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COVID Vaccine Earthquake! Top FDA Scientists Write Letter to Lancet Warning Against Fauci’s Booster Shots

Editor’s Note: The corporate media has been censoring this bombshell story for days as Biden prepares to announce mandatory COVID booster shots. Please share it with friends and family to get this critical information out before it’s too late!
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How significant is it that the two top FDA officials responsible for vaccine research resigned last week and this week signed a letter in The Lancet that strongly warns against vaccine boosters? This is a remarkable sign that the project of government-managed virus mitigation is in the final stages before falling apart. 
The booster has already <a href="https://www.politicshome.com/news/article/early-data-shows-booster-jab-is-very-effective-in-driving-down-covid">been</a> <a href="https://nypost.com/2021/08/29/fauci-certain-americans-will-need-covid-19-booster-shots/">promoted</a> by top lockdown advocates Neil Ferguson of Imperial College and Anthony Fauci of NIH, even in the face of rising public incredulity toward their “expert” advice. For these two FDA officials to go on record with grave doubts – and their perspective is certainly backed by the<a href="https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/israel/"> unimpressive booster experience</a> in Israel – introduces a major break in the narrative that the experts in charge deserve our trust and deference. 
What’s at stake here? It’s about more than the boosters. It’s about the whole experience of taking away the control of health management from individuals and medical professionals and handing it over to modelers and government officials with coercive power. 
From the first week of March 2020, the US embarked on a wild experiment in virus mitigation, deploying a series of measures with a sweep and scope that had never previously been attempted, not in modern times and not even in ancient times. The litany of controls and tactics is long. Many of these measures survive in most parts of the US. The retail landscape is still filled with plexiglass. We are still invited to sanitize ourselves when going indoors. People still mask up in proximity to others. The “Karens” of the world are still actively shaming and denouncing anyone suspected of non-compliance.
The vaccine push has been particularly divisive, with President Biden actively encouraging “anger” at those who don’t get the jab, even as he refuses to acknowledge the existence of infection-induced immunities. In several cities, people who refuse vaccines are being denied active participation in civic life, and a populist movement is rising up that scapegoats the refuseniks as the only reason that the virus continues to be a problem. 
All these measures were deployed in waves of controls. It all began with event cancellations and school closures. It continued with travel bans, most of which are still in place. Sanitization and plexiglass were next. Masks were rolled out and then mandated. The principle of forced human separation governed social interactions. Capacity limits indoors were a common feature. The US example inspired many governments around the world to adopt these NPIs (non-pharmaceutical interventions) and take away the liberties of the people. 
At each stage of control, there were new claims that we’ve finally found the answer, the key technique that would finally slow and stop the spread of SARS-CoV-2. Nothing worked, as the virus seemed to follow its own course regardless of all these measures. Indeed there was <a href="https://brownstone.org/articles/lockdowns-fail-they-do-not-control-the-virus/">no observable difference</a> anywhere in the world based on whether and to what extent any of these measures were deployed. 
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Finally came the pharmaceutical interventions, voluntary at first but gradually mandatory, just as with each previous protocol began as a recommendation until it was mandated. 
At no point in these 19 months have we seen a clear admission of failure on the part of government officials. Indeed, it’s mostly been the opposite, as the agencies double down, claiming effectiveness while citing no data or studies, while social media companies backed it all by taking down contrarian posts and brazenly deleting accounts of people who dare cite dissenting science. 
The vaccine was the biggest gamble of all simply because the program was so expensive, so personal, and so wildly oversold. Even those of us who opposed every other mandate had hopes that the vaccines would finally end the public panic and provide governments a way to back out of all the other strategies that had failed. 
That did not happen. 
Most people believed that the vaccine would work like many others before them to block infection and spread. In this, people were merely believing what the head of the CDC said. “Our data from the C.D.C. today suggests that vaccinated people do not carry the virus, don’t get sick,” Rochelle Walinsky <a href="https://www.msnbc.com/transcripts/transcript-rachel-maddow-show-3-29-21-n1262442">told</a> Rachel Maddow. “And that it’s not just in the clinical trials, it’s also in real-world data.” 
“You’re not going to get COVID if you have these vaccinations,”President <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2021/07/22/remarks-by-president-biden-in-a-cnn-town-hall-with-don-lemon/">Biden said</a>, reflecting what was the common view in the summer of 2021.
That of course turned out not to be the case. The vaccines appear to have been helpful in mitigating against some severe outcomes but it did not achieve victory over the virus. Israel’s surge in infections in August was <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2021/08/20/1029628471/highly-vaccinated-israel-is-seeing-a-dramatic-surge-in-new-covid-cases-heres-why">among</a> the fully vaccinated. The same happened in the UK and Scotland, and that precise result began to hit the US in September. Indeed, we all have vaccinated friends who caught the virus and were sick for days. Meanwhile, team natural immunity has received <a href="https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/309762">a huge boost </a>from a large study in Israel that demonstrated that recovered Covid cases gain far more protection than is conferred by the vaccine.
The fallback position then became the booster. Surely this is the answer! Israel was first to mandate them. Here again, the problems began to show, as yet another magic bullet of disease mitigation failed. Then the inevitable headline came: <a href="https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/world/2021/09/12/israel-fourth-vaccine-covid-virus/118814310/">Israel preparing for possible fourth COVID vaccine dose</a>. So think about this because there is a sense in which the vaccines rank among the biggest failures: in a matter of a few short months, we’ve gone from the claim that they fully protect to they are pretty okay provided you get regularly scheduled boosters forever. 
