booster shots

Following FDA Advisory Committee Vote, Connecticut Prepares for Booster Shots

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Connecticut is making preparations to offer Covid-19 booster shots for those 65 and older or those identified as high risk who previously received a Pfizer vaccine, the state Department of Public Health said Friday.

This comes after the Food and Drug Administration's advisory committee voted to recommend emergency use authorization of a booster dose for those groups. The committee did not offer a recommendation for those who received a Moderna or Johnson & Johnson vaccine. More discussion on those recommendations is expected in the near future.

The FDA vote was just the start of the process and not a final decision. Further guidance will come after a meeting of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), which is set for next week, where the FDA will offer a final recommendation.

While the timeline is subject to change based on the guidance from ACIP, state officials said they are prepared to start administering booster shots as soon as Sept. 24.

State officials continue to urge anyone who has not received a Covid-19 vaccine to do so.

"The COVID-19 vaccines authorized in the United States continue to be remarkably effective in reducing risk of severe disease, hospitalization, and death, even against the widely circulating Delta variant. It is critical that unvaccinated and partially vaccinated people get their primary series of vaccines to further reduce the risk of COVID-19 and its more severe outcomes. Nearly all the cases of severe disease, hospitalization, and death continue to occur among those not yet vaccinated at all," DPH wrote.

DPH also noted that there is an adequate supply of vaccines to make the boosters available.

The same FDA advisory committee that recommended the boosters for older adults and those considered high risk rejected a plan to give the boosters to the wider population, citing a lack of data on the safety of extra doses and questioning the value of a mass booster rollout, rather than one targeted to specific groups.

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