In Review, Top FDA Scientists Question Recent Need for Boosters

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Federal health officials said one reason they announced the support plan was to stay ahead of the virus and be prepared for a time when vaccines can no longer protect against serious Covid-19 cases. Mr. Biden’s chief medical adviser, Dr. These officials, including Anthony S. Fauci, relied heavily on data available to them by Israeli officials, who defended the country’s early, aggressive support campaign.

Dr. Fauci and other administration officials said their data showed a reduced immunity to infection with improved protection against booster doses, but hints at reduced immunity to hospitalization in people under 65.

But in the new review, Dr. Krause, Dr. Gruber and other vaccine experts said more time and public debate and better studies are needed to determine whether boosters are needed for the general population. They also said that whatever advantage the vaccines could provide could not outweigh the benefit of using them to protect the billions of unvaccinated people around the world.

world Health Organization asked Rich countries should delay administering extra vaccines to healthy patients until at least the end of the year, as a way to ensure that each country vaccinates at least 40 percent of its population. The scientists warned that each unvaccinated person provides an opportunity for the virus to evolve into new, potentially dangerous variants.

That said, the review authors said the extra shots may be helpful for some people with weakened immune systems — a step up from the FDA. already authorized.

“As more information becomes available, it may first provide evidence that augmentation is necessary in some subpopulations,” they wrote. “However, these high-risk decisions must be based on peer-reviewed and publicly available data and sound international scientific debate.”

They largely ignored the Israeli data and other studies that some health officials said should soon require additional vaccinations. Just a week or so after the third dose, they said some Israeli evidence had accumulated and may not hold true over time, and that “a very short-term protective effect does not necessarily mean a valuable long-term benefit.”

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