investigated thus far,” said Ugur Sahin, CEO and co-founder of BioNTech, in a prepared statement. “It’s critical to provide a boost to everyone, especially in light of the newly emerging varieties like Omicron.”
Pfizer and BioNTech presented a pilot research on Wednesday that revealed only limited protection against the new omicron type after two doses, but that protection would be entirely restored after a third treatment.
Dr. Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, told the media on Wednesday that he doesn’t believe individuals in this age range require booster injections. They are quite unlikely to become really ill from any of the known COVID-19 variations, he added, and guys in this age range are more likely than older men to develop myocarditis, a swelling of the heart muscle.
Delta, not omicron, is the issue. At least for the time being.
The latest coronavirus mutation, omicron, is generating headlines across the country. However, the prior severe mutation, delta, is to blame for the rising incidence of illnesses and hospitalizations across the country. President Joe Biden’s main medical adviser, Dr. Anthony Fauci, said omicron, which was identified in South Africa last month, is “definitely not more severe” than delta.
“There is some evidence that it may be less severe,” Fauci told Agence France-Presse last week. “When looking at some of the cohorts being studied in South Africa, the ratio between the number of infections and hospitalizations appears to be lower than with delta.
New cases in the United States increased from about 95,000 per day on Nov. 22 to almost 119,000 per day this week, with hospitalizations up 25% from a month earlier. The delta type is responsible for virtually all of the increases, but omicron has been verified in at least 21 states and is expected to expand much farther.
toll,Deaths are back up to around 1,600 per day on average, close to where they were in October. And, less than two years into the epidemic, the overall death toll in the United States is expected to reach the 800,000 mark in a couple of days.
Federal health inspectors approved a new COVID-19 antibody medication on Wednesday for persons with major health issues or allergies who cannot receive appropriate protection via immunisation. The AstraZeneca antibody medication, which has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration, is the first antibody therapy designed for long-term prevention of COVID-19 infection rather than a short-term treatment. Cancer patients, organ transplant recipients, and persons using immune-suppressing medications for illnesses such as rheumatoid arthritis would also benefit. According TO The Food and Drug Administration, the group accounts for around 2% to 3% of the US population.
“These folks must remain hide in place because they are at extremely high risk of serious sickness and death,” warned Dr. David Boulware of the University of Minnesota ahead of the announcement. “Having this therapy will allow many of them to return to their normal lives.”
A Michigan doctor has issued a warning to people who refuse to get COVID-19 immunizations that they are causing a dangerous domino effect. They are becoming ill, spreading the virus to loved ones and the community, overcrowding hospital beds, and depleting precious medical resources, according to Dr. Marschall Runge, CEO of Michigan Medicine and dean of the University of Michigan Medical School.
“The basic truth is that COVID-19 is not just dangerous to people who have it.
The COVID-19 outbreak endangers others by preventing us from providing life-saving care “he stated at a news conference on Wednesday, for anything from heart attacks to cancer to strokes.
On Wednesday, the number of Americans properly immunised against COVID-19 topped 200 million, despite a depressing Christmas season rise in cases and hospitalizations. According to Runge, the mortality rate from cardiovascular disease increased by 3% in 2020 after years of consistent decreases due to people delaying treatment. According to Runge, the great majority of hospitalised COVID-19 patients at Michigan Medicine are unvaccinated, and every coronavirus patient on a ventilator is unvaccinated.
