US Ends Recommendation of Covid Vaccine Boosters for Most Americans

The US has ended its recommendation of Covid vaccine boosters for most Americans. FDA Commissioner Martin Makary and FDA vaccine chief Vinay Prasad announced the change for healthy under-65s today in the New England Journal of Medicine. The Free Press has the story.

In a paper published today in the New England Journal of Medicine, Martin Makary, the Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, and Vinay Prasad, the newly appointed head of the FDA’s vaccine division, have unveiled a new policy in which the Government will no longer recommend Covid booster shots for healthy Americans ages 64 and younger.

In addition, as of today, Covid vaccine manufacturers like Moderna and Pfizer will have to conduct trials to prove that their updated vaccines offer clinical benefits such as fewer symptoms, hospitalisations or deaths. Previously, pharmaceutical companies only had to show that their updated booster shots produced antibodies. That less rigorous standard will still apply for people 65 and older and the immunocompromised.

It is well established that people 65 and older account for the vast majority of Covid deaths, while most children, in particular, show few effects from the virus.

In an exclusive interview with the Free Press, Prasad said that the previous one-size-fits-all approach — in which the federal Government recommended Covid vaccine boosters for everyone, including healthy six-month-olds — “fatigued” the country.

“The American people were sceptical, and some of them took that scepticism to every single vaccine, which has led to some big problems,” said Prasad, referring to the fact that a growing number of Americans have stopped having their children vaccinated for measles, mumps and rubella, leading to measles outbreaks in pockets of the country. “This is a restoration of that trust. It’s bringing us back to evidence.”

The move is one part of what is expected to be further changes in federal Covid vaccine policy. According to the Wall Street Journal, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. plans to scrap guidelines recommending routine Covid vaccinations for pregnant women, teenagers and children. Late last month, in an interview with Phil McGraw (popularly known as Dr Phil), Kennedy advised parents to “do your own research” before vaccinating their newborns. That scepticism is increasingly shared by the public: less than a quarter of Americans received boosters in recent years, according to Makary and Prasad’s paper. Even healthcare workers have been slow to roll up their sleeves — fewer than one third reported getting a booster in 2023.

Prior to joining the administration earlier this month, Prasad had been critical of the FDA’s guidance about vaccines and booster shots. As he wrote in the Free Press in 2022, “An 88-year-old has 8,700 times the risk of death of an eight year-old.” But, he added, “Scientists that advocated a more nuanced approach — do more to protect older people, and put fewer limits on younger people — were demonised.” Prasad himself was one of those scientists. Makary was also a critic of the federal government’s Covid response, including in the pages of the Free Press.

Worth reading in full.

On Unreported Truths, Alex Berenson says the move “does not go far enough – a long list of chronic conditions means most adults will still be eligible for boosters – but it is the first real step to rein in American mRNA fanatics”.