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According to reports, as more data is examined by federal health officials, it is more likely that booster shots will be required sooner than later for the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines.
Before they can go into arms, the FDA must authorize booster shots for each vaccine. A spokesperson for the agency said that under its general policy it "cannot comment on or confirm the existence" of any ongoing clinical trials.
The approval for booster shots is expected in mid-September, with vaccines potentially being administered as soon as the week of Monday, Sept. 20.
Once approved, the boosters are only planned for the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. No plans are in place for the less effective one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
In the Wall Street Journal, a White House spokesman and an FDA spokeswoman declined to comment to the Journal about when approval should be anticipated or how soon after a final round of boosters will be recommended.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and FDA said that the Delta variant of the virus, in particular, is a threat and that they "are starting to see evidence of reduced protection against mild and moderate disease.”
"There is a concern that the vaccine may start to wane in its effectiveness,” Francis Collins, the director of the National Institutes of Health previously said. “And delta is a nasty one for us to try to deal with.
“The combination of those two means we may need boosters, maybe beginning first with health care providers, as well as people in nursing homes, and then gradually moving forward.”
Like the initial rollout, health care workers, nursing home residents, and seniors will be first in line to become eligible to receive the booster shots.
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