Now to the striking resignation of two top officials at the FDA who were in charge of vaccine safety and administration. It was the Director and Deputy Director of the Office of Vaccines Research, Marion Gruber and Phillip Kause. They gave no reason for their departure, which is scheduled for October and November. 
The case is fascinating because 1) people rarely resign cushy government jobs unless a higher-paying, higher-prestige job in the private sector awaits, or 2) they are being pushed out. It’s rare for anyone in a position like to to resign over a principled matter of science. When I first read that they were going, I figured something else was up. 
These days, extremely weird things are going on within the Biden administration. Even though his approval ratings are sinking, the president has to pretend that he has all the answers, that the science behind his mandates and virus war is universally settled, that anyone who disagrees with him is really just a political enemy. He has gone so far as to denounce, demonize, and legally threaten red-state governors who disagree with him. 
This is a deep problem for actual scientists working within the bureaucracy because they know for sure that all of this is a pretense and that the government cannot win this war on the virus. They simply cannot preside over more false promises, especially when the whole of their professional training is about assessing the safety and effectiveness of vaccines. 
So what can they do? In this case, it appears they had to get away before they dropped a bombshell. 
The bombshell is called “<a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(21)02046-8/fulltext">Considerations in boosting COVID-19 vaccine immune responses</a>.” It appears in the prestigious British medical journal The Lancet. The two top officials are among the authors. The article recommends against the Covid booster shot that the Biden administration, following Fauci’s advice, is suggesting as the key to making the vaccines work better and finally fulfill their promise. 
Fauci and company are pushing boosters because they know what is coming. Essentially we are going the way of Israel: most everyone is vaccinated but the virus itself is not being controlled. More and more among those hospitalized and dying are vaccinated. This same trend is coming to the US. The boosters are a means by which government can save face, or so many believe.
The trouble now is that the top scientists at the FDA disagree. Further, they think that the push for boosters is courting problems. They think the current regime of one or two shots is working as well as one can expect. Nothing is gained on net from a booster, they say. There just isn’t enough evidence to take the risk of another booster, and another and another. 
The authors knew this article was appearing. They knew that signing it under the FDA affiliation would lead to a push for their resignations. Life would get very difficult for both of them. They got ahead of the messaging and resigned before it came out. Very smart. 
The signed article goes even further to warn of possible downsides. They point out that boosters might seem necessary because “variants expressing new antigens have evolved to the point at which immune responses to the original vaccine antigens no longer protect adequately against currently circulating viruses.” At the same time, there are possible side effects that could discredit all vaccines for a generation or more. “There could be risks,” they write, “if boosters are widely introduced too soon, or too frequently, especially with vaccines that can have immune-mediated side-effects (such as myocarditis, which is more common after the second dose of some mRNA vaccines, or Guillain-Barre syndrome, which has been associated with adenovirus-vectored COVID-19 vaccines.”)
Bringing up such side effects is essentially a taboo topic. That this was written by two top FDA officials is nothing short of remarkable, especially because it comes at a time when the Biden administration is going all in on vaccine mandates. Meanwhile, studies are showing that for teenage boys, the vaccine poses <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.08.30.21262866v1">a greater risk</a> to them than Covid itself. “For boys 16-17 without medical comorbidities, the rate of CAE is currently 2.1 to 3.5 times higher than their 120-day COVID-19 hospitalization risk, and 1.5 to 2.5 times higher at times of high weekly COVID-19 hospitalization.”
From the beginning of these lockdowns – along with all the masks, restrictions, bogus health advice from plexiglass to sanitizer to universal vaccine mandates and so on – it was clear that there would someday be hell to pay. They wrecked rights and liberties, crashed economies, traumatized a whole generation of children and other students, ran roughshod over religious freedom, and for what? There is zero evidence that any of this has made any difference. We are surrounded by the carnage they created. 
The appearance of The Lancet article by two top FDA vaccine scientists is truly devastating and revealing because it undermines the last plausible tool to save the whole machinery of government disease management that has been deployed at such enormous social, cultural, and economic cost for 19 months. Not in our lifetimes has a policy failed so badly. The intellectual and political implications here are monumental. It means that the real Covid crisis – the task of assigning responsibility for all the collateral damage – has just begun. 
In 2006, during the early years of the birth of lockdown ideology, the great epidemiologist Donald Henderson <a href="http://www.upmc-biosecurity.org/website/resources/publications/2006/2006-09-15-diseasemitigationcontrolpandemicflu.html">warned</a> that if any of these restrictive measures were deployed for a pandemic, the result would be a “loss of trust in government” and “a manageable epidemic could move toward catastrophe.” Catastrophe is exactly what has happened. The current regime wants to point the finger toward the noncompliant. That is no longer believable. They cannot delay the inevitable for much longer: responsibility for this catastrophe belongs to those who embarked on this political experiment in the first place. 
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The <a href="https://freeworldnews.tv/watch?id=6144d5dbd0af0008a410e252" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">two studies that Fauci cited</a> to green light Remdesivir prove that he’s trying to kill Americans
 
