Coordinators of the fight against the pandemic in the United States announced this Tuesday (6) the vaccination plan against Covid-19 with updated doses for the omicron variant and guaranteed that vaccination will remain free. The country has so far recorded 94,782,843 cases of the disease and 1,047,658 deaths, according to monitoring by Johns Hopkins University.
On the 31st, the FDA (American food and drug regulatory agency) authorized the application of Moderna’s new immunizer to individuals over 18 years of age and Pfizer’s new vaccine to people over 12 years of age.
The two companies’ vaccines use messenger RNA (mRNA) technology, which allows them to mimic the spike protein, used by the virus to bind to our cells and invade them, activating the body’s defense system.
The difference of the new immunizers is that they contain two mRNA sequences: one coding for the original spike protein and another for the spike protein of the BA.4 and BA.5 lines of the omicron.
The announcement of the vaccination plan took place during a press conference with Ashish Jha, coordinator of the White House’s Covid operation; Xavier Becerra, Secretary of Health and Human Services; Rochelle Walensky, director of the CDC (Centers for Disease Control); and Anthony Fauci, chief epidemiologist at the White House.
At the event, Jha highlighted that the measure makes the US the first country to offer updated vaccines and said that he sees a new level, in which annual vaccination against Covid becomes part of the routine.
“In the absence of a dramatically different variant, we are moving towards a pattern of vaccination similar to the annual flu vaccination, with doses updated to currently circulating versions,” added Fauci.
They even estimate that many Americans will receive the new dose along with the flu shot, as the campaigns will coincide in a few weeks. “I believe that’s why God gave us two arms: one for the flu vaccine and one for the Covid one”, joked Jha.
As the United States faces greater resistance from part of the population to immunization — so far, 605,600,635 doses of the vaccine have been applied — the coordinators highlighted aspects related to safety.
Fauci, for example, recalled that more than 600 million monovalent vaccines with messenger RNA (mRNA) technology were applied in the country and billions around the world. He added that prior to FDA and CDC approval of bivalent vaccines, clinical trials were conducted with more than 1,700 people and emphasized the ability of immunizers to prevent hospitalizations and deaths.
The epidemiologist said that the new doses should lead to greater production of antibodies against the omicron and against the previous variants, increasing protection against the virus, although it is difficult to estimate at this point how much better this effect will be. “My message is simple: take the updated dose as soon as you can to protect yourself, your family and your community,” he said.
The coordinators also mentioned actions with spokespeople, community leaders and mobile clinics to increase the vaccination rate and highlighted efforts to make doses available as soon as possible. Becerra said that by the end of the week, the vaccine will be available within a radius of 5 miles or less to 90 percent of Americans, and that citizens can now consult the government’s website to locate the nearest pharmacies and stores.
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