This archive report was first published on 26 July 2021.
Biden Officials Shift on Booster Shots for Vulnerable Americans ¶
July 26, 2021, 5:19 p.m. ET
Senior officials in the Biden administration now expect that people who are 65 and older or who have compromised immune systems will most likely need a third shot from Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna, two vaccines based on the same technology that have been used to inoculate the vast majority of Americans thus far.
This shift comes as research suggests that the Pfizer vaccine's effectiveness against the coronavirus drops from 95% to 84% four to six months after the second dose. Data from the Israeli government, which has fully vaccinated more than half of its population with Pfizer doses since January, also points to a downward trend in effectiveness over time.
Dr. Amanda Cohn, the chief medical officer of the C.D.C.'s immunizations division, told an advisory committee to the agency that officials were