 
source <a href="https://www.infowars.com/posts/covid-vaccine-earthquake-top-fda-scientists-write-letter-to-lancet-warning-against-faucis-booster-shots">https://www.infowars.com/posts/covid-vaccine-earthquake-top-fda-scientists-write-letter-to-lancet-warning-against-faucis-booster-shots</a>

news COVID Vaccine Earthquake! Top FDA Scientists Write Letter to Lancet Warning Against Fauci’s Booster Shots

Editor’s Note: The corporate media has been censoring this bombshell story for days as Biden prepares to announce mandatory COVID booster s...

70’s German Film Eerily Predicted Covid Pandemic, Vaccine Mandates, Lockdowns, Masks & More

A 1979 German film titled, “The Hamburg Syndrome,” turned out to be closer to reality than fiction.
From a mysterious virus that even healthy people need to be vaccinated against to a rushed vaccine that is harmful to many people, the film was nearly prophetic.
Masked protesters march against the unvaccinated and government officials haul off those who refuse the vaccine in the dystopian flick.
The globalist nightmare being waged on humanity has been in the works for decades and the depopulation agenda they have dreamed of is now officially underway.
The elite have pushed several other works of art hinting towards different pandemic scenarios, such as the show “Utopia” where humans are sterilized via vaccination after a weak virus was released on the public.
Another creepily specific film was Michael Bay’s “Songbird,” which predicted a never-ending, global lockdown.
<div class="UmvGa9j8"><a href="https://www.infowarsstore.com/ultra-12-b12?ims=amgjg&utm_campaign=Ultra12hero&utm_source=Infowars+Hero&utm_medium=banner&utm_content=Ultra12hero" target="_blank"><img src="https://api.directus.libertycdn.com/uploads/_/originals/Ultra12-hero-385.jpg" /></a></div>
 
 
source <a href="https://www.infowars.com/posts/70s-german-film-eerily-predicted-covid-pandemic-vaccine-mandates-lockdowns-masks-more">https://www.infowars.com/posts/70s-german-film-eerily-predicted-covid-pandemic-vaccine-mandates-lockdowns-masks-more</a>

news 70’s German Film Eerily Predicted Covid Pandemic, Vaccine Mandates, Lockdowns, Masks & More

A 1979 German film titled, “The Hamburg Syndrome,” turned out to be closer to reality than fiction. From a mysterious virus that even healt...

Biden Regime Confesses To Indiscriminate Slaughter Of 10 Innocent Afghan Civilians, Children With Drone Strike

