The administration of US President Joe Biden is pushing vaccines as the best way to avoid possible disruptions of the new BA.4 and BA.5 variants.
The Biden administration is asking people to take renewed caution with COVID-19, stressing the importance of getting booster vaccinations for those who are eligible and wear masks inside, as two new variants are highly transmissibles are spreading rapidly throughout the United States.
The new coronavirus variants, called BA.4 and BA.5, are branches of the Omicron strain that has been responsible for almost all of the virus spread in the U.S. and are even more contagious than their predecessors. White House doctors stressed the importance of getting booster doses, even if you have recently become infected.
“Currently, many Americans are poorly vaccinated, meaning they are not up to date with their COVID-19 vaccines,” said Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (CDC). “Keeping up to date with your COVID-19 vaccines offers the best protection against serious outcomes.”
Walensky said the U.S. has doubled the number of hospitalizations due to COVID-19 since April, reflecting the spread of new subvariants, although deaths have remained stable around of 300 per day.
Dr Anthony Fauci, the country’s leading infectious disease expert, said that while the new variants are worrisome, with reinforcements, interior masks and treatments, the country has the tools to prevent them from being disruptive.
“We must not let it disrupt our lives,” he said, “but we cannot deny that it is a reality we must face.”
He added that even if someone had COVID-19 recently, they should receive a booster.
“Immunity decreases, so it’s important to keep up to date with COVID-19 vaccines,” he said.
All Americans 5 years of age or older should receive a booster five months after their initial primary series, according to the CDC, and all Americans 50 years of age or older, or who are immunocompromised, should receive the second booster four months after the first. According to the CDC, tens of millions of eligible Americans have not received their first booster, and of those over 50 who received their first booster, only 28 percent have received a second booster.
“If you’re over 50 and haven’t been vaccinated this year, you should go do it,” said Dr. Ashish Jha, response coordinator for the White House’s COVID-19. “It will save your life.”
Jha and Fauci said the United States is regularly discussing expanding eligibility for a second booster vaccine to all adults, but no decision has yet been made.
“It’s a regulatory decision by the FDA,” Fauci said.
Jha said people who are eligible for a booster but have not received any should not wait for the next vaccines targeted at the Omicron strain in addition to the original form of the coronavirus. The United States has ordered 105 million of these updated features that studies show provide better protection against Omicron variants, but will not be available until the fall.
“Let me be clear: if you get vaccinated today, you will not be ineligible to receive the variant-specific vaccine as we get into the back of fall and winter,” Jha said. “So that’s not a compromise. We have a lot. It’s a good way to protect yourself.”
Fauci added, “The threat to you is now.”
Walensky noted that CDC data show that about a third of Americans live in areas the agency classifies that experience a high level of COVID-19 spread, where the agency recommends that people wear masks in public spaces. interiors. Another 41 percent live in places the CDC designates as the “middle” level, where it recommends that people consider their own individual risk and consider mask use.