[ti:US Health Officials Looking at COVID Booster Shot]
[by:www.21voa.com]
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[00:01.80]United States health experts are expected
[00:05.28]to recommend additional COVID-19 vaccine shots for all Americans.
[00:13.04]The additional injection, called a booster,
[00:16.56]would be given eight months after a person received
[00:20.20]their second shot of the vaccine.
[00:23.68]The goal of this move is to provide longer-lasting protection
[00:28.48]as the Delta variant of the virus spreads across the country.
[00:34.68]Federal health officials have been studying whether booster shots
[00:39.04]for the vaccinated would be needed as early as this autumn.
[00:45.00]They reviewed case numbers in the U.S. as well
[00:48.72]as the situation in other countries such as Israel.
[00:54.04]Early studies in Israel
[00:55.84]suggest the vaccine's protection against serious illness
[01:00.16]dropped among those vaccinated in January.
[01:04.60]Two people who know about the matter talked with The Associated Press.
[01:09.48]They expect an announcement on the booster recommendation this week.
[01:15.04]The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, or FDA,
[01:19.28]would have to officially approve the COVID-19 vaccines
[01:24.04]before additional injections could be given.
[01:28.20]At this time, the FDA has only given emergency approval
[01:33.04]for vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson.
[01:40.44]Full approval of the Pfizer shot is expected in the coming weeks.
[01:46.32]Last week, U.S. health officials recommended boosters
[01:50.28]for some with weakened immune systems.
[01:54.24]The group includes people who have a higher risk of catching the virus
[01:58.84]such as cancer patients and organ transplant recipients.
[02:05.00]Among them, there is evidence
[02:07.24]that vaccines provide less protection over time.
[02:12.04]The director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH),
[02:16.44]Dr. Francis Collins, said Sunday the U.S. could decide in the coming weeks
[02:23.16]whether to offer booster shots to Americans this fall.
[02:28.04]Among the first to receive them could be health care workers,
[02:32.16]older people and those in nursing homes.
[02:36.72]Because of their higher risk of catching the virus,
[02:39.88]they were some of the first Americans to be vaccinated last December.
[02:45.84]Since then, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says,
[02:50.80]more than 198 million Americans
[02:54.64]have received at least one shot of a COVID-19 vaccine.
[03:00.52]Still, the U.S. is seeing a large increase of virus cases
[03:05.20]from the fast-spreading Delta variant in unvaccinated communities.
[03:11.88]The variant is also responsible for an increasing number
[03:15.68]of so-called "breakthrough infections" of fully vaccinated people.
[03:21.60]Israel has one of the world's highest vaccination rates with the Pfizer shot.
[03:28.04]It is trying to control the increase of cases from the Delta variant
[03:33.32]by offering a booster shot to all people over 60.
[03:38.40]And European health officials said
[03:40.84]they are talking with vaccine developers about the need for boosters.
[03:46.36]NIH head Collins said, "There is a concern that
[03:50.28]the vaccine may start to wane in its effectiveness."
[03:55.48]He noted that the Delta variant is difficult to deal with.
[04:00.84]Collins continued, "The combination of those two
[04:04.60]means we may need boosters."
[04:08.00]Health officials from the World Health Organization (WHO)
[04:12.16]have asked wealthier and more-vaccinated countries
[04:16.20]to delay the booster shots.
[04:19.12]They feel it would be better to give shots
[04:21.60]to unvaccinated people in the developing world.
[04:26.24]I'm Jill Robbins. 更多听力请访问21VOA.COM