Lauren Dempsey, MS in Biomedicine and Law, RN, FISM News
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New COVID-19 booster shots may be available as soon as Labor Day.
Pizer-BioNTech and Moderna have both submitted applications to the FDA requesting authorization for the updated versions of the vaccine. If approved, this aligns perfectly with the Biden Administration’s booster campaign to distribute booster shots to eligible teens and adults.
The medical establishment is predicting a surge of COVID-19 cases in the fall and is encouraging vaccination and booster shots to prevent severe illness, hospitalization, and death, despite numerous studies showing a lack of efficacy and dozens of dangerous side effects linked to the mRNA shots.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, who has been continuously accused of hypocrisy regarding pandemic policy and even a potentially criminal coverup of the origins of COVID-19, has emphasized how important it is that all Americans get vaccinated and boosted now if they haven’t already.
Fauci recently extended his track record of fear-mongering and veiled threats on a Los Angeles radio station.
“If [people] don’t get vaccinated or they don’t get boosted, they’re going to get into trouble,” he said.
Despite Fauci’s incessant push for every legally eligible individual to get as many shots and boosters as is currently approved, demand for vaccines and boosters has dropped greatly in recent months in the United States.
According to Fauci’s own National Institutes of Health, natural immunity post-infection provides lasting protection against COVID-19. Dr. Ashish Jha, the White House’s Covid response coordinator, said in July that more than 70% of the U.S. population has had the virus, though many never even knew it.
That means nearly three-fourths, or more, of Americans have natural immunity to help fight the virus.
Reformulated boosters for an evolving virus
Pfizer-BioNTech’s reformulated vaccine specifically targets BA.4 and BA.5 omicron subvariants and the original coronavirus strain in a single shot. The subvariant BA.5 is the dominant strain circulating globally and according to the CDC accounts for almost 90% of all cases in the United States. The company submitted data to the FDA on the efficacy of the vaccines.
However, studies have only been done on animals. There is no data on how the bivalent vaccine performed in humans. The pharmaceutical company claims it is confident that the vaccine will perform well and is seeking authorization for individuals aged 12 and older.
Moderna’s bivalent vaccine is expected to be authorized in October, although it is already available in the U.K., with applications for authorization submitted in Australia, Canada, and the EU. The company is seeking approval for eligible adults with the hope that it will be available for pediatric groups at a later date.
In Moderna’s clinical trials, the booster shot had “superior neutralizing antibody response against Omicron (BA.1)” when compared to the current vaccine. Omicron BA.1 was the first subvariant. However, Moderna claimed that the data indicate that the vaccine will produce a neutralizing antibody response against BA.4 and BA.5.
The reformulated vaccines will only be available to people who have received a primary series from the currently available COVID-19 vaccines. The latest data from the CDC shows that 77.2% of adults over the age of 18 have been fully vaccinated and just 33.2% of those aged 50 and older have gotten a second booster shot.
Dr. Jha said at the event that there is “no reason to wait,” recommending that those that get boosted now will still be able to receive the reformulated vaccines in a few months when their immunity booster inevitably wanes.
Last month, Dr. Fauci shared a similar “boost-baby-boost” sentiment saying, “As we get into the fall, you’d want to boost with a BA.5 [vaccine] — so that if you get BA.5 or something closely related to that, you will enhance the immunity against that particular variant.”
After the FDA grants authorization, the CDC will also need to sign off on it. The agency’s advisory panel, called the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, will meet on Thursday, Sept. 1, and Friday, Sept. 2 to discuss COVID-19 boosters.
(Edits and additional reporting by Jacob Fuller, FISM News).