US President Biden said that he and first lady Jill Biden were planning to get booster shots once they’re eligible.
US President Joe Biden said that he and first lady Jill Biden were planning to get COVID-19 vaccine booster shots once they’re eligible.
According to a report on CNN, the President said in an interview that he and his wife were planning to get booster shots once they’re cleared to take them.
The Biden administration on Wednesday announced that Americans will be able to get booster doses starting on September 20, subject to authorization from the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and signed off from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Based on a report, individuals would become eligible for their booster dose eight (8) months after their second dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna COVID-19 vaccines.
Health officials said that those individuals who received the Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen COVID-19 vaccine may need booster doses in the future, but more data was needed before taking it.
President Biden told ABC News that the Bidens received their second doses of Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine last January and so they would become eligible for the booster dose in September.
“We’re gonna get the booster shots. And— it’s somethin’ that I think— you know, because … we got our shots all the way back in I think, December. So … it’s past time,” said President Biden.
The announcement last Wednesday came after months of public health officials saying that booster shots weren’t needed but could be possible in the coming days.
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During a virtual White House COVID-19 briefing last Wednesday, US Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy said that the Biden administration’s plans to administer booster doses of COVID-19 vaccine were an effort to “stay ahead” of the coronavirus.
Also, Murthy emphasized that vaccines still appeared to be effective in protecting against severe disease, hospitalization, and death — but data suggested that protection against mild and moderate disease appeared to decline over time, and health officials in the United States wanted to boost protection before that decline in protection against severe disease.
The announcement from the White House’s COVID-19 team led to criticism from the World Health Organization (WHO) and other groups who argued that the United States shouldn’t be giving third doses to their own citizens before much of the rest of the world has received their first doses of COVID-19 vaccine.
Biden rejected that criticism in his interview with ABC News, noting — as his advisers did last Wednesday — that the United States will be donating more doses abroad than it was administering at home.
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