Large-scale vaccination for people over 12 years of age in the United States, with a booster dose tailored to the Omicron variant of Covid-19, could save 90,000 lives by the end of 2022, the White House said on Tuesday.
The coordinator of the White House Covid-19 response team, Ashish Jha, urged Americans to get vaccinated before October 31.
“The entire population over the age of 12 must be reinforced to be protected this fall and winter,” said Ashish Jha, during a press conference in Washington.
If most people eligible for the booster shot get vaccinated, the US could avoid nearly a million hospitalizations in the coming months, the health expert added.
Jha expressed concern about what is expected to be a spike in cases beginning in November, with the US holiday season beginning with Thanksgiving on November 24.
“We have several challenges ahead of us as we plan and face the coming winter,” he said.
So far, only 11.5 million Americans have received their last booster dose, according to the most recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
A Kaiser Foundation study found that there is little awareness among Americans about a new dose against the Omicron variant, with 33% of adults surveyed saying they had heard “something” about the vaccine.
Source: TSF