<h4>The Biden regime has confessed to the indiscriminate slaughter of 10 Afghan civilians, including 7 children in Kabul with a drone strike they originally claimed took the lives of individuals involved with the coordination of suicide bombings that resulted in the deaths of 13 U.S. servicemembers at the Kabul airport.</h4>
The Biden regime has admitted that the Kabul drone strike meant for “ISIS-K” terrorists in Afghanistan actually killed an innocent Afghan aid worker and 9 members of his family, including 7 children. The admission came from Gen. Frank McKenzie, the top general of US Central Command, at the Pentagon on Friday.
“This strike was taken in the earnest belief that it would prevent an imminent threat to our forces and the evacuees at the airport, but it was a mistake and I offer my sincere apology,” he said, adding that he is “fully responsible for this strike and this tragic outcome.” Sumaya, the youngest child killed by the Biden regime, was just two years old.
US intelligence had reportedly been tracking the man’s car for <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-58604655">8 hours</a> before the drone strike killed him and his entire family. The government had initially suspected the man of being an ISIS-K terrorist, supposedly mistaking containers of water for deadly explosives.
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The strike happened as the aid worker – named as Zamairi Akmadhi – pulled into the driveway of his home, 3km (1.8 miles) from the airport.
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The explosion set off a secondary blast, which US officials initially said was proof that the car was indeed carrying explosives. However the investigation has found it was most likely caused by a propane tank in the driveway.
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The New York Times previously reported that the Biden administration was lying about the target, using security cameras and eyewitness reports to confirm that the Biden regime killed at least one innocent civilian. Today, the Biden regime has finally admitted this reporting was accurate.
Gen. Mark Milley, who has been widely accused of “treason” for <a href="https://nationalfile.com/bombshell-milley-admits-to-secretly-calling-ccp-general-promising-advanced-notice-of-attack-amid-accusations-of-treason/">secretly calling</a> the Chinese military behind President Donald Trump’s back to warn the CCP of any potential US military action, previously called the drone strike attack that murdered innocent civilians a “righteous strike.” <a href="https://nationalfile.com/breaking-house-republicans-request-ar-15-6-investigation-into-gen-mark-milley-over-secret-ccp-calls/">(READ MORE: BREAKING: House Republicans Request AR 15-6 Investigation Into Gen. Mark Milley Over Secret CCP Calls)</a>
Former Trump Administration Secretary of Defense <a href="https://nationalfile.com/report-about-15-people-present-for-milleys-secret-ccp-phone-calls-def-sec-esper-acting-def-sec-miller-had-full-knowledge/">Christopher Miller</a> has come out and said that he “did not and would not ever authorize” General Mark Milley’s calls with the CCP. However, it has been reported he and Defense Secretary Mark Esper had “full knowledge” of the secret calls, including “about 15” other people. Esper was <a href="https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2021/09/former-secretary-defense-esper-reportedly-involved-general-milley-rogue-calls-china/?utm_source=Gab&utm_medium=PostSideSharingButtons&utm_campaign=websitesharingbuttons">reportedly</a> significantly involved in the secret CCP calls alongside Milley. “Milley was absolutely not going rogue. Esper took the initiative on this in October. Esper asked his own policy folks to backchannel the message. Milley’s message followed Esper’s,” said Washington Post columnist Josh Rogin after speaking to a senior defense official who confirmed the allegation.
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source <a href="https://www.infowars.com/posts/biden-regime-confesses-to-indiscriminate-slaughter-of-10-innocent-afghan-civilians-children-with-drone-strike">https://www.infowars.com/posts/biden-regime-confesses-to-indiscriminate-slaughter-of-10-innocent-afghan-civilians-children-with-drone-strike</a>

news Biden Regime Confesses To Indiscriminate Slaughter Of 10 Innocent Afghan Civilians, Children With Drone Strike

The Biden regime has confessed to the indiscriminate slaughter of 10 Afghan civilians, including 7 children in Kabul with a drone strike the...

San Antonio Democrats Triggered By Pro-choice Vaccine Billboards Promoting Informed Consent

Democrat city leaders are flummoxed by billboards going up around San Antonio urging drivers not to be bullied into being vaccinated.
Billboards commissioned by the Minnesota-based Citizens’ Council for Health Freedom tell motorists straightforward, “Don’t Be Bullied. Make an Informed Choice.”
The group <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://cchfreedom.prowly.com/153169-citizens-council-for-health-freedom-launches-dont-be-bullied-billboard-campaign-to-raise-awareness-and-build-resistance-to-vaccination-mandates" target="_blank">explains</a> on their website the campaign’s intent is “raising awareness and building resistance to the vaccination mandates that are currently being used as an effort to coerce Americans into submitting to the ‘jab’.”
The group has put up billboards in Minnesota, Idaho, Wisconsin and now Texas.
The innocuous message was met with hysteria by local politicians, who questioned the people behind the sign.
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Democrat San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg claimed the organization obviously has a “political agenda.”
“I haven’t met anybody who said that. If they feel that way, I’d love to visit about that because what you’re hearing in terms about people encouraging others to get vaccinated is to protect the health of person and the people around them,” Nirenberg said in a statement obtained by KVUE.
“(It) certainly raises questions when an organization out of Minnesota has interest in buying San Antonio billboards. Clearly, they have a political agenda.”
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Bexar County Precinct 2 Commissioner Justin Rodriguez, also a <a href="https://www.bexar.org/3133/About-Justin" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Democrat</a>, claimed the organization behind the sign were the real bullies.
“We are, I think, singularly on a mission to defeat this pandemic, to beat COVID. We know the way to do that is to get vaccinated,” Rodriguez said.
“Our message to the bullies is sometimes you got to punch a bully in the face, but at this point, the way to do that by punching back is getting the vaccination.”
Of course, the actual bullying is the coercion coming from the federal government’s imposition of vaccine mandates via OSHA and the Labor Department, which is requiring vaccines for all private sector companies with over 100 employees and all federal workers.
“Bullying is taking place despite the fact that people who have gotten the shot are still getting sick,” the organization states. “According to the <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/safety/adverse-events.html">CDC</a>, there have been well over 6,700 deaths reported to VAERS after vaccination, while the independently-created OpenVAERS lists the number of deaths at around 13,608.”
Earlier this week, pro-vax bullies were up in arms after pop singer Nicki Minaj recounted a vaccine horror story and encouraged her followers to make an informed decision on the vaccine, <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://twitter.com/NICKIMINAJ/status/1437532566945341441" target="_blank">saying</a>, “make sure you’re comfortable with ur decision, not bullied.”
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Watch: <a href="https://www.banned.video/watch?id=611a3341f976b253ddc10410" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Whistleblowers lift the lid on Covid censorship, care home neglect and vaccine deaths</a>
 
 
source <a href="https://www.infowars.com/posts/san-antonio-democrats-triggered-by-pro-choice-vaccine-billboards-promoting-informed-consent">https://www.infowars.com/posts/san-antonio-democrats-triggered-by-pro-choice-vaccine-billboards-promoting-informed-consent</a>

news San Antonio Democrats Triggered By Pro-choice Vaccine Billboards Promoting Informed Consent

Democrat city leaders are flummoxed by billboards going up around San Antonio urging drivers not to be bullied into being vaccinated. Billb...

