USA To Administer Additional COVID-19 Booster Dose To Specific Individual

May, 2022 - By SMI

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved a fourth dose of mRNA vaccine for individuals aging 50 years and above, and people with severe immunosuppressive conditions

The United States to administer fourth dose of COVID-19 vaccine to specific individual as recommended by the Centers of Disease Control (CDC). The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted approval to the fourth dose of mRNA vaccines in the U.S. to people over the age of 50 years and individuals with severe immunosuppressive diseases. This authorization included Moderna and Pfizer vaccines and the fourth dose is recommended to be given after at least four months of the third dose.

The continuous downturn in cases of COVID-19 and hospitalizations after the increasing cases of Omicron early in 2022 in the U.S. a new wave is expected to hit the region. The Omicron variant BA.2 increasingly became dominant in the country and it can cause increase in hospitalization and deaths.  In such situation a third dose of mRNA vaccines was considered to be vital to generate strong protection against this variant. However, the effect of this protection was seen to be reduce after three to four months. At the end of 2021 Israel rolled out a fourth dose of vaccine, which proved to be effective to provide protection to the people that are more vulnerable.

The FDA authorized fourth dose of mRNA vaccines is called as a second booster that will target people aging 50 years and above who had their third dose at least four months ago. The authorization is restricted for people under the age of 50, as it will be focusing on people of age 12 and above with certain medical conditions making them highly vulnerable to the COVID-19 infection. The authorization of fourth dose is expected to protect large number of individuals in the U.S. that are at higher risk in mentioned age bracket.