United States allow fourth shot despite doubts of advantage

The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has allowed for people to receive their fourth dose of mRNA-vaccines aga­inst Covid-19. The vaccines in question are Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna. This was orig­inally reported by mbl.is.

The fourth dose, or second booster dose, will be availa­ble to those who are over 50 years of age, as well as those with a weakened immune system. There will have to be at least four months since the indi­vi­dual received their last booster dose.

Those with weakened immune systems must be at least 12 years old to be able to receive the fourth dose of the Pfizer vaccine. For Moderna’s vaccine, these indi­vi­du­als must have reached 18 years.

Fourth dose not advantageous according to research

In his reply to the inquiries of Mbl.is, Þórólfur Guðnason, Iceland’s Chief Epidem­i­olog­ist, says that indi­vi­du­als with a weakened immune system have been able to receive the fourth vaccine dose for a while.

„We have not been offer­ing the fourth dose to others, as the advantage is small, according to research conducted abroad,“ Þórólfur says. He claims that most nations in Europe have the same arrangement as we do. He adds that not many have received the fourth dose offered to them.

„We are expecting a specific vaccine for the Omicron vari­ant in the next months and will most likely hold back on further booster doses,“ Þórólfur claims.

In a January article in Mannlíf, it was reported that the European Medicines Agency (EMA) had warned Europe about repeated vaccine booster doses. In a press brief­ing, Marco Cavaleri, Head of Biological Health Threats and Vaccines Strategy at EMA, expressed his doubts reg­ar­ding the need for a fourth dose and claimed there to be no research supp­ort­ing that need – at least not yet.

In the press brief­ing, Cavaleri said that repeated vaccine booster doses at short inter­vals were not a feasi­ble long-term solution. Furthermore, he claimed that booster doses given every four months could possi­bly overwhelm people’s immune system and cause fatigue.

Cavaleri also mentioned that develop­ment of specific vaccines for the Omicron vari­ant might be needed.

The World Health Origanization (WHO) has repeatedly pointed out that vaccinating the whole world makes succeeding in the fight aga­inst Covid-19 more likely, rather than the rich nations of the world repeatedly add­ing booster doses.

At the press brief­ing, Marco Cavaleri stressed that one booster dose had proven to be effective and encouraged people to keep accepting the booster shot.

This article was orig­inally written in Icelandic by Gunn­hildur Kjerúlf Birg­is­dóttir.