Medical personnel prepare a dose of Moderna's vaccine against covid-19, in Louisiana, United States.Gerald Herbert / AP
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 12 years and older, comes forward at a time when the need for a third general injection for the entire population is being debated.
The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Rochelle Walensky, said on Thursday morning, when local media had already advanced the decision, citing sources close to the institution, that the percentage of citizens likely to receive that third dose for their a situation of special vulnerability does not exceed 3% of adults. For his part, the reference epidemiologist of the White House, Anthony Fauci, insisted that it will be "inevitable" that this additional injection of booster or reminder is extended to everyone later, although not now.
The matter 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.
Both the United States and the two main European powers, Germany and France, have ignored the demand.
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.
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