Dr. Jerome Adams: Annual COVID shot proposal could create ‘higher compliance’
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is weighing a major shift in its strategy to administer COVID-19 vaccines.
Dr. Jerome Adams, WISH-TV medical expert and a former U.S. surgeon general, said Monday that there’s a risk to a once-a-year shot similar to the flu shot. For one, the COVID shot might not fight the latest strain of the coronavirus. However, he supports the idea.
“Well, it is good news because we are long overdue for some sensible recommendations from the FDA,” Adams said.
One challenge, he said, “is that only about 15% of Americans that received the new bivalent booster despite most people across the nation being eligible for it, and, even when you look at that vulnerable 65-and-older age group, only about 40% of them have received the booster.
“There’s actually been studies that traced back the reasons for this to confusion in the guidance.
“So, if we can make this like the flu shot, so that people understand every year at around the same time we get the flu shot, we need to get our COVID update, I think you’ll have higher compliance and I think people will be better for it.”
An advisory committee is scheduled to meet later this week to discuss the recommendations. If the FDA gives the go-ahead, then the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will also have to look at it and make a recommendation.