Officials To Recommend COVID Booster for All Americans

We've been hearing about a possible booster shot for the COVID-19 vaccine for some time now. But it appears that it will soon become a reality. The Associated Press is reporting that medical experts in the U.S. will soon recommend that Americans of all ages get that COVID booster shot eight months after they received the last dose of their initial vaccine.

Health officials have been worried that the vaccinated would need a booster by this fall to help protect them against the fast spreading Delta variant. The AP reports that a new study out of Israel shows that the vaccine's protection against serious illness dropped in people who were vaccinated back in January. The announcement on the booster shots for Americans could come as soon as this week, according to sources who spoke to the AP on conditions of anonymity.

Doses of the booster would begin to be given once the Food and Drug Administration formally approves the shots. Last week, health officials in the U.S. said that they recommended a booster for Americans that suffered from compromised immune systems, but now it appears all Americans may need the shot. Among the first to get the booster would likely be the same groups who got the vaccine first, health care workers, nursing home residents, and other older Americans.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention more than 198 million Americans have had a least one dose of the vaccine, with over 168 million residents being fully vaccinated.