Omicron booster shots cleared by CDC

"Everyone should get this vaccine this fall," experts say; concerns raised about low booster acceptance among minority, low-income individuals; and, more funding for safer schools.

This is an extra edition with details from today’s CDC decision on new Covid-19 booster shots. The next planned edition will be around Oct. 3. Please check the website between now and then for updates, as I will post comments to this post or new discussion threads when significant news occurs. Please join in. Thanks for being part of this community.

The new “bivalent” Covid-19 boosters are now recommended for everyone 12 and older who got their last primary or booster shot at least two months ago, and most people 12 and older should get a booster shot soon to avoid a potential new Covid surge as indoor activities pick up and other precautions wane.

The CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices reviewed data from both Moderna and Pfizer in a day-long meeting Thursday. The CDC director is expected to endorse the recommendation imminently, which is the final step before vaccines can be given.

The previous boosters, which were created to thwart the original Covid-19 strain and have proven less effective against omicron, will no longer be allowed as boosters, except for children under 12.

Now, “fully vaccinated” means two doses of either the original Pfizer or Moderna vaccines plus a booster shot of the new combination one. CDC officials urge getting Covid-19 boosters and annual flu shots at the same time. Experts also are working on how Covid-19 vaccinations might become part of an annual immunization program.

If you have already had Covid-19, the vaccines and boosters still are recommended three months after symptoms abate. And, if you get the combination of vaccines, boosters and prior infection, you likely have more protection against future infection or severe illness than others.

For all adults, the new shots are recommended no less than two months and no more than six months from their last dose. They are called “bivalent” because they contain a combination of two sets of instructions for the immune system, so that it generates antibodies against both the original Covid-19 virus and the omicron variant.

Some of the experts expressed urgency, based on the possibility of new variants or additional omicron surges as cold weather arrives, though a few were somewhat skeptical of the urgency to use these new formulations across the entire population, suggesting that focusing on getting boosters to people 50 and older should be a priority.

The variants that have dominated infections in the United States this year have proven highly capable of evading immune protection from the existing Covid-19 vaccines or prior infections.

One forecast predicts that a booster campaign started in September could prevent over 100,000 infections, around 10,000 deaths and over $60 billion in healthcare costs in the next few months than if boosters were rolled out in November. The impact would be even greater if a new variant emerged. More than 60% of people surveyed indicated willingness to get flu shots at the same time as the new Covid boosters, according to the CDC.

In advance of the CDC decision, the federal government began delivering the first 20 million doses to state and other health authorities, pharmacies and other vaccination sites around the country. The boosters will be available for free, courtesy of Uncle Sam.

During the CDC meeting, there were some concerns raised about whether the new vaccines have been sufficiently studied. CDC, Pfizer and Moderna scientists explained that the new vaccine is a new formulation of the same vaccine and should be reviewed much like annual flu vaccine formulations.

“I really feel that we need the human data,” said panel member Dr. Pablo Sanchez, professor of pediatrics at The Ohio State University, who voted against the recommendation. However, Sanchez said he was confident of its safety and likely would get the booster himself.

With the new booster shots, the job of vaccinators now gets more complicated, since there will be multiple vaccines, each with different uses and not interchangeable. At least one panel member raised concerns that vaccine vials could be easily confused.

Pfizer said it expects to have data to support boosters in younger children for the FDA to review in early October.

Immunocompromised individuals may benefit from the preventive monoclonal antibody Evusheld instead of or in addition to the vaccines.

Data from a study in Qatar indicates that individuals who have had three mRNA vaccine shots and have recovered from Covid-19 infection have the highest level of protection against new Covid-19 infections, with about 80% protection.

Under the current FDA emergency use authorizations, only the new bivalent vaccines may be used as Covid-19 booster shots.

A look at the pandemic data, from the CDC:

• There have been over 94 million Covid-19 infections and 1.04 million deaths in the USA.

• Unvaccinated adults over 50 have 14 times greater risk of death than those with two booster doses.

• Among all adults, unvaccinated adults have about five times greater hospitalization rates and eight times higher death rates over adults with at least one booster dose.

• Covid-19 has driven U.S. life expectancy down for the second straight year, to the lowest level since 1996.

The new boosters will be available in California, Nevada, Oregon and Washington after the Western States Scientific Safety Review Workgroup affirms the FDA and CDC decisions, which is expected within days. Other states follow the FDA decisions directly.

Experts also are concerned that the absence of Covid-19 prevention measures could fuel a significant uptick in new cases and deaths this fall and winter. For an excellent review of the current state of the pandemic in the United States and why there are reasons to keep masks handy, check out this article on STATNews.

The White House is providing funding and urging schools to encourage students and staff to get Covid-19 and other routine vaccines as school resumes and to make Covid-19 testing widely available. There also is additional funding to improve school ventilation, which is possibly the most practical way to reduce risk in many schools.

Questions? Comments?