Governors and Officials Circumvent Federal Guidance on Boosters as Biden Administration Prepares for Future Pandemics

Strategic Insights -

As the holiday season approaches, a growing number of U.S. governors and officials are taking steps to expand access to COVID-19 boosters, despite federal guidance that only recommends them for certain high-risk groups. California made the first move, quietly instructing local health jurisdictions and vaccine providers to trust patients to decide whether a booster is appropriate. Other states and cities, including Colorado, New Mexico, Arkansas, West Virginia, and New York City, have since followed suit, with Democratic New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy urging all adults to get a booster. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is aiming to authorize booster doses of Pfizer-BioNTech's coronavirus vaccine for all adults as early as this week, which would expand the number of Americans eligible for additional shots by tens of millions.

Key Takeaways:

  • California, Colorado, New Mexico, Arkansas, West Virginia, and New York City have expanded access to COVID-19 boosters, despite federal guidance that only recommends them for certain high-risk groups.
  • Democratic New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy has urged all adults to get a booster, saying "with the holidays coming up, we need as many people boosted as possible. It's that simple."
  • The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is aiming to authorize booster doses of Pfizer-BioNTech's coronavirus vaccine for all adults as early as this week.
  • If authorized, adults who received a second dose of the vaccine at least six months earlier would be officially eligible to get a booster as soon as this weekend.
  • Anthony Fauci, the United States' top infectious-disease expert, has said that COVID-19 could be reduced to an endemic illness in the country by next year, but only if more unvaccinated people get vaccinated and more fully vaccinated people get booster doses.
  • Fauci has also estimated that there needs to be a daily case count of well below 10,000 for the country to achieve some semblance of pre-pandemic life.
  • The White House is prepared to invest billions of dollars to expand U.S. manufacturing capacity, with the goal of producing at least one billion doses a year beginning in the second half of 2022.
  • The Biden administration is planning to purchase 10 million courses of Pfizer's COVID-19 pill, a 5 billion dollar investment in a treatment that "officials think will help change the trajectory of the coronavirus pandemic by reducing severe illness and deaths."
  • The administration and Pfizer are seeking to authorize the five-day antiviral pill regimen called Paxlovid, which would be the second easy-to-take treatment aimed at keeping newly infected people out of the hospital.

Statistics:

  • COVID-19 cases in the United States have plateaued at between 70,000 and 75,000 per day for almost three weeks before starting to rise again toward the end of last week.
  • Fauci has estimated that daily case counts need to fall to well below 10,000 for the country to achieve some semblance of pre-pandemic life.
  • The administration and Pfizer are seeking to produce at least one billion doses of COVID-19 vaccine per year beginning in the second half of 2022.
  • The White House has set aside billions of dollars to expand U.S. manufacturing capacity and invest in future pandemics.
  • The Biden administration has budgeted 5 billion dollars to purchase 10 million courses of Pfizer's COVID-19 pill.

Sources:

  • Xinhua News Agency
  • The Washington Post (WP)
  • The New York Times (NYT)
  • Reuters