In the United States, experts are expected to recommend COID vaccine boosters for all Americans, regardless of age, eight months after their second dose, to ensure lasting protection against the virus as the Delta variant spreads across the nation.
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Federal health officials have been looking into whether extra shots are necessary as the fall arrives.
Having reviewed case numbers in the U.S. as well as in other countries, experts are expected to announce later this week that boosters are recommended for everyone, irrespective of age, 8 months after their second dose.
Last week, U.S. health officials recommended boosters for some with weakened immune systems, also known as the immunocompromised, citing their higher risk of contracting COVID and evidence that vaccines' effectiveness waned over time.
Meanwhile, the director of the National Institutes of Health, Dr. Francis Collins, said on Sunday the U.S. could decide whether to offer COVID booster shots to Americans this fall.
Among the first to receive boosters would likely be healthcare workers, nursing home residents and the elderly. Pfizer shots are expected to be administered.
Officials are also collecting information about the J&J vaccine, to determine when to recommend boosters from J&J.
But such a decision now has global health officials, as well as the World Health Organisation, calling on well-off and more-vaccinated countries to hold off administering boosters to ensure vaccine supply worldwide is adequate.
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