FDA Votes 16-2 AGAINST Widespread Covid-19 Booster Shots

The Federal Drug Administration has voted 16-2 against a widespread Covid-19 booster shot program, stating that more data is needed.
The FDA’s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee held a hearing on Friday with scientists and Pfizer representatives, the latter of whom were pushing for a third “booster” dose of the company’s vaccine to the general public.
“While the agency hasn’t always followed the advice of its committee, it often does,” <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/09/17/fda-panel-begins-voting-on-pfizers-covid-booster-doses-rejecting-shots-for-general-public.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reported</a> CNBC. “A final FDA decision could come in a matter of hours.”
“The Centers of Disease Control and Prevention has scheduled a two-day meeting next week to discuss plans to distribute the third shots in the U.S.”
The committee voted against Pfizer booster shots given to most Americans, but greenlit the shots to Americans over 65.
The vote isn’t entirely unexpected given public pushback against booster shots – pushback which was also occurring inside the government.
Earlier this month, <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/2-top-fda-officials-resigned-biden-booster-plan-reports-2021-9" target="_blank">it was reported</a> that two senior FDA officials resigned over Biden’s plan to roll out Covid-19 booster shots before the agency even had an opportunity to review it.
“…Sources told Endpoints and <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2021/08/31/biden-booster-plan-fda-508149">Politico</a> that Gruber and Krause were upset with Biden administration’s booster-shot plan,” according to Business Insider. “The administration announced last month that most people would be offered a COVID-19 booster shot about eight months after vaccination.”
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A “state of emergency” that will leave unvaccinated Albertans essentially <a href="https://banned.video/watch?id=6144f799d0af0008a41d7458" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">trapped inside</a> their own homes.
 
 
source <a href="https://www.infowars.com/posts/fda-votes-16-2-against-widespread-covid-19-booster-shots">https://www.infowars.com/posts/fda-votes-16-2-against-widespread-covid-19-booster-shots</a>

news FDA Votes 16-2 AGAINST Widespread Covid-19 Booster Shots

The Federal Drug Administration has voted 16-2 against a widespread Covid-19 booster shot program, stating that more data is needed. The FD...

Does everybody need a booster shot?

