Earlier this week, President Joe Biden announced that the United States would likely begin offering COVID-19 booster shots this fall. While the Biden Administration awaits final approval from the FDA, U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy has co-signed Biden’s plan.
“[The decision to offer COVID-19 booster shots] was made with careful consideration by the top medical and public health experts and the Department of Health and Human Services. It was informed by data, thoughtful analysis and by our collective years of experience addressing illness and epidemics,” Murthy said.
The President also said that he and his wife, Dr. Jill Biden, would get a booster shot as soon as it is available to them.
“We’re gonna get the booster shots,” Biden said.
“And it’s something that I think,…you know, because….we got our shots all the way back in I think, December. So…it’s past time.”
As the United States prepares to offer booster shots, several health officials have pushed back against the plan. Dr. Michael Ryan of the World Health Organization has argued that no country should be distributing third doses of the COVID-19 vaccine while more than 80% of the world’s population remains unvaccinated, primarily due to lack of access to the vaccine.
“We’re planning to hand out extra life jackets to people who already have life jackets, while we’re leaving other people to drown without a single life jacket,” Ryan said.
“Our struggle is not getting protected individuals more protected as we have no indication it will lower case rates. Our struggle is vaccinating unprotected individuals so they do not die,” Ryan’s colleague, Edward Kelley, added.
Despite pushback from the word’s health community, Biden and the U.S. government seemed poised to push forward with their plan to further vaccinate U.S. residents.
