FDA is considering FOURTH dose of COVID-19 vaccine and making it an annual shot as cases across the US drop 43% over the past week and 87% since the peak of the Omicron variant
- The FDA is reviewing data to potentially authorize another COVID-19 vaccine booster shot in the near future, the Wall Street Journal reports
- Additional shots are already available to the immunocompromised and countries like Israel have rolled them out as well
- News comes as Covid cases in the U.S. continue to plummet, down 43% over the past week and 87% since the Omicron variant surge peaked in mid-January
- Health experts believe regular booster shots are necessary to keep case numbers down and prevent future surges of the virus
Covid cases in the U.S. are continuing to plummet, and health officials are reportedly discussing rolling out annual vaccine shots to keep the virus controlled long term.
The Wall Street Journal reports that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is considering making a second booster shot - which would be a fourth shot overall for a vast majority of vaccinated Americans. Data is currently being reviewed regarding the shots, the Journal reports. While there are no guarantees, it is likely the FDA will authorize fourth shots for Americans in the future.
Regulators are also reportedly weighing whether this fourth booster will be the start of annual Covid-19 vaccinations.
It is not yet clear whether the annual shots would be mandated or not.
The news comes just days after an undercover reporter from Project Veritas allegedly caught an FDA executive on camera saying Covid boosters would become annual requirements and that the Biden administration has financial incentives for pushing the vaccine. Project Veritas founder James O'Keefe warned that the move posed 'serious ethical issues'.
The Wall Street Journal reports that the FDA is considering rolling out a fourth shot of the COVID-19 vaccines in the future, and is already reviewing data for the shots. Americans that are considered immunocompromised are already eligible for an additional booster dose per CDC guidelines. Pictured: A woman in Los Angeles, Florida, receives a shot of a COVID-19 vaccine
Dr Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert, has suggested since last year that it was likely there could be a fourth shot. Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said in January that these repeated shots would be necessary long-term to keep Covid under control. Israel, which has been ahead of the U.S. during its vaccine rollout, recently made fourth shots available to its elderly population as well.
Health experts and officials are now preparing for a 'post-pandemic' phase of Covid, where humans can live alongside the virus like they do the flu. Controlling the virus may require regular, annual, vaccine shots though.
Some Americans already can receive fourth vaccine doses. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that immunocompromised Americans receive the additional shot to shore up protection against Omicron. While the Omicron variant poses little risk to the general population, some people with serious comorbidities are still at risk of severe infection if they do catch the virus.
There are fears that Americans will not be willing to continue receiving Covid vaccine doses, though, especially if they do not feel the virus is a major threat. Despite booster shots becoming available to the general population in late-September, uptake of the boosters did not peak until Omicron arrived in December.
The population waiting for Covid cases to spike, or waiting for a variant that is perceived to be more dangerous, to arrive before receiving additional shots is what opens the door to future variants and outbreaks.
A majority of eligible Americans did eventually get boosted. According to data from the Kaiser Family Foundation, 70 percent of eligible Americans have received their booster dose.
Reports that an additional Covid jab could be on the way come as cases continue to plummet, as the Omicron variant-fueled surge is all but finished.
Daily Covid infections in the country have dipped to as low as 101,718 per day, a 43 percent drop from the 177,379 cases per day last week. While the holiday weekend could play a role in reduced case figures over the weekend, the current seven day drop in cases is consistent with previous data.
The mid-January peak of just under 800,000 cases per day is now over a month into the rear view, and cases since then have dropped a whopping 87 percent. Daily cases have basically returned to normal levels in the U.S., and are expected to fall even further.
Deaths, which often lag behind cases, are starting to come down as well but have not experienced the same massive plummeting that case rates did. The nation is averaging 2,165 Covid deaths every day, a seven percent fall over the past week. Deaths did not explode the same way cases did last month, though, as the relatively mild nature of Omicron meant that many people who contracted the virus were fine.
The low Covid mortality rate in America can be attributed to the country's successful vaccine rollout as well. According to official CDC data, 76 percent of Americans have received at least on vaccine dose and 65 percent are fully vaccinated. Vaccine uptake is high among adults in particular, with nearly 90 percent at least partially jabbed.
Falling Covid numbers has increased pressure of the White House and the CDC to lift remaining pandemic-related restrictions. The CDC still recommends masking in schools and other indoor public places despite many remaining states dropping restrictions.