The Biden administration has been working for weeks on plans for <a href="https://www.vox.com/coronavirus-covid19/22630979/covid-19-vaccine-booster-shots-delta-variant">Covid-19 booster shots</a>, as <a href="https://www.vox.com/22547537/delta-coronavirus-variant-covid-19-vaccines-masks-lockdown">the delta variant</a> drives <a href="https://www.vox.com/coronavirus-covid19/2021/8/5/22608142/us-covid-19-cases-deaths-delta-variant-vaccines">a new pandemic wave</a> across the country. The debate recently spilled out into the open when two top FDA officials <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2021/08/31/biden-booster-plan-fda-508149">stepped down over reported concerns</a> that the decision-making process was being driven by politics instead of science.
Israel is already pushing ahead with booster shots, with most of that country’s population <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/08/30/israel-doubles-down-on-covid-booster-shots-as-breakthrough-cases-rise.html">currently eligible for a third shot</a>, based on data that indicates vaccine effectiveness wanes over time. The country is even preparing for <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-09-12/israel-preparing-for-possible-fourth-covid-vaccine-dose">the possibility that patients will require a fourth shot</a>. The Biden administration has <a href="https://www.cnn.com/videos/world/2021/09/13/israel-booster-shot-covid-19-biden-fauci-newday-vpx.cnn">reportedly been influenced</a> by the data out of Israel and, for a time, it looked as though the US would quickly take the same path. In a speech last month, President Joe Biden <a href="https://www.c-span.org/video/?514148-1/president-biden-remarks-booster-shots">laid out a plan</a> for every vaccinated American to receive a booster shot — pending FDA approval.
But recently, there has been pushback from parts of the scientific community, who argue that the case for booster shots is not as clear-cut as it may seem at first.
The public debate will likely intensity after the FDA’s vaccine advisory committee <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/c95611ae-3c2d-46ae-a196-e790a5767537?shareType=nongift">voted</a> that there was not enough evidence to authorize a booster shot for all Americans 16 and older, as Pfizer had requested. Panel members, however, expressed support for boosters for people over 65 and for people at higher risk of Covid-19 illness, whether because of their health or occupation.
The vote is only a recommendation to the FDA officials who will make a final decision; the CDC will also weigh in on who should be the priority for booster shots.
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<figcaption>Israeli residents wait to receive a third dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine in Tel Aviv. Israel has expanded its coronavirus booster drive, lowering the minimum age to 30.</figcaption>
<cite>Kobi Wolf/Bloomberg via Getty Images</cite></figure>
A group of 18 scientists, including the two FDA officials who stepped down, outlined their position in a letter published this week in <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(21)02046-8/fulltext">The Lancet</a>.
“COVID-19 vaccines continue to be effective against severe disease, including that caused by the delta variant,” they wrote. “Current evidence does not, therefore, appear to show a need for boosting in the general population.”
Other experts I spoke to shared that assessment of the evidence. There may be some waning effectiveness against any symptomatic disease but, for most people, the vaccines continue to do an excellent job of preventing hospitalizations and deaths.
“The science right now tells us that for most people, boosters probably aren’t needed to protect against severe disease or death,” Angela Rasmussen, a research scientist at the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization, told me over email.
Many experts <a href="https://twitter.com/ashishkjha/status/1437714676767502337">believe</a> boosters do make sense for at least some individuals. The debate has been whether they should be okayed for every vaccinated person — as Biden announced last month — or whether they should be limited to certain vulnerable populations. Should the US focus its vaccine supply on boosting all of its citizens or <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ty2J0s2W0c">should more vaccines be shared with the developing world</a>, where vaccination rates remain much lower than in the United States and Europe?
The vast majority of hospitalizations and deaths in the current wave have been concentrated among unvaccinated people. But <a href="https://www.vox.com/22602039/breakthrough-cases-covid-19-delta-variant-masks-vaccines">the number of “breakthrough” infections</a> among the vaccinated population has also been rising.
That is to be expected when <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/us/covid-cases.html">three out of four US adults</a> have received at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine. There are simply more vaccinated people out there than unvaccinated, and while the vaccines provide strong protection against infection, they are not perfect. Sometimes, the virus slips through, though vaccinated people remain <a href="https://www.vox.com/2021/9/11/22668360/unvaccinated-covid-delta-variant-hospitalizations-deaths-cdc">much less likely to be hospitalized with Covid-19</a> or die from it.
But how often does that happen? Is vaccine effectiveness starting to decline, especially with the delta variant now dominant? The answers to those questions influence the debate over booster shots. And we are starting to get some clearer evidence of how well the vaccines are holding up in the real world.
A <a href="https://www.vox.com/coronavirus-covid19/22630979/covid-19-vaccine-booster-shots-delta-variant">recent CDC study</a> tracked new Covid-19 cases and hospitalizations from early May to late July in New York state. The study period covers the transition from the “alpha” variant to delta, which became dominant by the start of July, but only includes part of the recent surge in reported cases.
The Covid-19 vaccines became somewhat less effective in preventing any illness as the delta variant took over, the CDC researchers concluded. Back in May, vaccines had an estimated 90 percent effectiveness at preventing new infections. But by mid-July, the estimated effectiveness had dropped to just under 80 percent. By that point, vaccinated people were more likely to get infected and <a href="https://www.vox.com/2021/8/11/22611272/what-breakthrough-covid-19-feels-like">feel sick</a>.
