The Biden administration plans to urge all Americans to get a booster shot for the coronavirus this autumn to counter a new wave of infections, a White House official said on Sunday.
The official said that while the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are reporting an increase in infections and hospital admissions from the virus, overall levels remain low.
On Thursday, Moderna (MRNA.O) said initial data showed its updated COVID-19 vaccine is effective against the “Eris” and “Fornax” subvariants in humans.
Moderna and other COVID-19 vaccine makers Novavax (NVAX.O), Pfizer (PFE.N) and German partner BioNTech SE (22UAy.DE) have created versions of their shots aimed at the XBB.1.5 subvariant.
Pending approval from health regulators in the United States and Europe, the companies expect the updated shots to be available in the coming weeks for the autumn vaccination season.
“We will be encouraging all Americans to get those boosters in addition to flu shots and RSV shots,” the official said, referring to the Respiratory Syncytial Virus.
I wonder if the new boosters will be given out for “free” (in quotes because it’s taxpayers money blah blah, for the pedantic people)? I definitely want a booster since it’s been more than a year(?) since the last one, and it would be great if they gave it out without additional charge.
I had a whole thing with my pharmacy about this. They kept on asking for insurance and social security numbers. Me repeatedly pointing out that the vaccine is free and open to everyone living in the US regardless of status.
I swear they can’t help themselves. They are so used to these fucking games.
The government only covers it for those who don’t have insurance. It’s free to you either way, but at the end of the day someone still gets the bill.
Is that true even now that we are out of the state of emergency?
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Something tells me that this is going to be a hard sell.
I think most people are out of pandemic-mode already even if the pandemic isn’t done with us. And while it should be easier to sell the idea of getting a booster to people since there weren’t piles of dead bodies from the vaccines like the anti-vaxx people predicted, but that kind of logic doesn’t work on folks. The anti-vaxx people were proven wrong, and yet somehow those people are going to claim they were correct and be even more adamant about not getting the vaccines this time.
“They” are upgrading the 5G in our nanomachines, or something…
My grandma just got COVID. It’s convinced me to get more boosters.
I tried to get another booster for this year and my doctor said I can’t because I’ve already had the boosters. I was like yeah last fucking year but he told me to fuck off.
So until this shit gets down to the docs and pharmacies, you may not have much success unless you are older or immunocompromised
I didn’t even know there WAS a new booster. God, will we ever escape this mess?
It should be available next month for the Eris strain.
Oh wow. That really sucks.
Your doctor sounds like a fucking moron.
However, at this point wait until the new one next month.
Both my parents and a handful of friends have it right now
Is this gonna become a yearly thing?
When we failed to take the initial spread seriously and let the thing turn endemic, yes. Yes it will. Much like the flu.
Failing implies an attempt. The government deliberately chose to lift restrictions prematurely, knowing it would result in the deaths of millions of people, just to make billionaires richer.
While I agree with your assertion that it was done for financial reasons, it was already endemic by the time the world noticed.
Well that’s depressing.
Likely, but keep in mind, generally overtime, viruses become less* lethal as its the non lethal ones that survive to spread(as lethal ones kill host, and killing the host is detrimental for the spread of a virus)
Dudewitbow
While that is normally true, covid spreads before symptoms show. So it doesn’t select as well for non-lethality since lethal variants have plenty of time to spread before it kills the host.
Not really. Most viruses get weaker as they mutate. It only makes it easier for the virus to survive and thrive if it is less destructive to its host.
If viruses got more violent we’d all had died from the common cold a long time ago.
True it just sucks that it’s yet another thing I have to worry about just to live and perform my job correctly. I hate getting sick regardless of lethality.
You said lethal where I think you meant non-lethal. This is confusing your point.
Great, but why can’t I get it now? These have been basically ready for a while.
My understanding is that this is a different “mutation” of the omicron variant, and the new booster is with the updated target but I heard it’s not out until autumn, I think it’s Moderna? Is developing the one I’m thinking of
What a joke, coming from someone who could use the company. Where you been the last two years?! Unless you have a specific issue, everyone has moved on. Even the Biden administration deemed the pandemic over. So what, it wasn’t? No one is going to listen to you, expect me, but that’s just because I never stopped with my pandemic protocols, though I have amended them.