Pressure is coming from abroad as well, as European nations start to declare the pandemic over and move back to a 'normal' life. UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson is set to lift the little remaining Covid restrictions soon - including isolation requirements for a positive test - this week.
Earlier this month, the nation removed many other restrictions like work from home orders, mask mandates and capacity restrictions on certain venues. A requirement for National Health Service employees to be vaccinated in order to stay on the job may be removed as well.
Proof of vaccination requirements at some venues will be dropped as well.
Covid cases are currently dropping in all 50 U.S. states over the past two weeks. Cases have slashed in half over that period in 44 states.
Nebraska is recording the largest drop of any state, with cases dropping 81 percent over the past two weeks. The Cornhusker state now has one of the nation's lowest infection rates, with 14 of every 100,000 residents testing positive for the virus every day.
The state with the lowest infection rate is Maryland, where only 12 of every 100,000 residents are testing positive daily. Maryland was among the first states struck hard by Omicron, and has since experienced a miraculous turnaround and gotten its Covid situation under control.
New York was an early virus hotspot as well during the Omicron wave, with New York City experiencing a massive case surge in mid-December. The state is recording 15 daily cases per 100,000 residents as of Monday morning, one of the lowest rates in America.
Only one state is still recording more than 100 daily cases per every 100,00 residents, Kentucky. Cases are down 31 percent over the past two weeks in the Bluegrass state, though.
Maine, one of the most vaccinated states in America, seems to be in the midst of a late Omicron surge. The state was not slammed as hard as many others to start the year, but has experienced an increase in cases during February and finds itself among the leaders in Covid mortality.
The state, which has vaccinated 78 percent of its residents so far, is averaging 1.4 daily Covid deaths per every 100,00 residents, the second highest rate in America.
Only Tennessee, with has a much lower vaccination rate of 53 percent, has a higher mortality rate - with 1.43 of every 100,000 residents dying from Covid every day.
Five other states are also suffering more than one daily Covid death per 100,000 residents: West Virginia (1.36 daily deaths per 100,000; 57 percent vaccination rate), Mississippi (1.33; 51), Oklahoma (1.23; 56), Arkansas (1.07; 53), Alabama (1.05; 50).
'These are serious ethical issues': James O'Keefe demands answers after FDA executive officer is caught on Project Veritas hidden camera admitting Biden will force an ANNUAL Covid shot that would be a 'recurring fountain of revenue' for drug firms
The founder of Project Veritas is demanding answers from the FDA after one of his undercover reporters allegedly caught an organization executive on camera saying Covid boosters would become annual requirements and that the Biden administration has financial incentives for pushing the vaccine.
‘There are serious ethical issues,' James O'Keefe told Fox News host Sean Hannity on Wednesday night, blasting the federal organization as being borderline corrupt.
'When you have the government getting money from the people they are supposed to be regulating and you have an executive officer in that government saying he did not know he is being recorded, that influences how they approved products,' the political activist said.
Project Veritas Founder James O'Keefe is demanding the FDA answers to allegations that its officials are motivated by the 'fountain of revenue' it receives from pharmaceutical companies. He told Sean Hannity: 'There are serious ethical issues'
The activist group released a report earlier Wednesday that includes edited video snippets from at least two secretly-recorded conversations in January and February with Christopher Cole, the FDA's executive officer for its medical countermeasures initiative.
'Biden wants to inoculate as many people as possible,' Cole said during a February 3 conversation inside a restaurant, according to footage obtained by Veritas. 'I think it's going to be a gradual thing. Schools are going to mandate it.
'The vaccine, it wanes, your ability to fight it wanes so the three will bolster your system and then there will be an annual one just like the flu shot.'
The FDA has dismissed the report, saying Cole does not work in vaccine-related matters and that his views don't represent those of the agency.
O'Keefe claimed he made an appeal to Cole, asking him to expose the alleged corruption within the FDA, but was instead told the official 'misspoke.'
'I asked him to become a whistleblower. Obviously he's saying some very true things here,' the Project Veritas leader stated.
'He is saying he misspoke. And I said "which part did you misspeak about?" And he said: "Well, then I was speaking in private, I didn’t want my remarks publicized."'