But the vaccines remained resilient against the most severe symptoms, with the estimated effectiveness against hospitalization holding steady around 95 percent from the start to the end of the study period.
<a href="https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/70/wr/mm7034e2.htm?s_cid=mm7034e2_w">A second CDC study</a> examined national data on whether the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna vaccines are becoming less effective at stopping severe illness over time. Like the New York study, it found vaccines are extremely good at their most important job — about 90 percent effective in preventing hospitalization due to Covid-19. They did not find a meaningful decline almost six months after patients received a second dose of the vaccine.
<a href="https://khub.net/documents/135939561/338928724/Vaccine+effectiveness+and+duration+of+protection+of+covid+vaccines+against+mild+and+severe+COVID-19+in+the+UK.pdf/10dcd99c-0441-0403-dfd8-11ba2c6f5801">More recent research out of the United Kingdom</a> reached generally the same conclusions: modest waning in effectiveness against any symptomatic illness but little (if any) against the most severe outcomes for most people.
<figure class="e-image"><picture class="c-picture" data-cid="site/picture_element-1631912188_6675_69903" data-cdata='{"asset_id":22855502,"ratio":"*"}'><source srcset="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/MnZ_w5CUoyDNSkhtew96Mtoz-is=/0x0:3000x2000/320x0/filters:focal(0x0:3000x2000):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22855502/GettyImages_1234867185_copy.jpg 320w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/qqpr5qe6bHtJAIN4qtbOg7q_iWc=/0x0:3000x2000/520x0/filters:focal(0x0:3000x2000):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22855502/GettyImages_1234867185_copy.jpg 520w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/BYQEW97CcUtznzjiuDYgVr-NPxY=/0x0:3000x2000/720x0/filters:focal(0x0:3000x2000):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22855502/GettyImages_1234867185_copy.jpg 720w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/OxPYCTqICqq0v6_DAp_vwfgegnI=/0x0:3000x2000/920x0/filters:focal(0x0:3000x2000):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22855502/GettyImages_1234867185_copy.jpg 920w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/7wyCsG2ka3gSk3dkK_tX_iSsQ7E=/0x0:3000x2000/1120x0/filters:focal(0x0:3000x2000):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22855502/GettyImages_1234867185_copy.jpg 1120w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/QZSjALiOz2T6RN0qmhsppX8k5lA=/0x0:3000x2000/1320x0/filters:focal(0x0:3000x2000):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22855502/GettyImages_1234867185_copy.jpg 1320w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/DNCDQy-oEcLPSI3G7BViM5IrzH0=/0x0:3000x2000/1520x0/filters:focal(0x0:3000x2000):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22855502/GettyImages_1234867185_copy.jpg 1520w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/aup_3vhCMogt_NFazdKahd2YDfg=/0x0:3000x2000/1720x0/filters:focal(0x0:3000x2000):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22855502/GettyImages_1234867185_copy.jpg 1720w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/VdvO7hdJjHrn43qdlJSOdtP_ACM=/0x0:3000x2000/1920x0/filters:focal(0x0:3000x2000):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22855502/GettyImages_1234867185_copy.jpg 1920w" sizes="(min-width: 1221px) 846px, (min-width: 880px) calc(100vw - 334px), 100vw" type="image/webp" /> <img alt="A health care worker sitting at a table with vaccination equipment in front of them holds up a vial and looks at it." data-upload-width="3000" sizes="(min-width: 1221px) 846px, (min-width: 880px) calc(100vw - 334px), 100vw" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/nbbZ-VXKF2ApSHnU532Z_C1QLaM=/0x0:3000x2000/1200x0/filters:focal(0x0:3000x2000):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22855502/GettyImages_1234867185_copy.jpg" srcset="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/HoHAa0_SoiKzrC2vAvQCupPbmZI=/0x0:3000x2000/320x0/filters:focal(0x0:3000x2000):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22855502/GettyImages_1234867185_copy.jpg 320w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/kNSVpfJorD7tQ8c3tBtJLuGKbLY=/0x0:3000x2000/520x0/filters:focal(0x0:3000x2000):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22855502/GettyImages_1234867185_copy.jpg 520w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/48wZXmvLdaALsoOT8tXeeIkJQAE=/0x0:3000x2000/720x0/filters:focal(0x0:3000x2000):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22855502/GettyImages_1234867185_copy.jpg 720w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/5lUzJfR5Xpd7E2Tg_WbZdxkg0M8=/0x0:3000x2000/920x0/filters:focal(0x0:3000x2000):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22855502/GettyImages_1234867185_copy.jpg 920w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/e3QVIuWvT7PlN9Qbr8x87aZWA84=/0x0:3000x2000/1120x0/filters:focal(0x0:3000x2000):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22855502/GettyImages_1234867185_copy.jpg 1120w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/VzVbP2EmKxu4CXwGUb3Q0GDOGYY=/0x0:3000x2000/1320x0/filters:focal(0x0:3000x2000):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22855502/GettyImages_1234867185_copy.jpg 1320w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/9UaX5udqSnSNeWMA-AT-l98o9UA=/0x0:3000x2000/1520x0/filters:focal(0x0:3000x2000):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22855502/GettyImages_1234867185_copy.jpg 1520w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/sa-pP45DpDJWV9SXObSpah8QTWA=/0x0:3000x2000/1720x0/filters:focal(0x0:3000x2000):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22855502/GettyImages_1234867185_copy.jpg 1720w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/YylDKqSNaRobBdZUgroohg-thVw=/0x0:3000x2000/1920x0/filters:focal(0x0:3000x2000):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22855502/GettyImages_1234867185_copy.jpg 1920w" /></picture>
<figcaption>A health care worker prepares Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccines for third doses at a senior living facility in Worcester, Pennsylvania, on August 25.</figcaption>
<cite>Hannah Beier/Bloomberg via Getty Images</cite></figure>
The exception to those broad findings has been for people who have serious medical conditions, people who are otherwise immunocompromised, and seniors.
