Americans Are Getting Kovid-19 Boosters—No Questions Asked

The Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have authorized the third shot of the vaccine, made by Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE, for a wide swath of the US population. Anyone over the age of 65 is eligible for a booster shot, as is anyone over the age of 18 with a pre-existing condition leading to a severe case of COVID-19. Those with jobs or living conditions are also eligible who are at higher risk of contracting COVID-19. Boosters should be given to all patients at least six months after the initial course of Pfizer vaccine.

Moderna Inc. And patients receiving initial doses of vaccines made by Johnson & Johnson are not yet eligible. A booster regimen is expected to be approved for those patients in the coming months. The FDA amended its emergency-use authorization in August, however, to allow a third Moderna dose for immunocompromised people.

Debbie Hirsch, a 67-year-old retired special-education teacher who initially received Moderna Vaccine, was not going to wait; She made an appointment Monday at her local CVS Health Corp. pharmacy in Poughkeepsie, NY, where a nurse gave her her third Moderna shot, no questions asked, she said.

Ms Hirsch, whose husband is recovering from heart surgery, said she checked a box on the CVS website certifying that his immune system was weak, even though she did not qualify. FDA guidelines for patients receiving the third Modern jab include patients who take drugs to suppress their immune systems and cancer patients currently undergoing treatment.

Ms. Hirsch said, “I thought I got into that category where you’re over 65, and your immunity starts to drop, even though I’m not on chemotherapy or anything like that.”

CVS spokesman Michael DeAngelis said the chain is only offering the third Modern dose to eligible immunocompromised people, but said it is following CDC’s guidance to allow patients to self-certify for their eligibility without the need for documents of proof. be allowed to do.

West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice said Monday that all adult residents of the state who have been vaccinated for at least six months should get a booster. “If you are 18 or older, you will qualify in some way,” said Gov. “I would really highly encourage you to run to fire again and get that booster shot.”

A spokesman for the governor said he was encouraging all eligible West Virginians to seek boosters, adding the CDC’s guidance, “explained broadly, around all healthcare workers, retail workers and others.” Anyone working indoors is allowed to qualify.”

Jeff Gents, the White House Covid-19 coordinator, said at a media briefing on Tuesday that more than 400,000 people received a Covid-19 vaccine booster at US pharmacies over the past weekend. About 1 million people have scheduled appointments to get their booster shots, Mr Ziants said.

Valencia Jennings is 27 years old and works in the human-resources department of a hospital in Memphis, Tenn. He says he has no underlying medical condition, but he received his first dose of the Pfizer vaccine in December 2020 earlier than most people, because he is technically a health worker.

“I interact with a lot of people on a daily basis, and I don’t know about anyone’s vaccination status,” she said. She received a Pfizer booster from a hospital clinic on Monday.

Other patients said the pharmacies were not asking for confirmation of eligibility beyond their online scheduling tool. Loch Hines, a retirement consultant in Campobello, S.C., received her Pfizer booster Monday after calling local pharmacies.

“They just said, ‘Come down and get your vaccine card,'” said Mr Hines, who is 75.

Michelle Kozad, a former supply-chain information technologist from Columbus, Ohio, who lives on disability due to a brain aneurysm three years ago, said she received a booster without question from her pharmacist this week.

“Even on the scheduling app it didn’t ask me if I had a pre-existing disease or a high risk factor,” said Ms Kozad, 46.

Neil Sehgal, a professor of health policy at the University of Maryland, said people who feel they are at high risk of severe COVID-19 will do whatever they can to get a booster shot, including skirting eligibility requirements. Are included.

Mr Sehgal said, “Some of the demand that we are seeing for boosters is a shadow of the policies we have put in place earlier, which have failed to reduce the spread of Covid.” “Thousands of people are still dying every day. We are not out of the woods yet.”