US approves third dose of COVID vaccine for 18+

The United States extended the authorization of the COVID-19 vaccine boosters to all people over 18 years of age on Friday, six months after completing their primary vaccination series, health authorities announced.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA, federal) said that the emergency use authorization granted to Pfizer and Moderna laboratories helped “provide ongoing protection against COVID-19, including against serious consequences that can occur, such as hospitalization or death”.

The two pharmaceutical companies had announced shortly before that they had obtained approval from the FDA.

“This emergency use authorization comes at a critical time as we enter the winter months and face a growing number of COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations across the country.“Said the executive director of Moderna, Stephane Bancel.

People over the age of 18 who received the Johnson & Johnson single-dose vaccine in the United States were already entitled to a second dose, two months after their first injection.

In the case of those vaccinated with Pfizer and Modern, the third dose was reserved until now only for certain categories of people: those over 65 years of age, adults at risk of developing a severe form of the disease or those with high exposure to the virus, for example, through their job.

This announcement comes at a time when cases are on the rise again in the United States, with an average of 85,000 new COVID-19 cases each day (up from nearly 70,000 at the end of October), and about 1,000 deaths a day. .

Some states in the United States, including California (western), had already begun allowing booster doses for all adults, even before the recommendations of health agencies, in the hope of containing the spread of the epidemic before the vacation season.