US urges all adults to get variant booster vaccine

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) urged all adults to get a booster dose of the vaccine against him COVID-19 before the new variant of this disease, called omicron.

Before omicron, the CDC recommended a booster dose for everyone over the age of 50, and believed that those between the ages of 18 and 49 could get it if they wanted.

Now, however, the United States has tightened its recommendation and asks all adults to get another dose of the vaccine to boost their immune systems.

Specifically, the CDC advises adults to receive the third dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines six months after the second was administered.

In the case of the Johnson & Johnson (Janssen) single-dose serum, the United States recommends a booster dose from two months after the initial injection for all adults.

In a statement, the director of the CDC, Rochelle Walensky, considered that the omicron variant, identified for the first time in South Africa, “further emphasizes the importance of vaccination, booster doses and the necessary prevention efforts against COVID- 19 ″.

“Early data from South Africa suggest increased transmissibility of the omicron variant, and scientists in the United States and around the world are urgently examining the efficacy of vaccines with that variant,” Walensky said.

In addition, he took the opportunity to “strongly” ask the 47 million adults in the United States who are not yet vaccinated to do so “as soon as possible.”

He also encouraged Americans to get tested for COVID-19 if they experience symptoms so that the omicron variant can be detected the moment it arrives in the country.

So far, about 196 million people have been fully vaccinated in the United States, representing 59.1% of the entire population, according to the CDC.

The average number of daily infections has rebounded slightly in the country in recent weeks, and is now at 88,000 cases; while that of deaths maintains its progressive decline, and is around 1,000.

The United States is the country hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic with more than 777,000 deaths since March 2020.