O'Keefe added: 'Of course, that is the whole idea of journalism is to make public what powerful people want kept private.’
Cole's comments were made public as some experts - including Moderna chief executive Stephane Bancel - say they believe the pandemic will soon end and that vaccines may no longer be necessary.
Project Veritas said he made the comments to a female 'undercover reporter' during what appeared to be a series of dinner dates. Cole later dismissed the coverage as a 'hack job.'
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Christopher Cole, the FDA's executive officer for its medical countermeasures initiative, was captured on camera discussing Covid vaccines, and his belief that the government would continue relying on them as a recurring source of income
Project Veritas said he made the comments to a female 'undercover reporter' during what appeared to be a series of dinner dates. Cole later dismissed the coverage as a 'hack job'
In late January, Cole was recorded saying: 'You're going to have to get an annual shot. It hasn't been formally announced yet because they don't want to rile everyone up.'
During his dinnertime conversation with an undercover Project Veritas worker earlier this month, Cole also dished on the government's financial reasoning for promoting Covid vaccines.
'The drug companies, the food companies, the vaccine companies, they pay us hundreds of millions of dollars a year to hire and keep the reviewers to approve their products,' he said.
'If they can get every person required [for] an annual vaccine, that is a recurring return of money.'
O'Keefe, speaking to Hannity Wednesday night, said what Cole detailed to the reporter 'are serious ethical issues.'
'I'm not sure it's literally corruption, but this new story - which I'm going to reiterate some of the quotes here - almost a billion dollars a year ago into the FDA's budget from the people we regulate. The drug companies, they pass hundreds of millions of dollars a year to approve their product,' the journalist said.
'He even said how hard it is for people to step up. He said he will be a marked man. He will be marked from getting other jobs because of their offices are not going to want to hire you.'
The Project Veritas leader also alleged Cole 'rubber-stamped' the approval of of emergency use authorization of toddler Covid vaccines, saying the move was motivated by the 'fountain of revenue that goes into the FDA'.
'The video talks about the fountain of money, the fountain of revenue, that goes into the FDA. The money they get from these pharmaceutical companies makes it more likely to approve their products,' O'Keefe explained.
'When he says - and repeatedly says - he handles these emergency use authorizations on toddler vaccines, he says the FDA is not going to not approve the so-called toddler vaccine. Basically rubber-stamping it.'
He continued: 'He says that there's an emergency, so we're just going to sorta rubber-stamp these toddler vaccines because it’s under an emergency authorization. These are serious issues here and we want answers.’
The FDA did not respond to DailyMail.com's request for comment.
In a follow-up interview with Project Veritas founder James O'Keefe, Cole said his office was not involved in the approval of vaccines.
He described the outlet's reporting as a 'hack job'.
'You videotaped me talking with someone on a date - didn't tell me anything, didn't say it was being videotaped,' he said.
'You've taken a lot of it out of context.'
It's not the first time Project Veritas has been accused of using deceptive tactics and secret recordings in its coverage.
Last year, it was revealed that former Survivor contestant Anna Khait - a Russia-born professional poker player - starting going under the name Hope Higgins to report undercover for the organization.
One of those allegedly targeted by Khait is Democratic campaign worker Michael Kolenc, who introduced herself to him as Higgins in July 2018, he told Daily Beast.
Kolenc claimed that Khait drew him in under the guise of a potential romance before recording a video of him making critical statements about his former boss, Oregon Governor Kate Brown, which was then released by Project Veritas.
President Joe Biden's administration has aggressively touted the Covid vaccine as an effective way to prevent infection or serious illness from the virus, which has killed more than 925,000 Americans.
As of February 14, about 65 percent of the American population was fully vaccinated; another 77 per cent has received at least one dose. About 28 per cent of Americans have received booster shots, according to CDC data.
Moderna's chief executive Bancel told CNBC's Squawk Box Asia this week that he is confident the next strain of the virus after Omicron will not less virulent, and that the way the current variant is running out of steam is a promising sign.
'There's an 80% chance that as Omicron evolves or [Covid] virus evolves, we are going to see less and less virulent viruses,' he said.
'I think we got lucky as a world that Omicron was not very virulent, but still are we see thousands of people dying every day around the planet because of Omicron.'
Moderna produces the second most popular vaccine in America, having been administered 206 million times since it first became available in December 2020.
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