CDC Advisers to Discuss Third COVID-19 Vaccine Dose for Immunocompromised

Giving a third dose of COVID-19 vaccines to immunocompromised adults will be up for discussion during a U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advisory panel meeting next week.

At the meeting scheduled for July 22, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices will focus on the 2 to 4 percent of U.S. adults with weakened immune systems. These include organ transplantrecipients, people receiving cancer treatments, and those living with rheumatologic conditions, HIV, and leukemia, The Washington Post reported.

The director of the U.S. National Institutes of Health does not consider giving an additional dose of currently approved two-dose vaccines to immunocompromised people a "booster" shot. "I wouldn't call that a booster," Francis Collins said, The Post reported. "I would call that trying to get the primary immunization into the effective place."

Booster shots have become a hot topic since Pfizer-BioNTech said last week it would seek emergency use authorization for a third shot of its two-dose vaccine amid growing concerns about the highly transmissible Delta variant, but U.S. health officials have said a third dose is not widely needed, The Post reported.

This week, Israel said it would start giving a third dose of the Pfizer vaccine to severely immunocompromised adults, and Britain plans to start giving booster shots in September, first to those with weakened immune systems, people older than 70 years, and frontline health care workers, The Post reported.