New COVID-19 Variant Sparks Concern Regarding Vaccinations and Funding
Bottle of COVID-19 Vaccine placed atop a medical mask. Source: Source: Maksim Goncharenok, Pexels
Whilst stress caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has begun to diminish across the United States, new increasingly contagious variants are continuing to emerge, causing people to wonder if a fourth dose of the vaccine will be recommended. The rise of the BA.2 variant, a subvariant of Omicron, has caused a 36% increase in coronavirus cases in New York State since the week of March 13.
This recent rise in cases began shortly after mask mandates were lifted in schools, potentially along with the return of spring breakers these past few weeks. Despite a possible upswing in cases, Dr. Anthony Fauci said “Hopefully we won’t see a surge — I don’t think we will.”
On the contrary, other doctors feel differently. Dr. Scott A. Weisenberg, the medical director and infectious disease specialist at NYU Langone, said “Any time there are large groups of unvaccinated people in close contact with each other — particularly indoors — that carries the risk of significant transmission which will lead to a large number of new cases.”
BA.2 has become the dominant variant, as it has been proven to spread 80% faster than Omicron, or BA.1. Health officials are optimistic that the severity of cases has declined, although this is highly dependent on vaccination status. Booster shots have been deemed highly beneficial, proving to be 87% effective against emergency room visits and 91% against hospitalizations during the surge caused by Omicron in January. These statistics proceeded to drop down to 66% and 78% respectively, four months after these boosters were allocated – demonstrating a clear decrease in potency.
In light of this, Pfizer and BioNTech have requested authorization from the Food & Drug Administration for those 65 and older to receive a fourth shot, and the CDC has recommended immunocompromised people do so in October — though these decisions won’t be made for at least another month. But who else is eligible?
Many doctors are more focused on those Americans who are yet to be vaccinated, and less concerned with the potentiality of a fourth dose for healthy individuals. Dr. Christian Gaebler, an immunology researcher at Rockefeller University in N.Y.C., said “Fourth doses might turn out to be advisable, but at this point I think the focus should be on administering third doses.”
Similarly, other doctors believe it is too soon to tell if a fourth shot is completely necessary. “So we’re going to take one step at a time,” said Dr. Fauci back in January. “Get the data from the third boost and then make decisions based on scientific data.” Although it is possible a fourth vaccine will be present for all in the future, it is not a large concern for those in good health at this time.
This prospective fourth dose is bringing to the forefront an unfortunate circumstance: the United States does not have enough money to fund such vaccinations. “Right now, we don’t have enough money for fourth doses, if they’re called for,” said Jeff Zients, the White House coronavirus coordinator. “We don’t have the funding, if we were to need a variant-specific vaccine in the future.”
According to officials, it is evident that unless Congress passes a stalled $15 million funding bill, additional orders cannot be placed — especially considering that 750 million doses would need to be provided for everyone in the U.S. to have access to a fourth dose.