The United States is fortunate to have highly effective vaccines that are widely available for those aged 12 and up.
People who are fully vaccinated are protected from severe disease and death, including from the variants currently circulating in the country such as the Delta variant. People who are not vaccinated remain at risk, according to the Centers for Disease Control.
As Dr. Gabe Mirkin has previously noted in a column in Villages-News.com, virtually all COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths are among those who are unvaccinated.
We encourage Americans who have not yet been vaccinated to get vaccinated as soon as possible to protect themselves and their community. If you have family members who have not been vaccinated, please encourage them to do so.
The benefits of the vaccine are abundantly evident here in Florida’s Friendliest Hometown. We got our lives back. We want to preserve this sense of joy and stability, and some are nervous about what the future holds.
Americans who have been fully vaccinated do not need a booster shot at this time. FDA, CDC, and NIH are engaged in a science-based, rigorous process to consider whether or when a booster might be necessary. This process takes into account laboratory data, clinical trial data, and cohort data – which can include data from specific pharmaceutical companies, but does not rely on those data exclusively. We continue to review any new data as it becomes available and will keep the public informed. The CDC is prepared for booster doses if and when the science demonstrates that they are needed.
