The United States authorizes the third dose of the vaccine for immunosuppressed people

The US drug agency does not see it necessary at the moment for the population as a whole

The US drug agency ( FDA ) has authorized the administration of a third dose of the vaccine against covid-19 for people who are immunosuppressed or who have received an organ transplant. The expansion of the inoculation developed by Pfizer and Moderna, now programmed in two doses for the population of 12 years and older, comes forward at a time when the need for a third general injection for the entire population is being debated.

“After a thorough review of the available data, the FDA determined that this small and vulnerable group may benefit from a third dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines,” said the agency’s acting commissioner, Janet Woodcock, in a statement sent this Thursday night. The percentage of citizens likely to receive that third dose due to their situation of special vulnerability does not exceed 3% of adults, according to the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Rochelle Walensky, in the morning, when local media already they had advanced the decision.

The United States is not the first country to open this path. France and Germany have already decided to recommend that the immunosuppressed get a third dose of vaccine. The US agency does not see it necessary for the rest of the population at the moment, but the matter looms over Washington. The leading White House epidemiologist, Anthony Fauci, insisted that it will be “inevitable” that this additional injection of booster or reminder will be extended to the whole world later, although not now.

The possibility of that third dose has opened a debate at the international level. The World Health Organization (WHO) has asked developed countries, which have already managed to accelerate their inoculation process, to delay that third dose in order to prioritize distribution to the most disadvantaged, at a time of great disparity in the vaccination process.

Meanwhile, the US government is struggling to get all its citizens vaccinated, after months of slowing down in the process. Only 59% of the population over 12 years of age, that is, of those eligible for the vaccine, have already received both doses. The coronavirus vaccines are not yet formally approved by the FDA, but they do have authorization for use.