FDA To Consider Pfizer Application For COVID Booster Shots On Friday
SAN JOSE (KPIX) -- Pfizer and Moderna are pushing for a third "booster" dose of their mRNA vaccines to be administered.
The Biden Administration was on board a month ago.
"You will be able to get booster shots at one of approximately 80,000 vaccination locations nationwide. It will be easy," said President Biden.
However, the final decision on booster shots doesn't rest with the White House but rather with an FDA advisory committee which is set to meet Friday to consider Pfizer's application for third-dose authorization.
This comes as medical journals are filled with differing opinions.
UCSF's Dr. Monica Gandhi says the messaging on potential boosters has muddied the waters.
"I think the messaging from the White House has served to terrify the vaccinated and made the unvaccinated think that the vaccines don't work," Dr. Gandhi told CBS News.
In an article published in the British medical journal Lancet, scientists -- including two outgoing FDA employees -- argue that "currently available evidence does not show the need for widespread use of booster vaccinations."
Research from Israel released by the FDA shows waning immunity against severe disease may occur and that a booster significantly reduced the risk of severe illness.
Meanwhile the Delta variant continues to wreak havoc on communities across the nation, with more than a million new cases and 13,000 deaths last week alone. The surge in infections is stretching some medical systems beyond the breaking point.
"We're seeing our community across the border in Idaho now going into crisis standards of care, which is really every physician's worst nightmare," said Dr. Daniel Getz of Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center in Spokane, Washington.