Should I be worried about the Delta variant?
The Delta variant now accounts for more than half of all infections in the United States, and the real risks are to the unvaccinated. While the Pfizer vaccine and others in use in the United States are slightly less effective against the Delta variant, all of them still offer significant protection against serious illness or hospitalization from Covid-19.
Moderna has said test-tube studies using blood samples from vaccinated people show the vaccine is still highly effective against the Delta variant, which caused only a “modest reduction” in virus-fighting antibodies in the samples. And Johnson & Johnson has released two studies that show its vaccine remains effective against Delta, showing only a small drop in potency.
“Roughly 99 percent of people who are hospitalized and killed by this virus are unvaccinated,” Dr. Offit said. “You’re not really trying to prevent asymptomatic or mild symptoms. You’re trying to keep people out of the hospital and out of the morgue. It’s a goal we’ve met remarkably well.”
Why not just get a third shot to be sure?
Given that large parts of the world still have very low vaccination rates, and vaccine supplies are limited, most public health experts say it’s shortsighted to give additional doses to people in wealthy countries who are fully vaccinated. In the United States, nearly 50 percent of all residents are fully vaccinated. But in India, only about 5 percent of the population is fully vaccinated. In much of Africa, fewer than 1 percent of people are vaccinated. The concern is that the longer large parts of the world remain unvaccinated, the greater the risk that new, more threatening variants will emerge.
“American lives continue to be at risk if there are large outbreaks elsewhere with more variants being created,” said Dr. Ashish K. Jha, dean of the Brown University School of Public Health. “Even if you take a very narrow lens that you only care about the lives of Americans, there’s still a very compelling argument that a first shot for an Indian person does more good for America than a third shot for an American.”
In a news conference on Monday, the leader of the World Health Organization pushed back against Pfizer’s plan to seek authorization for booster shots. “The priority now must be to vaccinate those who have received no doses and protection,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the W.H.O. director general, said.
Who will be first in line to get booster shots once they are approved?
Some countries are already giving booster doses of vaccine to people with compromised immune systems, including people who have undergone cancer treatment or those who have had organ transplants. Since April, health care providers in France have routinely given a third dose of a two-dose vaccine to people with certain immune conditions. On Monday, Israel also announced it would give a third dose of vaccine to highly vulnerable adults.