The FDA allows immunocompromised Americans to receive additional COVID-19 vaccine

U.S. regulators on Thursday said transplant recipients and others with significantly weakened immune systems could get additional doses. Pfizer or Moderna COVID-19 vaccine As delta variants continue to proliferate, to better protect them.

NS Midnight announcement by the Food and Drug Administration It applies to millions of Americans who are particularly vulnerable to organ transplants, certain cancers or other disorders. Similar recommendations are made in several other countries, including France and Israel.

Vaccines are difficult to restore the immune system suppressed by certain drugs or illnesses, so those patients do not always get the same protection as other healthy people — and at least some small studies It suggests that additional doses may be the solution.

“Today’s behavior allows doctors to boost the immunity of certain individuals with immunodeficiency. COVID-19 (New Coronavirus Infection)“Dr. Janet Woodcock, FDA’s deputy commissioner, said in a statement.

The FDA has determined that transplant recipients and others with similar levels of weakened immunity can receive a third vaccine from Pfizer and Modana at least 28 days after the second dose. The FDA does not mention immunocompromised patients who received a single Johnson & Johnson vaccination.

The announcement comes when the highly contagious delta version of the coronavirus surges in most parts of the country, pushing new cases, hospitalizations and deaths to heights not seen since last winter.

Importantly, the FDA’s decision applies only to this high-risk group, which is estimated to be less than 3% of US adults. It’s not the beginning of booster doses for the general public.

Instead, health officials will consider additional doses of the first prescription in the event of weakened immunity. For example, France has encouraged such patients to take a third dose four weeks after the usual second injection since April. Israel and Germany have also recently begun recommending a third dose of a double dose vaccine.

Apart from this, U.S. health officials continue to closely monitor whether and when the average person’s immunity is weakened and everyone needs additional immunity, but for now. , Vaccines continue to provide strong protection for the general public.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is expected to formally recommend additional shots to certain immune-compromised groups after meeting with an outside advisor on Friday.

Transplant recipients and others with a suppressed immune system know that they are at higher risk than the average American and add themselves, even if it means they are lying about their vaccination status Some people are looking for a dose of. This change makes it easier for high-risk groups to get another shot, but experts warn that it’s not yet clear who should do it.

“Everything will be very personalized,” warned Dr. Dolly Segev, a transplant surgeon at Johns Hopkins University, who is conducting research at a major National Institutes of Health for additional shots for organ recipients. For some people, the third dose “increases the immune response, but for some it doesn’t seem to be the case. We still don’t know who is who.”

May, Segev told CBS News He said, “I’ve heard stories of people who have been vaccinated and mitigated safe behavior by transplants and other immunosuppressed people, are currently in hospitals, and have died of COVID-19 infection. rice field”.

A study of more than 650 transplant recipients, published in May, found that after two doses of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine, they contained more than half of the antibodies that fight the virus.

“This is a far more contrast than we expected,” Segev told CBS News at the time.

Another study of people with rheumatoid arthritis and similar autoimmune diseases found that only people taking certain drugs responded very poorly to the vaccine.

There is little data on how well the third dose works and whether it poses safety issues such as increased risk of organ rejection. On Wednesday, Canadian researchers reported that transplant recipients were more likely to have high levels of antibody if they received a third dose than those given dummy shots for comparison. did. Similarly, other small studies have shown that some transplant recipients respond to a third dose, while others still lack adequate protection.