Biden administration plans to offer second booster shots to those 50 and older

Major uncertainties have complicated the decision, including how long the protection from a second booster would last, how to explain the plan to the public and even whether the overall goal is to shield Americans from severe disease or from less serious infections as well, since they could lead to long COVID.

A second booster is at best a stopgap measure. Many experts argue that the existing coronavirus vaccines need to be modified because the virus’ variants are diminishing their power; the question is how to reconfigure them. A surge in the fall is considered highly likely, whether it comes in the form of the omicron variant, a subvariant like BA.2 or a new lineage entirely.

Already, 1 in 75 Americans 65 or older has died of COVID-19, making up three-fourths of the nation’s deaths from the virus, according to the CDC’s data. More than 33 million people in that age group, or more than two-thirds, have received a first booster and would be eligible for a second. There may be somewhat less resistance among scientists now than there was to the first booster shots, since evidence has emerged that those doses saved lives during the winter’s omicron wave.

“This is a complex decision that involves a pretty deep dive, and I think it would really benefit from public discussion,” said Dr. Jesse L. Goodman, a former chief scientist at the FDA. “I would not want to see an advisory committee skipped on this.” The biggest downside may be more vaccine fatigue and skepticism that the vaccines work and that the nation’s vaccine policy is really driven by data. With each successive shot that becomes available, fewer Americans get it.

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