MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Moderna is hoping to bring its vaccine to more Americans as the number of COVID-19 cases rise around the country, despite high vaccination rates.
Moderna has refiled its application for COVID-19 booster shots for all adults.
An authorization from the Food and Drug Administration would open the doors for tens of millions of Americans to receive a third shot of the vaccine.
Currently, only moderna booster doses are available for the elderly and people at high-risk for infections. However, leading health experts said they’re learning the vaccine’s effectiveness does decrease over time, especially in the face of the highly contagious delta variant.
Dr. Anthony Fauci said the rising number of breakthrough cases doesn’t mean the COVID-19 vaccines don’t work.
“Unvaccinated people were 13 times more likely to become infected than fully vaccinated and unvaccinated people were 20 times more likely to die than fully vaccinated people,” Fauci said.
There’s no word on when the FDA will revisit Moderna’s request.
On Friday, the Centers for Disease Control will discuss whether all adults should be eligible to receive Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine booster shot.
Meanwhile, the US Government said it will pay Pfizer more than $5 billion for 10 million treatment courses of its potential COVID-19 treatment, which is in pill form.
