Republic file photo Pfizer and its partner BioNTech asked the Food and Drug Administration to authorize an additional booster dose of their COVID-19 vaccine for seniors.
Local health officials have said that a second COVID-19 booster shot would likely be “favorable” for seniors, adding that they would support an additional vaccine dose for the population that has been hardest hit by severe illness, hospitalization and death if federal regulators give it the green light.
Earlier this month, Pfizer and its partner BioNTech asked the Food and Drug Administration to authorize an additional booster dose of their COVID-19 vaccine for seniors, saying data from Israel suggests older adults would benefit, The Associated Press reported.
Two days later, drugmaker Moderna made a broader request, asking regulators to authorize a fourth shot of its COVID-19 vaccine as a booster dose for all adults, pointing to “recently published data generated in the United States and Israel following the emergence of omicron.”
Currently the U.S. urges two primary shots followed months later by a booster dose for everyone age 12 and older. The new application seeks to add a fourth shot only for the over-65 population that has been hit hardest by the pandemic.
The FDA and the Centers for Disease Control would still have to approve the requests, according to wire reports. If so, a key question would be how soon seniors would be advised to roll up their sleeves again.
While authorities say the vaccinations continue to offer strong protection against severe illness, they haven’t held up as well against milder infections, especially those due to the omicron mutant, according to the AP. With COVID-19 cases finally plummeting after the intense omicron surge, public health experts are starting to look ahead to what next steps might be needed — if a new variant crops up or, barring that, whether to try shoring up coronavirus protection in the fall at the same time people get flu vaccinations.
Locally, health officials said they feel confident that an additional dose for seniors likely would be beneficial, as this population tends to be more susceptible to severe illness and death from COVID-19.
However, officials are waiting to see how the regulatory process plays out.
“Some vaccine companies are attempting to get a fourth dose approved in individuals 65 and over,” said Bartholomew County Health Officer Dr. Brian Niedbalski. “Since this age group is more susceptible to serious disease and death from COVID, I support a fourth dose for this population if it is recommended by the CDC and the Advisory Council on Immunization Practices.”
Columbus Regional Health said it is monitoring the regulatory process but medical staff “feel pretty confident that a second booster, or a fourth dose, for the 65 and old (population) is definitely possible and would be favorable, especially several months down the road as we head into the colder months,” said CRH spokeswoman Kelsey DeClue.
“We think it’s favorable, but still not sure of the timing,” DeClue said. “…We will be prepared to handle (additional boosters) through physician offices. If and when (authorization) comes through, we’ll of course notify the public and encourage those populations that are applicable to go through their physicians. But we stand ready, as we have been from the beginning, if we need to stand up other approaches to support that population.”
Currently, there are no plans to reopen an emergency standalone vaccination clinic near the hospital campus in Columbus that the hospital system has used to administer nearly 47,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines over the course of the pandemic, DeClue said.
The requests to authorize additional boosters for seniors comes as COVID-19 hospitalizations at CRH dip to their lowest levels in nearly eight months.
So far, 241 Bartholomew County residents have died from COVID-19 over the course of the pandemic, according to the Indiana Department of Health. Local residents ages 65 and up have accounted for 88% of those deaths.
Bartholomew County’s booster rate among seniors slightly trails national levels, according to data from the CDC. Nationwide, 67% of people ages 65 and up have received a booster, compared to 64% in Bartholomew County.
On the federal level, officials are currently laying the groundwork to deliver additional booster doses to shore up the vaccines’ protection against serious disease and death from COVID-19, according to wire reports. The White House has been sounding the alarm that it needs Congress to “urgently” approve more funding for the federal government to secure more doses of the COVID-19 vaccines, either for additional booster shots or variant-specific immunizations.
The U.S. booster campaign was based on evidence that the shots’ effectiveness, particularly against milder infections, was waning about six months after the last dose. Calls for a third shot grew once it became clear the vaccines weren’t as strong against the omicron mutant as they were against earlier versions of the virus.
Many scientists say the ultimate goal of vaccination is to prevent severe illness, not mild infections, and early CDC data show the shots still are doing a good job at that, according to wire reports. During the omicron wave, effectiveness against hospitalization was 91% in people who had gotten their booster two months earlier, and 78% by the fourth month after that booster.
Local health officials are urging the public to not let down their guard and continue to take precautions, including masking and social distancing, adding that “we aren’t out of the woods yet.”
“(The virus) is not gone,” DeClue said in a previous interview. “It’s not going away yet. We don’t know how this is going to evolve.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
