Here's How To Tell If You Can/Should Get a Booster Shot
Yesterday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration cleared booster shots for many people who have received Johnson & Johnson-Janssen or Moderna’s shots, which follows an earlier, similar decision around the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. However, these booster shots aren’t available to all Americans—at least not yet. My colleagues Emily Barone and Lon Tweeten created these useful decision trees to help you figure out your eligibility:
As my colleague Alice Park has reported, studies have shown that you may have a better immune response if you “mix and match” vaccine types; check back and read the newsletter tomorrow, when we’ll go into greater detail to help you consider your options.
If you’re not yet eligible for a booster, there are two things to keep in mind. First, the original vaccine doses are already very effective at their most important task: preventing severe disease. One yet-to-be-reviewed study found that after six months, the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine was still 97% effective against severe disease. Moderna’s internal data suggest that its vaccine is 95% effective against severe disease in the same time frame. The data for J&J’s vaccine are less clear, but the results the company presented to the FDA last week say a single shot still was 70% effective against moderate to severe COVID-19 six months in.
Second, it stands to reason that boosters will probably be available for most people in the U.S. soon. The latest data suggest that each vaccine’s efficacy at preventing COVID-19 illness declines over time to some extent (though, as just noted, the protection conferred against severe disease remains strong), while boosters can reinvigorate patients’ immune responses. Given how invested the U.S. government is in expanding and strengthening the public’s immunity to the virus, it’s likely only a matter of time before boosters are recommended for more people.
TODAY'S CORONAVIRUS OUTLOOK
About 498.7 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been shipped to various U.S. states as of this morning, of which over 411 million doses have been administered thus far, according to TIME's vaccine tracker . About 57.2% of Americans have been completely vaccinated.
More than 242 million people around the world had been diagnosed with COVID-19 as of 1 a.m. E.T. today, and more than 4.9 million people have died. On Oct. 20, there were 441,679 new cases and 8,305 new deaths confirmed globally.
Here's how the world as a whole is currently trending:
Here's where daily cases have risen or fallen over the last 14 days, shown in confirmed cases per 100,000 residents:
And here's every country that has reported over 4.5 million cases:
The U.S. had recorded more than 45.2 million coronavirus cases as of 1 a.m. E.T. today. Nearly 731,300 people have died. On Oct. 20, there were 86,759 new cases and 3,071 new deaths confirmed in the U.S.
Here's how the country as a whole is currently trending:
Here's where daily cases have risen or fallen over the last 14 days, shown in confirmed cases per 100,000 residents:
All numbers unless otherwise specified are from the Johns Hopkins University Center for Systems Science and Engineering, and are accurate as of Oct. 21, 1 a.m. E.T. To see larger, interactive versions of these maps and charts, click here.
WHAT ELSE YOU SHOULD KNOW
After Russia reported record-breaking numbers of new cases over the past week and an all-time high of 1,006 deaths yesterday, the country imposed new COVID-19 restrictions. Yesterday, President Vladimir Putin asked non-essential workers to stay home from Oct. 30 to Nov. 7, while the Cabinet drafted plans for payments for businesses and low-interest credit to reduce the economic impact, according to the Associated Press. Meanwhile, Moscow authorities announced plans to close schools, restaurants, gyms and other non-essential businesses from Oct. 28 to Nov. 7. Although Russia was the first country in the world to authorize a vaccine, its own Sputnik V, in August 2020, only 33% of the Russian population is fully vaccinated.
The U.S. has delivered 200 million donated vaccines to other nations, more than any country in the world, Samantha Power, administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development, said in a statement today. Power said the U.S. plans to donate more than a billion more vaccines over the next year. While some aid organizations have praised the U.S.’ effort, many others have criticized it for approving boosters while many people worldwide haven’t received a first dose. “The reality is, the more wealthy countries use booster shots, the further we will be from ending the pandemic,” Tom Hart, acting CEO of the One Campaign, told the AP.
India, a country of nearly 1.4 billion people, has administered a billion vaccine doses, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said today. “We are witnessing the triumph of Indian science, enterprise and collective spirit of [Indians],” Modi declared on Twitter. However, the majority of those shots were initial injections of two-dose vaccines, and only 21% of the population is fully vaccinated. India has reported nearly 453,000 deaths from COVID-19, but experts have warned that the actual toll may be much higher.
Pfizer-BioNTech released Phase 3 trial data today showing that those who received a booster shot were 95.6% less likely to develop COVID-19 disease than those who were given a placebo. The first randomized controlled trial for a COVID-19 booster shot to yield results, it included some 10,000 people over the age of 16 who had already received the two-dose vaccination course.
Multiple Caribbean countries and territories are reporting a surge in cases, with the Dominican Republic and Barbados both reporting a 40% increase in new cases week over week, Dr. Carissa F. Etienne, director of the World Health Organization’s Pan American Health Organization, said yesterday. Cases are also up in Trinidad and Tobago, St. Martin, St. Kitts and Nevis, Anguilla and the Cayman Islands. Across Latin America and the Caribbean, about 41% of the population is vaccinated, according to Etienne.
Thanks for reading. We hope you find the Coronavirus Brief newsletter to be a helpful tool to navigate this very complex situation, and welcome feedback at coronavirus.brief@time.com. If you have specific questions you'd like us to answer, please send them to covidquestions@time.com.
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Today's newsletter was written by Tara Law and edited by Elijah Wolfson. It included reporting by Emily Barone, Alice Park and Lon Tweeten.
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