People who received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, which was shown to be less effective at stopping symptomatic illness, may also warrant boosters, though long-range data on that vaccine’s effectiveness is still coming in. <a href="https://www.aamc.org/news-insights/so-you-got-jj-vaccine-here-s-what-you-should-know-about-delta-variant-boosters-and-more">Studies so far</a> indicate that the vaccine still offers good protection against hospitalization, but that it may not be quite as robust against the delta variant as it was against prior iterations of the virus. <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/70/wr/mm7038e1.htm?s_cid=mm7038e1_w">New research from the CDC</a> found the vaccine was 71 percent effective in preventing hospitalization from March to August 2021, lower than Pfizer or Moderna.
A <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/70/wr/mm7034e3.htm?s_cid=mm7034e3_w">third CDC study</a> evaluated vaccine effectiveness for nursing home residents, a population particularly vulnerable to Covid-19 and one of the first groups to get vaccinated at the beginning of this year. That study did find a significant decline in vaccine effectiveness over time against any illness for those Americans, from 75 percent pre-delta to about 50 percent post-delta. So they enjoyed less protection than younger people did from the start and that protection did decline much more than in their younger counterparts.
Likewise, the new UK study found that the most significant drop in the vaccine’s effectiveness against hospitalization was among people 80 years and older, from about 95 percent two to nine weeks after becoming fully vaccinated to about 70 percent more than 20 weeks after. For younger age groups, that protection against severe illness stayed above 90 percent over the study period.
With that in mind, “I think you can make the argument that people who are high risk for severe Covid-19 would benefit from a booster given at least six months after completion of their initial vaccine regimen,” Rasmussen said.
The case for immediately giving everybody a vaccine six or eight months after their second dose, however, is less clear.
<a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-research-3rd-vaccine-dose-produces-10-times-more-antibodies-than-2nd/">Data from Israel</a> suggests that people who receive a third dose have substantially more antibodies than people who have received “only” two doses. But the human immune system is complex. The number of antibodies a person has may not tell you everything about their level of immunity against Covid-19.
“Memory responses and cell-mediated immunity ... are generally longer lived” than antibody responses, the authors of the Lancet letter noted, and any drop in antibodies does not necessarily indicate a drop in efficacy against hospitalization or death.
We may end up in a world where everybody eventually receives a third shot, as more data rolls in suggesting that a longer interval between doses does lead to more robust protection. In that case, giving people that third dose could “lock in” long-term immunity, Rasmussen said.
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<figcaption>People wait after receiving Covid-19 vaccines at a Pasadena, California, clinic that offers third shots to people with immunological conditions.</figcaption>
<cite>AFP via Getty Images</cite></figure>
But the question is where should the current vaccination drive be: Should it be focused on third shots? Or should it be directed at unvaccinated people or sending more vaccines to poorer parts of the world where vaccination rates remain much lower than they are in the US or Europe? The WHO <a href="https://www.who.int/director-general/speeches/detail/who-director-general-s-opening-remarks-at-the-media-briefing-on-covid-4-august-2021">has specifically urged</a> wealthy countries not to authorize booster shots until more people in the developing world receive their initial vaccine regimen.
The Lancet letter’s authors argue that vaccinating the unvaccinated would help stave off future variants that may prove more elusive to the existing vaccines.
“Even if some gain can ultimately be obtained from boosting, it will not outweigh the benefits of providing initial protection to the unvaccinated,” they wrote. “If vaccines are deployed where they would do the most good, they could hasten the end of the pandemic by inhibiting further evolution of variants.”
There are questions about how much America’s internal vaccine decisions would actually influence global supply. And the Biden administration, perhaps anticipating these concerns, is reportedly planning to purchase and distribute <a href="https://t.co/ajJhfnPy3t">hundreds of millions of doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine</a> for other countries around the world.
Also, one in four people in the United States have not been vaccinated, and the push is still on to get shots in their arms. It remains to be seen what effect the Biden White House’s new rules requiring employers to mandate vaccines or regular testing for their employees will have on vaccination rates. Cities and states are introducing more vaccine mandates of their own. The FDA is also expected to consider approval for vaccinating children ages 5 to 12 in the coming weeks, with approval for younger kids possible later this year.
“I’d argue that it’s more important to get vaccines to unvaccinated populations and offer boosters to high-risk people for now than it is to get a third booster six months out for all,” said Rasmussen.
Polling suggests vaccinated people are <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2021/08/04/poll-vaccinated-more-concerned-than-unvaccinated-covid-variant/5467066001/">more concerned about Covid-19</a> than the unvaccinated. It’s understandable that they would worry about breakthrough cases and see booster shots as important protection to avoid getting infected at all. But there is no foolproof protection against Covid-19.
The virus is well on its way toward becoming endemic; eradication became an unrealistic goal long ago. <a href="https://www.vox.com/22621760/covid-19-risk-delta-vaccines-provincetown-study">Some level of risk will have to be tolerated</a>.
“Vaccines don’t create magical virus-proof force fields around you,” Rasmussen said, “and they aren’t 100 percent perfect.”
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source <a href="https://www.vox.com/coronavirus-covid19/22675485/covid-19-vaccine-booster-shot-fda-approval">https://www.vox.com/coronavirus-covid19/22675485/covid-19-vaccine-booster-shot-fda-approval</a>

vox Does everybody need a booster shot?

The Biden administration has been working for weeks on plans for Covid-19 booster shots , as the delta variant drives a new pandemic wave ...