Some panel members said increasing vaccinations before the fall season was critical to getting children back to schools safely.
Regulators have authorized a third dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna vaccines for those with weak immune systems, and the U.S. government has said it plans to make booster doses available to more Americans in September. CDC staff presented available data on the need for boosters and said, at this point it may be difficult to determine whether immunity from prior vaccination is waning over time or if the vaccines are just less able to prevent infection by the highly-transmissible Delta variant.
Members of the vaccine advisory working group, which is shaping the agency’s approach to boosters, stressed that the top U.S. priority remains getting shots to the unvaccinated.At Monday’s meeting, the CDC reiterated that the benefits of the Pfizer vaccine outweigh potential risks associated with the shots.